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NIH Study Finds That Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Risk of Death
parallel_prankster writes "Older adults who drank coffee — caffeinated or decaffeinated — had a lower risk of death [full paper is paywalled, at the New England Journal of Medicine] overall than others who did not drink coffee, according to a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP. Coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, although the association was not seen for cancer. These results from a large study of older adults were observed after adjustment for the effects of other risk factors on mortality, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. They also found that the association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed. Relative to men and women who did not drink coffee, those who consumed three or more cups of coffee per day had approximately a 10 percent lower risk of death. Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer."
... was roughly one in one. Guess I was wrong.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
Lousy study with terrible controls, indicates that coffee drinkers also smoke more, eat more red meat, get less exercise, etc. But still have a lower chance of death? I call bullshit.
The risk of death must be lower than the risk of taxes, though, because I pay taxes every year and I haven't died even once.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
But Grandma drank coffee and she died. These studies is all lies.
NIH Study Finds That Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Risk of Death.
In other news, death is avoidable.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Did Miracle Max just make a coffee pill?
Have gnu, will travel.
What about people that drank water? or stood on one leg?
He stayed up late working on his experiments, then got up early to teach the 8 o'clock class.
He was very jittery.
I can't see how this is "good" for you and reduces risk of death.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
A statement is released saying that coffee is known in the State of California to cause cancer
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
It's just all the extra fiber they get from the coffee.
This is probably because people with bad hearts, etc., do not drink coffee, hence only people who are healthier drink coffee when they are old. Isn't it amazing that they would have a reduced death rate. Imagine what the relative death rate would be for old people who skydive, compared to those who don't?
Hardly breaking news.
I'm not sure I understand. My risk of dying decreases with coffee? Is this the new fountain of youth?
An NIH article should be more accurate. We all have the same risk of death, 100%. It's the when that coffee affects.
last i checked
This just in: Swallowing small amounts of saliva over the course of decades eventually causes death.
I think the conclusion of the study is: a normal programmer will live forever! :-)
they should outfit Starbucks with those neck injector stations like in the Chronicles of riddick games. save time.
My guess is that people who don't drink coffee more likely DO drink sugary sodas.
Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer.
You can be certain, however, if the correlation had been between coffee drinking and decreased life expectancy, then there would have been no such disclaimer discouraging the inference of any causation.
I can see the fnords!
...understood that probabilities always have a unit basis (in this case, time). Guess I was wrong.
Sweet Zombie Jesus! Next you'll be telling me that it contains dihydrogen monoxide!
Of course those of us who drink massive quantities of coffee won't die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, or infections. We'll die by lunging at the coffee machine early one morning, slipping on the wet floor, then failing to catch our jittery selves because we're busy protecting the ceramic mug our child gave us fifteen years ago.
I've been on slashdot for over a while now and this has got to be the blatantly sloppiest headline I have ever seen. If there has ever been a headline that has made the case for the need for a professional editor this has got to be it.
Everyone has a 100% of death, coffee drinker or not. For (insert diety's sake) would slashdot please hire at least one professional editor? How about an intern? I understand unemployment among college students is too high right now and interns are cheap!
I'm sure many of a college student would jump at a change to edit for a site like slashdot for an intern's salary. Seriously, an intern could do a better job, I've got them at my work place and they a little motivation goes a long way....
I think by now it should be obvious .. California causes cancer.
I read this headline on the front page of the newspaper this morning. It's a little sad that slashdot was scooped by print.
This sounds like it could be correlated to other lifestyle choices. e.g., People who have a routine or work in an office and drink coffee are safer than other occupations.
It's really hard to control for all of the other possible factors.
Competition Good, Monopoly Bad.
his morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk." Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties. Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge? Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true. Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
There was an immortal coffee drinker in the study. There may have been an immortal non-coffee drinker in the study but the coffee drinker chopped his head off.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
It's already well known that Coffee is good for treating Asthma in a pinch, and I'd say if it can save you from an Asthma Attack then it can surely reduce the risk of respiratory death from that asthma attack. If they remove it's affects on Asthmatics from the study will the benefit remain.
British Forces sent extra supplies of coffee................which, thinking about it, makes sense when you see mobsters in mafia films commenting on each others coyfeeee....
The NCI Office of Media Relations apparently were a little clueless on the facts they were reporting. The study actually finds that relatively elderly people (50 to 71) who said that they drink coffee (the question was asked once, actual coffee intake was never confirmed) were less like to die within a period of about 12 years. The study is garbage. Luckily the PR department's interpretation made it sound comical. Who says that PR departments are useless?
it should be noted that coffee also shares about 11 of the same chemicals as rat poison...[citation needed]
I guess the shared chemicals aren't what makes rat poison harmful then, given the amount of people who drink coffee like their lives depend on it. Also, FTFY.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
My guess is someone just bought a bunch of Starbucks shares.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
I can imagine that people who spend time drinking 3-4 cups of coffee a day, probably don't get outside much. If you're indoors most of the time, drinking coffee, than chances of you dieing from an accident, or getting shot is probably low. I mean, there could be many other factors involved that could explain why coffee drinkers live longer, not just because they drink coffee.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
I've been on slashdot for over a while now and this has got to be the blatantly sloppiest headline I have ever seen. If there has ever been a headline that has made the case for the need for a professional editor this has got to be it.
