Disclaimer: I’m a big-time coffee drinker and have been since I was a kid. I have periodically given up the good stuff but dutifully resume my healthy addiction after a few weeks.
Ahh, the intoxicating aroma of a good cup of coffee! Whether you’re at home smelling a fresh pot or in Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts or even McDonald’s (they do brew Newman’s Own, after all), coffee’s fragrance is powerful and seductive. But is this a healthy or unhealthy attraction? We’ll look at the evidence both for and against coffee as an elixir vitae and discuss its historical role. (Disclaimer: when I refer to coffee, I don’t mean a Caramel Macchiato).
History
Coffee originated in the Horn of Africa, most likely Ethiopia, around the 13th century and spread via nearby Yemen and Arabia to Turkey and Europe. Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi who noticed his goats had more energy after eating red berries (raw coffee). Kaldi then experimented on himself, goes the legend, and felt more energy as well.
Some ascribe coffee’s extreme popularity in the Muslim countries of the Arabian peninsula to Islam’s ban on alcohol, making coffee a desirable substitute. In any case, coffee houses started popping up all over the place in cities and towns throughout the Middle East and eventually, Europe.
Coffee made its way to the New World first with Captain John Smith in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, eventually replacing beer as New York City’s favorite drink in 1668. The Boston Tea Party helped vault coffee to the top of the list as America’s favorite beverage, replacing tea.
What is coffee?
Coffee is derived from a plant which can grow over 30 feet high. Over seventy percent of all coffee is the Arabica variety, which is easier to drink than the Robusto. Robusto is higher in caffeine and used mostly in instant coffee and blends. The coffee fruit is called the cherry, and contains the coffee bean, which is really a seed. The beans are separated from the cherry and its pulp, cleaned and dried and ready for export. Raw coffee beans, like raw tea leaves, are green. Beans are usually roasted in the importing country so they can be sold as close to fresh roasted as possible. Roasting is done around 550 degrees with the beans moved around to prevent burning. Once the beans reach 400 degrees internally, they begin to release their oil and flavor. At this point they’re ready to be ground, brewed and enjoyed!
What’s in dem beans?
Caffeine is the best known of coffee’s ingredients, and the amount per 8 ounce serving of filtered (drip) coffee ranges between 115-175 milligrams. Compare that to about 50 mg in tea and 35 mg in a can of Coke. Espresso contains about 100 mg per two ounce shot. Caffeine is the bitter-tasting part of coffee, and its level is not affected much by how long coffee is roasted. Caffeine is a stimulant; it wakes us up, makes us more alert and raises our spirits. Caffeine is broken down in the liver, and its breakdown products can help lower sugar levels, dilate arteries and relax the lungs. In a diseased liver, caffeine won’t be broken down properly, potentially leading to a much stronger stimulant effect. Also, some people have a mutation in the genes that regulate caffeine metabolism, leading to a better or worse tolerance for this potent substance (Your doctor can test for your ability to clear caffeine from your system). Decaf appears to have a lot of the same health benefits as caffeinated, so you do have choices. Just stick to Swiss Water process decaf to avoid the nasty solvents used in other methods.
Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is the major antioxidant in coffee and is probably responsible for most of coffee’s health benefits. While 1-2% of coffee is caffeine, 6-10% is CGA. A cup of coffee has 200-550 milligrams of antioxidants, much more than green tea, so the potential for it to really shine is clearly there. The last decade has seen research into CGA explode. CGA has been shown to slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream after a meal and to block the liver’s production of sugar. CGA is sold in Europe as a food ingredient to promote weight loss. Coffee also contains small amounts of fatty acids, protein and fiber.
Coffee’s Benefits: What’s the Evidence?
Cancer: some of the most recent and provocative news about coffee relates to its association with dramatically lower rates of prostate and uterine cancer. For prostate cancer, Harvard researchers followed 47,000 men over 20 years, tracking how much coffee they drank. It turns out the men who drank 6 or more cups a day had a whopping 60% lower risk of lethal prostate cancer than nondrinkers. Risk of prostate cancer in general was 20% lower for the heavy coffee drinkers, and lower cancer rates were roughly the same whether folks drank caffeinated or decaf, suggesting the role of CGA as an antioxidant. Also, since insulin resistance is thought to be a risk factor for prostate cancer, CGA’s benefits here no doubt contributed. Less coffee is still helpful, with three cups a day still contributing a 30% drop in lethal cancer.
Uterine Cancer: Using women enrolled in the mammoth Nurses’ Study, Harvard researchers found that drinking 4 cups or more of coffee reduced uterine cancer risk by about 25%. Similar reduction was found with decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee, again pointing to the antioxidant benefits. The number of cases of cancer fell from 56 to 35 per 100,000. More research needs to be done, but these are very encouraging numbers.
Diabetes: Researchers both here and in Australia compiled results from multiple studies and showed a drop in diabetes risk between 25-30 percent for people who drank 4-6 cups a day. Again, decaf showed a similar, though slightly smaller benefit. Antioxidants are once again thought to provide the benefit.
Other conditions: Coffee drinking has also been shown to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease (caffeinated only), Alzheimer’s, Liver Cancer and Stroke.
What to look out for
Heartburn/Esophagus: With all that acid, you would think coffee is a major cause of heartburn and esophageal problems, but the evidence doesn’t back that up. If coffee bothers you, it may be too hot, which is certainly bad for your body as hot drinks do damage the esophagus. If drinking cold or warm coffee still bothers you, try decaf as some people are bothered by the acidity.
High Blood Pressure/Arrhythmia: Caffeine is a stimulant and does raise epinephrine, or adrenaline, levels in the short term, so caffeinated coffee can be a bad idea if blood pressure is a risk. Again, the studies don’t show coffee drinking consistently raises blood pressure or contributes to heartbeat irregularities, but decaf is a safer bet.
Bone loss: Coffee can interfere with calcium absorption, so if you are a coffee drinker, take a calcium supplement at a different time of day.
Anxiety: Caffeine can make some people jittery. If this is you, try decaf.
Dehydration: Coffee is a diuretic, like tea, but the body appears to adjust and when urine is tested, it appears the same when people drink coffee or water. I personally drink between a quart and a half gallon of water a day, and I encourage my patients to drink water liberally. I can’t really buy that coffee is as beneficial for hydration, but I’m prepared to be wrong.
To sum up, coffee, preferably organic, and brewed with a filter, is good for you. Go easy on the sugar and dairy, drink decaf if you want, and enjoy!
Dr. Goodman practices in Bristol and Bloomfield and is the author of The Omega Solution, an evidence based guide to the health benefits of essential fatty acids. Visit his website at drgoodmannd.com.