Coffee: Good News Is Filtering Through

BY JULIA SLATER

Did You Know? It is said that a goat herder in Ethiopia discovered coffee about 500 BC, when he noticed that his animals became livelier after eating the red berries of a particular bush. Today it is grown in over 70 countries. Arabica beans represent 70% of the world's coffee products and are grown at altitudes over 2,000 feet above sea level. Arabica beans produce a higher quality, more flavourful and aromatic coffee, with approximately half the caffeine content of the Robusta bean. Robusta beans are grown at altitudes under 2,000 feet above sea level and are easier to grow. The coffee bushes produce higher crop yields and are more disease resistant. Source: Coffee Association of Canada According to Oxfam, buying fair-trade coffee is the only way to guarantee that a reasonable wage goes to the world’s 25 million coffee farmers. Oxfam says coffee prices have reached a 30-year low causing widespread poverty among growers.

For those of us who depend on our daily dose of java, the evidence is in: Coffee, in moderation, is not bad for you. In fact, some studies indicate it may even have some health benefits.

More than 19,000 dietary caffeine studies have been done, and many experts agree that moderate daily caffeine intake – 300 to 400 milligrams, about 3 to 4 cups of coffee – is not harmful. Here’s more good news about coffee:

Coffee and Cancer

The Iowa Women's Health Study investigated caffeine intake and postmenopausal breast cancer incidence among 34,388 Iowa women aged 55 to 69. No association was found between coffee and breast cancer. Similarly, a Harvard study of almost 122,000 nurses found that those who drank coffee had lower rates of breast cancer than those who drank no coffee.

A recent study of 61,000 Swedish women over nine years concluded that coffee does not cause colorectal cancer. Several studies have found that coffee drinkers may even have a lower risk of colorectal cancer, but results have not been consistent.

Although some studies have shown that excessive coffee drinking could cause bladder cancer, others have found that it is more likely the excessive smoking along with the coffee that causes this type of cancer.

Caffeine and Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous disease that destroys dopamine-producing brain cells. The resulting symptoms are tremor, a slowing of movement, weakness and facial paralysis. Researchers believe that caffeine’s helpful effect may be that it reduces the amount of dopamine depleted from the brain.

A Harvard School of Public Health study published about five years ago reported that men who drank four to five cups of caffeinated coffee a day cut the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease nearly in half compared to men who consumed little or no caffeine daily. Women who consumed between one and three cups a day also cut their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease when compared to women who drank less than a cup a day. But this apparent benefit was lost at higher levels of intake.

Caffeine and Osteoporosis

Although caffeine causes more calcium to be excreted in the urine, the Osteoporosis Society of Canada says that two or three cups of coffee are not harmful if you get enough calcium in your daily diet. Dietitians recommend drinking a glass of milk for every mug of coffee, or having a café au lait or latte (preferably with skim milk to keep the fat content down).

Coffee and Cirrhosis of the Liver

A study at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California that looked at seven years of data found that coffee drinking might protect against alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Studies in Italy and Japan have also indicated that coffee may prevent cirrhosis of the liver, a disease causing damage and scarring of the liver tissue, and progressive decreasing liver function.

Caffeine and Heart Disease

European studies have shown that coffee consumption may increase serum cholesterol levels. However, that is due not to the caffeine but to the cafestol and kahweol found in the coffee’s oils. When drinking boiled, unfiltered coffee, as more Europeans do, these substances remain. If you drink instant or filtered drip coffee, as Canadians typically do, odds are you’re not increasing your serum cholesterol levels. That’s because filters remove most of these substances, as does the process that goes into making instant coffee.

A Harvard study of 45,589 men, published in 1990, found no link between excessive coffee drinking and heart disease.

Caffeine and Pregnancy

In 1980 pregnant women were warned to avoid caffeine due to concerns that it could result in low birth weight and miscarriages — caffeine easily crosses the placenta, and fetuses and newborns don’t have enough of the enzymes needed to metabolize it. But the low-birth-weight theory has been difficult to prove since maternal smoking, a known cause of low birth weight, can confuse the results of studies.

The association between caffeine and miscarriages continues to be researched. Studies have found that while caffeine intake before and during pregnancy appears to be associated with increased miscarriages, several factors could cause a false association, including the effects of morning sickness or nausea, the number of cigarettes smoked and the amount of alcohol consumed.

The Motherisk program at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children analyzed a large number of studies and concluded that there is “a small but statistically significant increase in risk of spontaneous abortion and low-birth-weight babies in pregnant women consuming more than 150 milligrams of caffeine a day,” or more than one to two cups a day, depending on the coffee’s strength.