Everyone has a 100% of death, coffee drinker or not. For (insert diety's sake) would slashdot please hire at least one professional editor? How about an intern? I understand unemployment among college students is too high right now and interns are cheap!
I'm sure many of a college student would jump at a change to edit for a site like slashdot for an intern's salary. Seriously, an intern could do a better job, I've got them at my work place and they a little motivation goes a long way....
While there are terms more clear than "risk of death", I see two major problems with your criticism:
1. Many people have already made the exact same comment, but more clearly and succinctly.
2. The evidence suggests that Slashdot editors, while perhaps having some faults, should not take criticism from you on grammar and language clarity seriously.
I assume they mean people who actually drink real coffee, and not those that drink mocha-frappa-whatever liquid candy bars.
Proverbs 21:19
The study fails to take into account the number of suicides caused by not being able to drink coffee.
An NIH article should be more accurate. We all have the same risk of death, 100%. It's the when that coffee affects.
I'm pretty sure the NIH article specified this. I would be it's the summary where this goes wrong.
Oh man! It was so funny when those thirty people posted comments about immortality! We need that joke some more!
after reading this the theme song from highlander started playing in my head. maybe a coffee drinker is near.
$ unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes,fsck,fsck,fsck,umount, sleep
The nature of the design employed does not allow for causal inferences. At best, there is a correlation not between longevity, but between the risk of death and consuming coffee. The generalizability is limited to the extent that only one method was applied, making it impossible to establish the true relationship between the two variables, as it most certainly is confounded because the lack any form of control over the variables (e.g., not an experiment). Put in other words, the correlation at best is a rough estimate.
... why are we still talking about it now?
the association between COFFEE DRINKERS and DEATH is a 100%
It's just that some of them haven't died yet.
- T.S. Eliot.
Lower than usual 100%
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Everyone has a 100% of death
Yes, now re-read the headline making sure to remember that everyone knows what you just said, and instead of being a twat who sees something that interpreted one way doesn't make sense and then jumps into the comments to complain, re-interpret in a way that does make sense (i.e. as "premature death from the factors listed in the summary") like every human does automatically without even having to consciously think about it who isn't a Slashdot Pedantard.
Thank you and have a nice day.
The enemies of Democracy are
The study made me think whether some other drink would work as well (or better)? Fruit juice, cocoa, tea, even plain water? What's the secret component(s)?
As the text also notes:
"The mechanism by which coffee protects against risk of death — if indeed the finding reflects a causal relationship — is not clear, because coffee contains more than 1,000 compounds that might potentially affect health," said Freedman.
Coffee is known to be rich in antioxidants, so that could be one sporadic blind guess. But yeah.
People who live longer have a higher risk of being coffee drinkers.
Correlation is not causality.
There's probably some kind of sampling bias that they didn't think of, but anything that let's me rationalize my habit is valid to me. Hmm, I wonder if the researchers are coffee drinkers...
"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."
parallel_prankster writes
a.k.a Juan Valdez.
I stopped drinking coffee a few years ago and feel a lot better. It upsets my stomach. It made me a lot more tense. I tended to sleep badly. Waking up at 5am. Headaches during the day. Generally felt misserable. It took about 6 months to kick off. Coffee is an adiction. And a pretty bad one. I can not understand these studies, probably funded by the coffee makers. Because generally if you drink coffee you will feel awful.
He who controls the beans...
Coffee got me through my undergraduate years. I worked nights (11:00 pm to 7:00 am), went to classes until early afternoon and then slept until time to get up for work. Probably drank 10 to 15 cups of coffee a day. The worst was the day I noticed my desk shaking and it was my own left arm twitching.
Still drink abot six cups a day of the "real stuff" (not decaf). Love the taste of coffee. I'll even drink decaf in the evening just so I can enjoy the taste. I got "the habit" long before college from my parents. Dad passed away at 90 but mom is still going at 97 (and still drinking coffee).
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
And SHAKE your way to success!!!!
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
nuff said, eh?
Nonsense, the risk of death is always 100% no matter the circumstances.
Got Code?
Not sure, ask me when I'm 300.
The reason coffee drinkers live longer, is because we wait until our first cup at least to do stupid shit, this ensures our stupid shit is more thought out and we don't rush and react to B.S. its actually a psychological 2 way correlation. Also if some new B.S. comes up in the day, we demand at least a cup of coffee to mull over before reacting to it.
