Skip to main content

Coffee: More than caffeine

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, so it seems logical to ask – Is coffee good for us? Some studies show benefit and others don’t. So what is the bottom line with coffee?

Coffee Benefits:
Studies have found evidence that coffee can help protect us from a variety of illnesses. Aside from the obvious caffeine boost, which we like for the pick-me-up, coffee contains other beneficial compounds. A recent study found that people who drank four or more cups of coffee per day may lower their risk of melanoma as much as 20%, possibly due to protection from sun damage. Other studies have found that coffee drinkers have lower risk for other cancers, heart disease and even live longer overall.

Coffee Risks:
While the overall research suggests that coffee has benefits, not everyone responds to coffee or the caffeine it contains in the same way. People with high blood pressure and pregnant women should consider limiting their overall caffeine intake and children should not consume highly caffeinated beverages due to safety concerns. If you tend to get heartburn or migraines it is worth looking at whether coffee (or caffeine in general) could be a trigger.

Bottom Line:
Feel free to enjoy that morning (and afternoon) cup of coffee. Unless you have a specific medical reason to limit coffee or caffeine in general, it seems the potential benefits currently outweigh the risks. To get the most from your coffee, limit the add ins like sugars and syrups that can make the extra calories add up quickly. If you’re not a coffee drinker, you probably don’t need to start for health reasons, but if you do, take it slowly. Caffeine can make you feel a little jittery if you aren’t used to it.

REFERENCES:
1.E Loftfield, ND Freedman,BI Graubard, AR Hollenbeck, FM Shebl, ST Mayne, and R Sinha. Coffee Drinking and Cutaneous Melanoma Risk in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, J Natl Cancer Inst. 2015; 107 (2).
2.Je Y, Giovannucci E. Coffee consumption and total mortality: a meta-analysis of twenty prospective cohort studies. Br J Nutr. 2014 Apr 14;111(7):1162-73
Written by Jennifer M. Ignacio, MS, RD.
May 2015
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Local Produce

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy local produce because of the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables that are available. I’ve waited all winter for ripe berries, juicy tomatoes and sweet stone fruit. We get a few months of this bounty and when the season is over, we wait patiently for summer to come again so we can enjoy our favorites. Connecting and eating with the seasons can be rewarding but also a tough challenge as many of us now rely on grocery stores to provide year-round produce. FUN FACT Did you know that the average food item has traveled 1,500 miles to get to your plate? Seeking out local food, understanding how it was grown and learning more about the people who grew it can be an empowering experience. Not everyone has the opportunity to shake hands with the person that grew their food but for those that do, it carries more weight than a certification. Download lagu WAIT, THERE’S MORE Did you also know that how we eat can have as big an impact on climate change as transp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plant Forward

A New Way of Eating There’s a relatively new term buzzing around the food world that you may or may not have heard of, plant forward. What does that mean you ask? Plant forward focuses on more vegetable centric dishes with meat playing more of a supporting role. Think blended burgers, stir-fry’s or grain bowls where meat is almost like a condiment. Flavors are bold and it’s all about the dish’s deliciousness whether it happens to be vegan or vegetarian, or not. Diners aren’t interested in completely removing meat from their diets so embracing a diet that is mostly plants with some meat here and there provides a comfortable middle ground. The Challenge with Red Meat Conventional animal agriculture is resource intense and less than stellar for the environment. Ruminant animals release methane gas into the atmosphere which is about twenty five times more intense than carbon dioxide. Let’s face it, our country’s enormous appetite for beef is not so great for our health and the heal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Focus on Whole, Minimally Processed Foods

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Crystal (Sopher) Richardson What’s the WHOLE story on Processed Foods? Nutritionists and dietitians are often asked why processed foods are bad.  It’s not an easy question to answer.  Many refer to the fact that the “Diseases of Civilization” – heart disease, hypertension, tooth decay, diabetes and some cancers did not exist before the increased popularity of processed foods. Whole and minimally processed foods are prepared without copious amounts of added fat, salt or sugar, therefore maximizing the consumption of cancer-fighting nutrients and phytochemicals, that protect your body’s cells from damage. A 2017 study of 249 adolescents showed that the consumption of minimally processed foods was inversely associated with excess weight. 1 Another study in 2016, published by Anthony Fardet showed a link between minimally processed foods and satiety versus ultra-processed foods. 2 While most people know that eating a whole a...
Post a Comment
Read more