Good news for coffee addicts like me: coffee may extend life, prevent disease

Photo: Sally Kneidel

I've always regarded my coffee addiction as a vice. What good is java? It stains teeth, fuels anxiety, contributes to insomnia...  And I've always wondered about its connection to various diseases. I've never been able to figure that out. I know my OB told me no more than one cup a day when I was pregnant, without really saying why.

But outside of pregnancy, I've persisted with coffee in spite of its issues - simply for love of the brew. The taste of good coffee is as pleasurable as chocolate or a fine red wine. And the caffeine buzz was irresistible - until sleep issues gradually forced me to switch to mostly decaf. Even sans buzz, I still love the hot stuff.

Results of massive medical study surprised me

Given my years of guilty pleasure, I was a little startled to see recently a major new article in the New England Journal of Medicine suddenly suggesting the health virtues of coffee. After reading it, I wondered if I should not only continue my "vice," but abandon all restraint! Yes, bring on the joe and bring it right now!!

This exciting and novel study followed the health and coffee habits of more than 400,000 people over a median of 13.6 years! That is a huge study. With numbers like that, the results are "very powerful" and are unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon,says Johns Hopkins cardiologist Roy Ziegelstein. Not only very powerful, but very convincing.

The scientists documented the longevity of participants, excluding anyone who had cancer, heart disease, or strokefrom the outset. The researchers also accounted for differences such as smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and body mass - assuring that these factors did not affect their conclusions.

Drinking coffee reduced the chance of death

Unexpectedly, the researchers found that drinking coffee reduced the likelihood of death from heart disease, repiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections! Drinking coffee did not reduce the likelihood of death from cancer.

Over the 13.6 year duration of the study, participants who drank 2 or more cups a day were 10% to 16% less likely to have died than those who abstained. Women who downed 6 cups a day or more had a 15% lower risk of death than those who drank no coffee! Men drinking 6 or more cups per day had a 10% lower risk of death over the course of the study.

Who can drink 6 cups a day? Not me. My stomach couldn't take it. But good news anyway! Among the study's participants, drinking more than 2 cups a day lowered the risk of death from heart and respiratory disease and from diabetes. Four or more cups a day improved resistance to infections.

Decaf has same benefits!

Here's the part that I really liked, given my reluctant drift toward decaf. The researchers concluded that caffeine is not a big player in coffee's apparent health benefits! Decaf had about the same association with improved longevity as caffeinated coffee! Yay!

Am I recommending that you drink coffee?  No, I'm not an M.D.  But it's food for thought.  To read more about the study, check out this Science News summary.

Keywords: coffee longevity study coffee benefits coffee health

What's in a cup?

Going into the teachers’ lounge today made me depressed.

On this blustery fall morning, the toasty smell of brewing coffee and the burbling sound of the percolator should have been welcoming. But all I could do was stare at the coffee pot and think, “Why?”

Because I’ve drunk that coffee before. And I know it tastes like burning plastic. It’s from some cheap canister of bitter Robusta coffee beans grown for maximum quantity and low price. Or so I’ve always thought.

After all, why would we subject ourselves to this weak, acrid swill if not to save money? Adding the non-dairy creamer and cheap sweetener on hand does nothing to lessen the toxic taste. Rather, then it tastes like burning plastic plus chemicals. Mmm, delicious.

As I gathered my lesson plans and prepared for the day ahead, I imagined a different scene. What if I walked in the lounge to the rich brown smell of Arabica coffee? What if there was actual milk in the fridge? Call me crazy, but what if we had actual sugar?

Why do we do this? I asked myself again. Is it simply the status quo, because this is what all offices serve? Is it because these products are what’s available at the office supply store? Is it because it’s the cheapest option? That must be it, but the financial gain seems like cutting off our nose to spite our face. We’re saving a few cents, I presume, but forcing ourselves to drink a nasty, unhealthy mix of synthetic ingredients and cheap, low-quality coffee. Is it really worth it?

I wondered how much the typical office saved by cutting these corners. A little investigation proved that the average cup of office coffee costs between 30 and 40 cents. Twenty-nine cents for a scoop of your average Robusta beans; 4 cents for a scoop of non-dairy creamer (main ingredient: corn syrup solids); 5 cents for refined white sugar or 9 cents for Splenda if you prefer. (Main ingredient: who knows.)

Next I researched the alternative. Grounds for Change offers their organic, fair trade, shade grown Arabica beans in five-pound bags for $42, which comes out to about 18 cents a cup. I was shocked. Eighteen cents, for a delicious-sounding “bright, nutty flavor and subtle sweetness that is enhanced by a delicate medium roast,” produced by an environmentally sustainable all-women cooperative in Mexico. For almost half the price of Folgers? I couldn’t believe it.

As for the add-ins, a gallon of whole milk from Homeland Creamery, our local dairy, sells for about $4.50, or 2 cents per splash. Realistically, I know an office might not go through a gallon of milk before it goes bad. (Thus the corn syrup solids…) But if we must go non-dairy, how about a small carton of soy creamer? A 16-ounce carton of Silk Creamer retails for $1.99, or 6 cents per coffee. As for sugar, raw turbinado sugar from BulkFoods.com comes out to 5 cents a cup. Same as the refined white sugar for sale at Office Max, and plus lots of vitamins and minerals. And minus some bleaching.

Well I’ll be darned. That comes to 18 cents for a cup of black eco-groovy coffee, 25 cents with the works. That’s a half to two-thirds the price of the rain-forest slashing, farmer-robbing, stomach-irritating slop we’re all subjecting ourselves to.

So why are we doing it?

by Sadie Kneidel