Ever heard the expression "coffee talk"
There's a known correlation b/w life span and social interaction.
Perhaps this is reflecting this?
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
I'll send a link to this article to everyone that has complained to me for the last ten years because of my high caffeine consumption! I'll have to put some copies on a few graves though ;-)
If ever an article and associated comments pointed to the need for people to have a better command of the English language.
Coffee does hurt people's stomachs, contribute to osteoporosis, anxiety and sleep problems.
Americans drink a huge amount of coffee, yet we still have a huge amount of caridovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity etc killing us.
If coffee is an aide to health it is not enough to override all of the bad habits we have.
People just like hearing good news about their bad habits.
I'm not saying quit coffee.
A cup ( you know 8 fluid ounces ) a day without cream and sugar probably wouldn't hurt anybody, but how many coffee drinkers drink that little?
Thought we all have a 100% chance of death. Cool, time for me to start loading up on coffee now.... (Thinking highlander and playing Queen's "Who Want's to Live Forever") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC4ZOxpu2rs
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_III_of_Sweden's_coffee_experiment
I guess the most interesting point in this article is what is written towards the top: "we believe these results do provide some reassurance that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health.". If it was poison, this study would show. I remember learning about cafestol at some point (by a researcher), and how recommendations should be given to make sure to only drink filtered coffee. It's, according to our teacher, the most "cholesterologenic" substance know. So I guess a single factor does not a guideline make.
On a funny personal note, this news came exactly on the day I decided to cut down my own consumption :p
"In age-adjusted models, the risk of death was increased among coffee drinkers." - The Article
The article goes on to state that by excluding "[p]articipants with cancer, heart disease, and stroke" and "after adjustment for tobacco-smoking status and other potential confounders, there was a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and mortality."
"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess." - Ronald Coase.
I doubt they bothered to consider that the reduced risk of death (at any given moment over a lifetime) is not actually due to some protection offered by consumption of coffee, but due instead to the fact that people are getting their fix of brain-pleasure-chemicals from drinking coffee, instead of doing other things that are more dangerous, instead, such as drugs, alcohol, sky-diving, etc.
Remember how not so long ago, they had people convinced eating breakfast cereal could somehow lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, and turns out the contents of breakfast cereals themselves do nothing to lower your risks, it's just that they are an alternative to consuming something else (the classic "heart attack" breakfast) that would INCREASE the risk, and so the end result appears to be REDUCING the risk.
By the same token, if everyone rode motorcycles to get everywhere, they could say driving a sports-car lowers your risk of dying in a traffic accident... since per mile driven/ridden, the driver of a sports-car is at a lower risk of death than the motorcyclist...
Numbers don't lie, but people do, and they can make numbers appear to lie by waving around the wrong ones, or by misinterpreting them.
So I don't think I'm going to start drinking coffee, and I will still ride my motorcycle everywhere. Guess I'm screwed.
It is well-known that risk of death is 100% ultimately. If we have a a lower death rate for coffee drinkers, that just shows that a non-zero percentile of people are not labelled as drinking coffee before they die.
... the high coffee consumption crowd has been weeded out by the time they reached the threshold age of this study. Survival of the fittest, one cup at a time.
It's a pity this guy has no account, because I was going to post the exact same thing. Screw it, my karma's excellent. AC said "We all have the same risk of death, 100%. It's the when that coffee affects".
Ok, so as not to waste a bunch of people's time reading a redundant comment, when I saw this story my thought was "oh shit!" When my grandmother was 95 she said "I don't know why anybody wants to live to be a hundred, it ain't no fun bein' old." I can't quit drinking coffee because my brain doesn't work as well without it.
Maybe I should start smoking...
Free Martian Whores!
Read the ENTIRE study. Opinions of abstracts, and opinions on opinions of people who have only read the abstracts, are absolutely, indisputably, corrupted.
Most of what the media report when it comes to any study is utter, unmitigated, horse shit.
I have zero respect for people that are so gullible. You're not sing your opinions on "science", you are not "scientific". You aren't even particularly intelligent.
You're just a bunch of parrots, a bunch of tools. You don't even know you've been mislead, don't care that you've been manipulated, and play your little petty roles in agendas you have not even bothered to consider.
Sickening. Most of these types of declarations to the media by the NIH are bullshit - but YOU don't know it because YOU have "faith" in "science". Without even bothering to be critical or informed.
Maybe this is because people who drink coffee are less depressed?
One of the symptoms of severe depression is tireness. People with severe depression often sleep all day. People who are not severely depressed want to get up and out of bed, into the world, and drink coffee to help them do so.
Thus, mortality numbers are skewed by the suicides of the depressed (and thus more likely to fall ill, abuse drugs/alcohol, and/or commit suicide.)