How Is Coffee Good for You?
A morning cup of coffee is great for waking up and starting the day. But otherwise how is coffee good for you? It turns out that coffee has a lot of health benefits. The benefits of drinking coffee range from living longer to reducing the risks of various diseases. According to The New York Times the more coffee you drink the better off you are. And this is true to a point.
Even The New York Times is jumping on the coffee band wagon with an article about coffee’s benefits. Here is a snippet of what they have to say.
Just last year, a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies looking at long-term consumption of coffee and the risk of cardiovascular disease was published. The researchers found 36 studies involving more than 1,270,000 participants. The combined data showed that those who consumed a moderate amount of coffee, about three to five cups a day, were at the lowest risk for problems. Those who consumed five or more cups a day had no higher risk than those who consumed none.
The author goes on to report research showing lower risk of cancer, depression, suicide, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Type II diabetes. In fact, recent studies show a reduced risk of death from all causes! So the benefits of drinking coffee include getting to drink it for more years!
Maximizing the Benefits of Drinking Coffee
CBS News reports on how to maximize the health benefits of coffee.
But heavy java drinkers beware: consuming coffee does come with diminishing returns. “There’s a U-shaped relationship, meaning if you have less than one or two cups a day, the benefits are weaker, but it also drops off if you have more than five or six cups a day,” Phillips said.
The point is that drinking three to five cups of coffee a days is good for you in many ways. Drinking a lot more is not any better and may even be associated with fewer benefits. Moderation in all things is required for the best benefits of drinking coffee.
Where Does Organic Coffee Fit into the Picture?
Think of healthy organic coffee as the cleanest and healthiest of the lot.
Organic coffee is typically Arabica coffee, the best tasting and most aromatic of al coffees. And organic coffee is commonly grown on small family farms where you are assured of the best quality beans and processing. Certified organic coffee is free of as many as 130 impurities that can be found in regular coffee.
The soil in which organic coffee is grown must have been verified as free from prohibited substances for at least three years. In addition there must be distinct boundaries between land on which organic coffee is grown and land where pesticides, herbicides, and prohibited chemical fertilizers are used. This guarantees that drift of substances sprayed or otherwise applied on adjacent land will not contaminate the organic plot of land. Organic coffee certification includes the adherence to a specific and verifiable plan for all practices and procedures from planting to crop maintenance, to harvest, de-husking, bagging, transport, roasting, packaging, and final transport. Along the way procedures must be in place at every step to insure that there is no contamination of the healthy organic coffee produced in pristine soil with regular coffee produced on soil exposed to herbicides, pesticides, and organic fertilizers.
As the experts say up to six cups of coffee a day provide increasing health benefits and the more organic coffee you drink the more free your coffee is of pesticides, herbicides and other unwanted ingredients.
How Was Your Coffee Processed?
After coffee is picked it is processed. How your coffee was processed affects the flavor and aroma of the final brew. Eater.com published a concise description of natural, washed and honey coffee processing.
A number of factors result in a bean’s suggested notes of caramel, stone fruit, pine nut, and sesame. Coffee flavor profiles have to do with genetic cultivars-Bourbon, Caturra, Castillo, and Gesha all carry distinct tastes. Elevation, also plays a role. Lower levels of oxygen in the air create a dense, more complex bean. But to tap into those flavors, coffee must first be transformed from its original state, as the seed of a fruit, into a roast-ready green bean. And how producers handle this transition has a lasting effect on the coffee.
The three processes are as follows:
Natural Process
During the natural drying process, the entire cherry is left intact. The soon-to-be coffee beans still nestled in the center absorb some of the characteristics of that sweet pulp and flavorful cherry skin, until the milling stage when the dried fruit and parchment layer surrounding the bean are hulled.
The pitfall of the natural process is that strong off-flavors known as ferment can happen if processing is not done with care and so-called stinkers are not removed. The flavor profile of natural processed coffees is commonly described as fruity, diverse and bold.
