We love to think that our vices are secretly good for us. We believe that chocolate is good for your health (even dark chocolate is very sweet), that red wine is like a panacea (no), and these days, coffee can protect you from illness. . Dozens of headlines have reported on the study, which found a link between moderate coffee intake and reduced risk of dementia. Another study published in September published an article about how coffee is good for your heart. Another small study also made news in August by showing that increased caffeine intake was very vaguely associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease in a cohort of 263 people.
I’ve been writing about this issue, the idea that coffee may have amazing health benefits, for nearly a decade. More studies are being published, but the essence never changes. In these studies, the authors typically obtained large (or not-so-large) databases of people who were asked various questions about what they eat and drink. Typically, one or two of these questions will ask you how much coffee you drink each day. These people are then followed up for years. Researchers are examining whether self-reported coffee intake at the start of the study is associated with future disease risk.
The problem is that this type of research has many weaknesses. People are bad at reporting how much they eat and drink. Notorious. There are hundreds of scientific studies showing this. People’s reports vary by season, by how much they’ve eaten recently, and by which foods they’re asked about. Occasional surveys are generally not a good basis for knowing how much people eat each day. (Do you remember what you ate last week? How was the week before?). Unfortunately, there is no other practical way to obtain this information. So we have to accept that these large studies, even with complex statistical corrections, may not be adequately measuring the amount of coffee people drink. How much coffee do people estimate they drink?
These studies also provide limited information about cause and effect. Moderate (self-reported) coffee intake (usually defined as about 2 to 3 cups per day) is associated with better health outcomes than drinking no coffee at all or very large amounts. I can say with considerable certainty that it is. But even if we take self-reported data at face value, that doesn’t necessarily mean coffee improves health. Many of these studies are not good enough to provide useful data on whether coffee is providing any benefit or just that people who drink moderate amounts of coffee are healthier on average in many ways than non-coffee drinkers. It’s just that the design isn’t robust. None or loaded.
Recent research suggests that coffee is good for you. Well, bad news about that. During the Vietnam War, a mysterious American gave birth to a child with his grandmother, then disappeared. I learned the true story decades later. Well, should we be worried about McDonald’s because of E. coli? Forget about meme stocks — gold is going to the moon
We have several intervention studies investigating coffee and various health outcomes. These are studies that give people coffee or a placebo and follow up after a few weeks to see what happens to their health. However, a large review analyzing these interventions found no benefits (or harms) for heart health. There are some implications for short-term adverse effects on diabetics, although these are partially disputed by other studies.
Therefore, we can say with some certainty that people who drink several cups of coffee a day are, on average, very healthy. What we can’t say with confidence is whether coffee is causing the change or whether other factors are at play. Even when people are given coffee in a controlled clinical setting, there isn’t much evidence that coffee has any health benefits.
Personally, I was relieved by this news. why? Well, there isn’t much data showing that coffee has health benefits, but there’s also no data showing it’s harmful to your health. In fact, if you look at the big picture of scientific research on coffee as a whole, it shows that in moderate amounts, coffee is essentially neutral, with potential benefits that balance out any possible harms. You can see that there is.
riley black
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My opinion, as a coffee drinker and a professional with a keen interest in this issue, is that there doesn’t really seem to be a health reason to drink or avoid coffee. There is certainly evidence that drinking large amounts of coffee is bad for you, and drinking 8 to 10 cups a day (where one cup is defined in most studies as one standard 8-ounce serving) If so, you may want to cut down on the amount of coffee you drink. . At the very least, that much coffee can affect your sleep.
But if you don’t drink coffee, there’s no need to start drinking coffee unless you want to. Either way, it doesn’t seem to have a big impact on your health, so there’s no need to worry. I take my own advice and go for a second drink.
