“This
study provides further evidence that moderate consumption of coffee may confer
health benefits in terms of reducing premature death due to several diseases.
These data support the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Report that concluded
that ‘moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy dietary
pattern”
Professor of nutrition
and epidemiology and Senior author Frank Hu on the landmark study from Harvard
University Chan School of Public Health on the long term health risks of coffee
drinking
Some
interesting new research has come out that seems to run counter to common
sense.
Researchers
at the Harvard University Chan School of Public Health has published a long
term study that seems to suggest that heavy coffee drinkers are less likely to
die from hereditary lifestyle diseases as reported in the article “Coffee-drinkers
less likely to die from certain diseases”, published Monday, November 16,
2015, The Jamaica Observer.
Their
research paper, published in the November 16 edition of the journal
Circulation, specifically suggests that drinking three to five cups of coffee
per day reduces the risk of premature death from:
1.
Diabetes
2.
Heart disease
3.
Parkinson's disease
4.
Suicide
Alas
don't get too happy; caffeine is still dangerous as explained in my blog article
entitled “FDA
to regulate Caffeine after Ohio Resident overdoses and dies - How Chocolate and
Cocoa are healthier alternatives as No Caffeine High from Dark Chocolate” and
there's no protection from cancer.
The
study seems legitimate enough. So why did the Researchers at the Harvard
University Chan School of Public Health get these results?
Harvard University Chan
School of Public Health says Coffee reduces hereditary lifestyle risk - Why
Killer Beans may be Good for you
The
study was based on data gathered from three large, ongoing surveys over a
period of thirty (30) years as noted in the article “Moderate
coffee drinking may lower risk of premature death”, published November 16,
2015, Harvard School of Public Health.
The
Group being studied was a large group, with some 300,000 nurses and other
health professionals broken into three (3) groups as follows:
1.
74,890 women in the Nurses’ Health Study
2.
93,054 women in the Nurses’ Health Study
2
3.
40,557 men in the Health Professionals
Follow-up Study
During
the thirty (30) years the study was being conducted, 19,524 women and 12,432
men died from a range of causes wish the study did not account for as being
connected to their coffee intake.
They
also were representative of persons from different socio-economic backgrounds
and agreed to answer questionnaires and track their medical conditions and
habits at regular intervals during the 30 year period.
The
entire group was divided into three groups; one control group of non-coffee
drinkers and two experimental groups, one that drank coffee moderately i.e. 2
cups a day and another group of heavy coffee drinkers i.e. 3 to five cups a
day.
Despite
these considerations, the study is also more of a correlation, as it didn't
establish a cause-and-effect for coffee and the reduced likelihood of certain
diseases. Also despite the researchers accounting for risk factors such as
smoking, body mass index, exercise, alcohol consumption, and diet, the
participants might have fudge the results to make themselves look healthier.
The
fact that this was a self-reported survey where the participants reported what
they consumed rather than being monitored under controlled conditions like lab
rats suggests this was possible. After all, the 300,000 strong surveyed are
mostly health professionals!
However,
it does suggests increase coffee intake, be it decaffeinated or caffeinated,
was connected to the reduction of premature death from the hereditary lifestyle
diseases listed above.
Also
it doesn’t explain why moderate drinkers also benefitted and why heavy drinkers
showed increased benefits from coffee to quote the abstract: “In the whole
study population, moderate coffee consumption was associated with reduced risk
of death from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological diseases such as
Parkinson's disease, and suicide”
Coffee’s hidden
benefits – New Elixer of youth yet to be discovered in the killer beans
Quite
simply, it indicates that something is in the coffee that's good for you.
We
already know that caffeine in excess is bad, which is why it's on the FDA (Food
and Drug Administration) banned list as explained in my blog article
entitled “FDA
to regulate Caffeine after Ohio Resident overdoses and dies - How Chocolate and
Cocoa are healthier alternatives as No Caffeine High from Dark Chocolate”.
Regular
consumption of coffee is good for you; just don't drink it if you're pregnant
women or below the age of 18, to quote professor of nutrition and epidemiology
at Harvard and lead author, Dr. Frank Hu: “Regular consumption of coffee can be
included as part of a healthy, balanced diet. However, certain populations such
as pregnant women and children should be cautious about high caffeine intake
from coffee or other beverages”.
So
apparently other chemicals in the coffee are helping to extend the lives of
coffee drinkers a postulated by first author Ming Ding, a doctoral student in
the Department of Nutrition, quote: “Bioactive compounds in coffee reduce
insulin resistance and systematic inflammation. That could explain some of our
findings. However, more studies are needed to investigate the biological
mechanisms producing these effects”.
Perhaps
a new drug that may be the elixer of youth and a clue to extended life waits to
be extracted from coffee beans. For that, further research is needed.
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