Wet Process
Washed process separates the bean from the cherry in a procedure called de-pulping. Coffee beans are placed into fermentation tanks, also known as wet mills, and the beans are de-pulped as they pass through a series of stations. First, directly after harvest, coffee cherries are dropped in a hopper at the top of a mill, and water carries the cherries to a holding tank. Any damaged, less dense floating cherries are skimmed off. The good cherries sink and are sent through a de-pulping device. From there the seeds are directed to a fermentation tank to rest for 36-72 hours.
A drawback to the wet process is excessive acidity if the processer does not watch the pH of the fermentation tank. Wet process coffee has more bean flavor and less flavor of the cherry. Common descriptors are well-balanced, complex and pronounced acidity.
Honey Process
Also known as pulped natural this process washes the coffee to loosen the mucilage but skips fermentation. The bean and clinging fruit are left to dry together.
The result is the sweetness consistent with the natural process but without the distinct fruit flavors. Commonly descriptors are jammy, sugary and creamy.
How Does Processing Affect Fermentation?
According to Dark Matter Coffee fermentation refers to the microbial action of yeasts and bacteria breaking down the sugars in the coffee berry or mucilage. How your coffee was processed determines the degree of fermentation.
Low Fermentation
The washed, or wet, process is a common practice all over the world. This process greatly controls fermentation.
Medium Fermentation
Pulped natural, semi-washed or honey processing are all moderately fermented to highlight sweetness and body.
High Fermentation
In the natural process producers pick ripened coffees and immediately spread them on patios or raised beds to be dried. This allows for fermentation to occur within each individual bean. Each cherry will have slight variances in sugar content, and therefore slight variances in fermentation will occur. To be successful, coffees must be picked at uniform ripeness to ensure that sugar content within each cherry is similar.
So long as your coffee was competently processed, all manners of processing are good. Just make sure that you ask for healthy organic coffee no matter how it was processed or roasted.
Coffee Reduces the Risk of Colorectal Cancer
There is yet another study showing a health benefit of drinking coffee. According to The Economic Times researchers in Sweden have shown than drinking coffee decreases the risk of colorectal cancer.
Coffee lovers, rejoice! Drinking coffee, including decaf, instant and black, may decrease the risk of colorectal cancer, according to a new study which found that the benefits increase with more consumption.
Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) examined over 5,100 men and women who had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer within the past six months, along with an additional 4,000 men and women with no history of colorectal cancer to serve as a control group.
This study reveals that drinking just a cup or two of coffee a day is related to a 26% reduction in your chances of developing colorectal cancer. And if you up your consumption to two and a half cups a day on the average your risk is reduced by 50%! And the benefits are the same for decaf as for regular coffee. The researchers mention the likely role of antioxidants in limiting the growth potential of colon cancer cells. Several years ago we published an article, More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Colon Cancer.
One of the antioxidants obtained during the process of roasting organic coffee may well reduce the risk of getting colon cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the USA. Methylpyridium is produced as a breakdown product of the antioxidant trigonelline during the roasting process for organic coffee. It is trigonelline, by the way, that gives coffee its aroma and slightly bitter taste.
For many years medical researchers have known that a set of enzymes in the human body, phase II enzymes have a protective effect. They help us avoid getting colon cancer. The higher the level of phase two enzymes you have the lower your risk is of getting colon cancer. Here is where [coffee] comes in. The methylpyridium produced as a natural byproduct of roasting organic coffee raises phase II enzyme levels. In fact more coffee means more methylpyridium which means higher levels of phase II enzymes.
This information is consistent with the fact that drinking more coffee further reduces the risk of colorectal cancer.
The More Coffee the Better?
According to NYMagazine a Harvard nutritionist gives you permission to drink 5 cups of coffee a day in regard to rumors about coffee affecting the lining of your stomach.
Not only is this stomach-lining claim not supported by any evidence – the bulk of the research on coffee highlights the drink’s benefits more than anything else. “Coffee, provided that it is minimally sweetened with sugar and not loaded with whipped cream, can definitely be part of a healthy diet,” Malik wrote. Whether caffeinated or decaf, it “contains a number of healthful vitamins and nutrients” – beyond that, research done by nutrition scientists at Harvard “have shown associations with reduced risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality.”
