Coffee is good for U

[Bravus]

Sorry George, we agree on most things, but 50% of the original caffiene remaining is simply not true. 1-2% is the usual figure.

[JawgeFromJawja]

I read a study once about beneficial properties of coffee and it did note that caffeinated coffee produced greater benefits than decaf but decaf did provide the same benefits just on a smaller scale. Now I don't recall specifically which properties those were. It does make sense that caffiene would act as a catalyst. Caffeine moves the contents of our stomachs into our blood quicker. So if there is something good about coffee, caffiene would get more of that "good" stuff into our blood quicker. If there is something "bad" about cola (i.e. color additive) the caffiene would get more of that bad stuff into our blood. So when we look at long term effects, caffeine may just be a catalyst. The short term effects I listed above are enough for me to avoid it. I have had palpitations caused by anxiety and caffeine has been linked directly to those. I also find when I drink caffeine I have a harder time getting to sleep, I toss and turn more and sometimes have to get up to urinate. When I avoid caffeine I fall asleep normally within 5 minutes and don't usually wake up until it is time to get up.

I have always encouraged medical lay people to research questions about health in the National Library of Medicine, an operation of the National Institutes of health. This is yours, a public resource. All peer reviewed medical journals of the whole world, many text books, and other sources of information are indexed there. The indices originated during the middle 19th century (1800 s). Initially, the services are not easy to use, but the government provides a lay-oriented gateway, PubMed, that is reasonably easy to navigate. With a little experience and practice, anyone with a well grounded high school education can learn to gimp through the current research of modern medicine. Most of the SEVERAL MILLION world journals of health care articles have summaries with a conclusion. This is free. If the summary appears to suggest significant results, full article reprints are available, some free, and some at rather hefty prices, up to $21.00 per full article.

Even for my office based medical work, I usually found the summaries quite sufficient.

So lemme suggest to all of you who are interested. Do your own health care literature reviews on everything relevant to the Adventist health message. There is no button or switch on the governmental website that will cause the whole world to blow up. And use of the NIH sites does not place you on some frightful governmental surveillance list. Of course, such fears are similar to the fears of anyone just beginning to explore computer technology - remember your early days? (Unless you grew up with computer technology.)

I would suggest topics such as these:

caffeine and health; caffeine and cardiovascular disease;

health benefits of caffeine; detrimental effects of caffeine;

health benefits of coffee (tea); coffee and tea in health care;

Etc, etc, etc.

Then expand your searches to nutritional concerns, alcohol, sex, work, rest, faith and health, prayer and healing, etc, etc, etc. Believe it or not, all such subjects are covered.

Keep in mind, The National Library of Medicine is your own resource. Don't waste it: use it.

Jawge

[JawgeFromJawja]

I just love these study's. There is no doubt that there is some good, but how about all the negative's? The thing is there are better things to help with prostate cancer and don't have negative's for other things like Shane has already mentioned. And in studies from years ago its been said that coffee increases your bad colesterol levels.

I don't think so. Even so, gimme the references for this if you indeed have them.

Jawge

[Tom Wetmore]

In addition to those improved mortality studies and solid evidence of benefit for those in certain risk categories, which I am in, I had in mind a much more basic life saving benefit of coffee that seems to be lost sight of and a primary reason many people drink it. I know from direct personal experience that it works and I am alive to say so.

There is a basic principle of driving, especially if one is on two wheels. It is simply - Stay alert, stay alive. Paying attention prevents accidents and not doing so causes accidents. If you are not alert you are not paying the necessary and full attention to drive safely. It only takes a second to doze off and have an accident. (Another driver dozed off and ran into me totaling my truck and $4000 damage to a third vehicle a couple weeks ago. A niece and her boyfriend are lucky to be alive after a driver dozed off crossed the center line and hit them head on at 50 mph this past year.) Driving while sleepy is as dangerous as driving drunk. Thousands die as a result. And from years of experience and hundreds of thousands of miles, I know that consuming coffee has kept me alert and out of trouble on the roads, without question.

[JawgeFromJawja]

Originally Posted By: pkrause

... And in studies from years ago its been said that coffee increases your bad colesterol levels.

Apparently using a paper filter rather than just a mesh one in your percolator will fix that by capturing the oils in the coffee.

This advice assumes that the oils in coffee are unhealthy. Many studies over the past decade have shown that all too many Americans get most of their (healthy) antioxidants from coffee and tea. Do these antioxidants reside in the coffee (tea)oils?

Jawge

[Guest]

If you're not addicted to caffeine, you don't need it to stay alert. I don't have any problem whatsoever staying alert when I'm on two wheels, which is every day almost. Starting at 5:00 am.

