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Is caffeine actually good for you?

Puppycow

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Caffeine May Slow Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, Restore Cognitive Function, According to New Evidence

Mouse Study Suggests Caffeine Boosts Athletic Performance

And the best thing about the latter study:
Currently, caffeine is not listed as a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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And to think that they made decaf for people who wanted a healthier alternative.

More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee

There are some studies suggesting benefits and others suggesting risks, but the benefits seem to outweigh the risks.
 
The apparent health effects of coffee may not all be the caffeine. There's a lot of chemicals in coffee, and researchers suspect that some benefits may come from the other ones.
 
It boost physical and cognitive performance. On the downside, it is a mutagen, but it does not seem to be linked with cancer AFAIK. It can be habit forming though (and you build a tolerance), so IMO it should be used when needed and not all the time.
 
Conclusions
The data suggest a strong inverse association between coffee intake and risk of suicide. Whether regular intake of coffee or caffeine has clinically significant effects on the maintenance of affect or the prevention of depression merits further investigation in clinical trials and population-based prospective studies.
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http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/156/5/521
 
Scott Haley said:
The apparent health effects of coffee may not all be the caffeine. There's a lot of chemicals in coffee, and researchers suspect that some benefits may come from the other ones.
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Like decrease in risk of type 2 diabetes:
CONCLUSIONS—These results suggest that moderate consumption of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee may lower risk of type 2 diabetes in younger and middle-aged women. Coffee constituents other than caffeine may affect the development of type 2 diabetes.
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http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/2/398.short
 
I heard one of the authors of one of these studies on NPR the other day. Apparently the anti-Alzheimer's effect only kicks in at five cups a day! And since the studies were done on mice, their transferability to humans is somewhat questionable.
 
I was told by my allergist that coffee is very good for asthma, and to drink a cup every morning. I loved that man.
 
wolfgirl said:
And since the studies were done on mice, their transferability to humans is somewhat questionable.
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I'm taking no chances. Bring me another pot!

:D
I Ratant said:
.
I swam in the stuff for 40 years.
And got Type II anyway.
Still swimming. :)
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Whew, good thing. You might have had type 3 or even 4 if it wasn't for that coffee ;)
 
If five cups a day is good for you, then I should live to be 1,ooo years old.

/Been a heavy coffee drinker since I was 12 years old
 
Caffeine is very bad for me, and as for chocolate candy I have to eat very little, and always read the labels on soft drinks.

One cup of coffee will make my heart race, breathing difficult, I start to get numb in my fingers and toes, and shaky, it becomes hard to walk, and if there's much more caffeine in my system, I'll black out. :eek:
 
Moon-Spinner said:
One cup of coffee will make my heart race, breathing difficult, I start to get numb in my fingers and toes, and shaky, it becomes hard to walk, and if there's much more caffeine in my system, I'll black out. :eek:
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Whoa. :jaw-dropp Have you ever considered David Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks" segment?
 
And just what, pray tell, is wrong with being addicted to coffee? I figure I'm supporting a major portion of the Columbian economy.
Juan Valdez personally sent me a letter of thanks last year.
 
wolfgirl said:
I heard one of the authors of one of these studies on NPR the other day. Apparently the anti-Alzheimer's effect only kicks in at five cups a day! And since the studies were done on mice, their transferability to humans is somewhat questionable.
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And if you have the mice in a maze full of water.
 
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James Fox said:
Of note is that the study is currently "embargoed". I'm not sure what this means but it could indicate some faulty research or mistakes by the researchers.
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No, it means that the journal hasn't gone to press with the article yet, and doesn't want the authors or journalists to talk about it publicly until it does. But they will notify journalists of embargoed papers to give those journalists time to prepare stories for release when the paper is officially released. Basically, that pdf shouldn't have been made public, but it's an issue of timing, not of the content of the article.
 
Thanks, apparently the Seattle PI had no qualms about writing an article prior to publication.
 
For people with the genetic defect of muscle cells known as malignant hyperthermia, caffeine is very bad.

It has an incidence rate somewhere between 1 in 4,500 and 1 in 60,000. And since you need to perform a muscle biopsy to diagnose, most who have it don't know.
 
Moon-Spinner said:
Caffeine is very bad for me, and as for chocolate candy I have to eat very little, and always read the labels on soft drinks.

One cup of coffee will make my heart race, breathing difficult, I start to get numb in my fingers and toes, and shaky, it becomes hard to walk, and if there's much more caffeine in my system, I'll black out. :eek:
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Have you ever had a general anesthetic, and if yes, did you end up with a very high fever post op?
 