The best part, though, is this: These benefits are seen when a person consumes up to five cups of coffee per day.
While coffee reduces the risk of colorectal cancer it does a lot more as well. And it is coffee, not some vile tasting medicine. So, enjoy your java!
Maple Syrup Coffee Liqueur
Those who love coffee, rum and North Woods maple syrup will be pleased to know there is a maple syrup coffee liqueur. Liqueur coffee comes with various sources of alcohol but Ardilla Negra from the Black Squirrel Distillery is the first use of maple syrup for this purpose. Buffalo Rising reports that a local distillery in Buffalo, New York has a new coffee liqueur product, Ardilla Negra Maple Coffee Liqueur. By the way, ardilla negra is Spanish for black squirrel.
The Buffalo distillery that is known for ingeniously using NY State maple trees to create its line of spirits, has struck sugary gold again. Black Squirrel Distillery is unveiling its third distilled product in the form of Ardilla Negra Maple Coffee Liqueur. The distillery, discretely camouflaged at the corner of Elmwood and Amherst, first opened a little over a year ago. Since that time, the outfit has been busy producing its initial varietal, Aged Maple Spirit, along with its spin-off product, Mapleshine.
The newest distilled masterpiece to utilize Grade A New York State maple syrup is sure to become a household favorite in no time. According to the distillers, the maple has been blended with a proprietary cold brew coffee blend and aged Caribbean rum, giving the concoction a completely unique flavor profile that will appeal to a wide variety of coffee, maple and/or rum fans.
If you want more info go to the Black Squirrel Distillery page. And if you are considering innovative ways to serve Ardilla Negra Maple Coffee Liqueur read a few of our articles about various coffee drinks with alcohol.
Irish Coffee
Irish coffee has been around for quite some time. We wrote about making the organic variety. But you can modify this recipe with maple syrup liqueur.
Organic All the Way
Start your organic Irish coffee with Panama Mountain Grown organic coffee or coffee from Colombia. You can order organic whiskey from http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/ if they do not have any at your local liquor store. Use organic brown sugar and organic whipping cream. Because of all the cooler ingredients you will be adding make sure that you start with hot coffee poured into a pre-heated glass. For each cup of organic Irish coffee use the following:
- Coffee mug (A glass mug is traditional.)
- Tablespoon
- 4 ounces of hot coffee freshly ground and brewed organic coffee
- 1 ounce of organic, preferably Irish, whiskey
- 2 teaspoonful of brown sugar
- 1 ounce of organic double cream whipped just lightly
The Steps
- Have everything ready.
- Warm your coffee mug.
- Put the brown sugar into the glass and then add the hot organic coffee.
- Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the whiskey and stir again.
- Add the cream by pouring gently over the back side of the tablespoon so that the whipped cream sits on top of the coffee.
- A little cinnamon and or nutmeg sprinkled on top of the whipped cream are an American addition to this treat and are optional.
If you want to spruce up your maple syrup coffee liqueur, consider using this liqueur instead of Irish whiskey and skipping the brown sugar.
How Can You Detect Counterfeit Coffee?
The best coffee is Arabica coffee. The coffee with the most caffeine per bean is Robusta coffee.
If you are looking for a pick me up, robusta coffee beans contain more caffeine than Arabica beans. And Robusta coffee futures are sitting at around $1.10 a pound while Arabica futures are more than $2 a pound for lowest quality Arabica beans. So why buy Arabica coffee? People buy Arabica coffee because it tastes better and has a better aroma. Arabica is higher quality coffee than Robusta.
As high quality coffee becomes more popular and profitable to see there is a temptation for coffee traders to mix a few Robusta beans in with the Arabica to increase their profits. If they go too far you can taste the difference but how can you detect counterfeit coffee before the coffee fails the taste test?
Chemistry to the Rescue
According to The Washington Post scientists are using chemistry to fight off counterfeit coffee.