[Bravus]

Actually, one of the papers in the list of 10 I posted showed that there is no difference in the benefits for alertness yielded by coffee for those habituated and not habituated.

Check the evidence.

[Guest]

I'm not saying it won't make you alert even if you are not a coffee drinker. Of course it will. Even more so! What I AM saying, is that the only people I've ever known who NEEDED coffee to stay alert, are the ones who have to have it in order to function properly. Otherwise it's just not necessary. Period.

[Twilight II]

Here is a scientific test I have personally carried out.

1. Give up caffeine for several years.

2. Drink a cup of tea or coffee.

3. Observe in a very short period the following effects:

i) The room starts to spin.

ii) The heart is stimulated to a very rapid rate.

iii) A headache ensues afterwards.

My scientific conclusion.

Drinking caffeine causes physical pain.

Drinking caffeine is bad because it causes physical pain.

Caffeine = pain.

Therefore Caffeine is not good for you.

Its a bit like arguing that hitting your head against a brick wall is good for you...

[Overaged]

Which you have so far failed to show is anything but an excellent and reliable study...

Actually; you have not showed us why they are so "excellent" and "reliable" for what? You have treated these studies as FACT that says coffee is definitely a healthy substance to drink; but as I have already pointed out, the strongest words used in the studies I have read say "may" benefit. It is important to recognize that the many known contraindications for drinking this stuff are not in the least addressed by your "citations" and studies. You claim to want "the truth" here; yet this truth is only in the infancy of it's development, and it is dangerous to make the sweeping assumptions about coffee that you have made here. People could die because of what you are preaching here.

[Guest]

Its a bit like arguing that hitting your head against a brick wall is good for you...

But what if the person NEEDS to hit their head on that brick wall in order to know they are alive, or to stay awake? There's where the difference lies. LOL

[Twilight II]

Originally Posted By: Twilight II

Its a bit like arguing that hitting your head against a brick wall is good for you...

But what if the person NEEDS to hit their head on that brick wall in order to know they are alive, or to stay awake. There's where the difference lies. LOL

But don't you know, hitting your head against a brick wall has been known to have positive benefits?

It speeds up the heart, increases ones awareness of pain and increases the chances of social isolation.

If you do it often and long enough it will prevent you getting cancer...

[Guest]

I see your point. Maybe I should try it.

[Overaged]

I see your point. Maybe I should try it.

[Twilight II]

I see your point. Maybe I should try it.

I can guarantee if you do it long enough and hard enough, you will definitely not need to worry about prostate cancer, in fact within a couple of hours, that fear will be ever distant from you.

[Guest]

[Twilight II]

OA, it might be me, but I see a logical flaw in point 4 of your stress reduction kit.

Am I missing something?

[Overaged]

[Twilight II]

I know, I know, I shouldn't tease.

But come on folks.

When you use a substance that gives obvious physical discomfort, that is your bodies way of saying:

"This isn't good for you..."

So when a "harvard study" waffles on about the possible benefit of coffee, I must admit, that I do in fact find it hard not to indulge in a little humour...

[Guest]

But I can see where it really does have it's benefits, and can even save lives. Reminds of the Heroin junkie who was in severe withdrawals, and getting ready to die. Someone came along and gave him a fix, and sure enough, it saved his life.

Which brings me back to my original point. If you're not addicted to caffeine, then you don't NEED it to stay alert. Plain and simple.

[Twilight II]

It is the pious parading of science falsely so called that seems ever present, that I take issue with. :-)

[Overaged]

Here is a scientific test I have personally carried out.

1. Give up caffeine for several years.

2. Drink a cup of tea or coffee.

3. Observe in a very short period the following effects:

i) The room starts to spin.

ii) The heart is stimulated to a very rapid rate.

iii) A headache ensues afterwards.

My scientific conclusion.

Drinking caffeine causes physical pain.

Drinking caffeine is bad because it causes physical pain.

Caffeine = pain.

Therefore Caffeine is not good for you.

Its a bit like arguing that hitting your head against a brick wall is good for you...

[Overaged]

It is the pious parading of science falsely so called that seems ever present, that I take issue with. :-)

[Bravus]

1-2% and 4% are not 50%. I was not making a strong claim for 1-2%, I was making a strong claim against 50%.

My main source was Wikipedia, but common sense plays a role too. I could cite 100 sources and none of them would say decaf has 50% of the caffiene of normal coffee.

[Overaged]

1-2% and 4% are not 50%. I was not making a strong claim for 1-2%, I was making a strong claim against 50%.

My main source was Wikipedia, but common sense plays a role too. I could cite 100 sources and none of them would say decaf has 50% of the caffiene of normal coffee.