ThunderChunky said:
It boost physical and cognitive performance. On the downside, it is a mutagen, but it does not seem to be linked with cancer AFAIK. It can be habit forming though (and you build a tolerance), so IMO it should be used when needed and not all the time.
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Wait there is a difference?
 
If my wife drinks as little as one cup of coffee a day, she has headaches, some quite bad, almost every day. With a similar dose of caffeine provided by several cups of tea and soda throughout the day, this doesn't happen. So either the spike in caffeine or something else in coffee seems to be the problem.
 
Modified said:
If my wife drinks as little as one cup of coffee a day, she has headaches, some quite bad, almost every day. With a similar dose of caffeine provided by several cups of tea and soda throughout the day, this doesn't happen. So either the spike in caffeine or something else in coffee seems to be the problem.
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.
Check the sweetener. (If any, there's some with known side effects.)
One of the coffee kiosks at the Mall had a blend of something in theirs...either the coffee or the sweetener, which gave me problems.
Eschewing their product and going to the McDonald's coffee caused the problems to vanish.
 
Molinaro said:
Have you ever had a general anesthetic, and if yes, did you end up with a very high fever post op?
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I don't believe I've ever had a general anesthetic. I am also hypersensitive to medications, if there are any side effects to the meds, I get it really bad, sometimes so bad that I've ended up in the Emergency room - and of course, the doctor who prescribed the med doesn't believe that the med caused the problem (I have since switched doctors).
 
Modified said:
If my wife drinks as little as one cup of coffee a day, she has headaches, some quite bad, almost every day. With a similar dose of caffeine provided by several cups of tea and soda throughout the day, this doesn't happen. So either the spike in caffeine or something else in coffee seems to be the problem.
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Has she tried not taking any caffeine? It's possible that spreading the caffeine throughout the day in several doses ensures she always has enough in her blood to prevent the headaches. I would not rule out caffeine addiction based on the information in your post.
 
ThunderChunky said:
Has she tried not taking any caffeine? It's possible that spreading the caffeine throughout the day in several doses ensures she always has enough in her blood to prevent the headaches. I would not rule out caffeine addiction based on the information in your post.
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Yes, she has been completely off caffeine twice, each time for over a month, and that also eliminated the headaches. She's definitely addicted, but plenty of people are caffeine addicted and don't have headaches.
 
Personally, I've always believed coffee isn't just good for me, it's downright GREAT!

And how dare you people question the allmighty coffee. The humanity...
 
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Coffee... Nectar of the ..... can't say that... Whatever.. It's great!
And so is chocolate!
 
BenBurch said:
Is that a particular syndrome?
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Yes, the malignant hyperthermia mentioned in the post above the one you quoted. With it, you react to both halothane (used in common general anesthetics) and to caffeine.
 
wolfgirl said:
I heard one of the authors of one of these studies on NPR the other day. Apparently the anti-Alzheimer's effect only kicks in at five cups a day! And since the studies were done on mice, their transferability to humans is somewhat questionable.
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I heard that same story. They also mentioned a Finnish study though that was done on human coffee drinkers, so the evidence is not just mouse-based.

I googled and found the text version of that story:

Nervous About Alzheimer's? Coffee May Help

There wouldn't be as much interest in Arendash's mice studies if scientists hadn't also begun to gather some evidence that a steady caffeine habit is beneficial to people, too.

One recent study comes from Finland where researchers followed about 1,400 coffee drinkers for more than two decades. Researchers found one group seemed to benefit the most: the people who'd been drinking three to five cups of coffee a day in their 40s and 50s.

"They had about a 65-to-70-percent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in their 70s," says Huntington Potter, a neurobiologist at the University of South Florida. Potters says effects held up even when researchers controlled for things such as cardiovascular disease, which can influence the risk of dementia.
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The take home is that regular use of caffeine produces no benefit to alertness, energy, or function. Regular caffeine users are simply staving off caffeine withdrawal with every dose – using caffeine just to return them to their baseline. This makes caffeine a net negative for alertness, or neutral at best if use is regular enough to avoid any withdrawal.

Meanwhile, regular caffeine use (even without withdrawal) can increase blood pressure, worsen headaches, cause palpitations, insomnia, and jitteriness. Intermittent use can also increase anxiety, although this study showed regular users become tolerant to this effect.
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From the Novella link earlier. I'll vouch for that. I used to be able to get up in the morning and be alert until I got addicted to coffee. Caffeine withdrawal is the worst for me :( I quite hate being addicted to it, but need to get going every morning, so haven't tried to quit.
 
I always drank lots of caffeine (via tea) for most of my life, but in the recent 5 years or so, I've had to be a lot more careful because of sleeplessness. Even if the other effects are good, not being able to get a good night's sleep can seriously decrease one's quality of life.
 
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