The Robusta species of coffee bean (which, as its name suggests, is quite resilient to disease and adverse growing conditions) is cheaper than the complex Arabica bean, so the former is frequently used in instant coffee. In a study published earlier this month in the journal Food Chemistry, Italian researchers analyzed each bean – and came up with a chemical that could be used to tell the percentage of each species of bean in blends. The scientists think their method is cheaper than current blend identification methods, and could help brewers catch coffee traders who mislabel their blends – which is especially important given the rising popularity of specialty coffee among Americans.
The group observed 20 times more homostachydrine (a harmless, naturally occurring chemical) in the Robusta beans than in the Arabica beans. They also noted that the chemical remained even after roasting. Servillo’s team was able to use the chemical to verify the percentage of each bean advertised in store-bought blends, like “100 percent Arabica” vs. “60 percent Arabica, 40 percent Robusta.”
Although this test would be useful for coffee roasters to spot check shipments it is too expensive for individuals or even coffee shops to test for the percentage of Robusta beans in a batch. As noted in the article anyone with a few thousand bucks, lab goggles and a chemistry kit could try out this process to check for the percentage of Robusta beans in a one pound bag. For us mere mortals it comes down to taste and aroma. Arabica has the distinctive set of flavors that coffee lovers crave while Robusta has the punch that keeps you awake on a long drive across the American heartland. We recently wrote about Death Wish Coffee which is enhanced with Robusta.
If you watched Super Bowl 50 you may have seen the commercial for Death Wish Coffee. Vikings rowing a long boat on a stormy sea that turns out to be… Death Wish Coffee! So what’s with Death Wish Coffee? Forbes published an article about the commercial, the company and a small business ended up with a Super Bowl commercial.
Mike Brown, the founder and owner of Death Wish Coffee, a blend with twice the amount of caffeine of most coffees, won a contest for small business owners who wanted to advertise during the Super Bowl. In the commercial a Viking ship forges through stormy seas, which turn into a river of strong brew that flows into the mouth of a satisfied coffee drinker. The contest sponsor, Intuit QuickBooks, paid for the production plus the cost to air it during the Super Bowl, a reported $5 million for 30 seconds.
Mr. Brown started packaging and selling his coffee online in an attempt to add some profit to his coffee shop business. While the commercial was running the visits on his web site went up to 10,000 a minute and his sales have doubled. But, what’s with Death Wish Coffee and why is it so strong?
It’s the Robusta!
Coffee for the Perfect Nap
If you are really tired it helps to take a nap or drink a cup of coffee. But who would have thought that combining the two produces optimal results. It turns out that you drink coffee for the perfect nap. Vox writes about coffee naps.
If you’re feeling sleepy and want to wake yourself up – and have 20 minutes or so to spare before you need to be fully alert – there’s something you should try. It’s more effective than drinking a cup of coffee or taking a quick nap.
It’s drinking a cup of coffee and then taking a quick nap. This is called a coffee nap.
It might sound crazy: conventional wisdom is that caffeine interferes with sleep. But if you caffeinate immediately before napping and sleep for 20 minutes or less, you can exploit a quirk in the way both sleep and caffeine affect your brain to maximize alertness.
Here is how it works.
Caffeine and Adenosine
When you drink coffee and it enters your blood stream it eventually arrives in your brain which is where it exerts its wake up effect. Caffeine fits onto chemical receptors that normally accept the molecule adenosine. Adenosine is a byproduct of activity in the brain and when it accumulates in the receptors you get tired. Caffeine blocks the ability of adenosine to build up in the receptors and make you feel tired!
Naps and Adenosine
The body’s natural way to clean adenosine from the “tired” receptors is to sleep. When you take a nap your body starts clearing adenosine from the receptors and when you drink coffee before the nap you further clear out the adenosine as caffeine competes for the receptor sites. So what are the results of using coffee for the perfect nap?
Testing the Nap and Caffeine Hypothesis
Researchers report in Psychophysiology that caffeine and a nap improved performance in a driving simulator in a paper titled Counteracting driver sleepiness: effects of napping, caffeine and placebo.
Caffeine and nap significantly reduced driving impairments, subjective sleepiness, and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity indicating drowsiness.
So if you want wake up refreshed and able to do your work more effectively consider coffee for the perfect nap.
Coffee, Nap and Better Memory
Japanese researchers looked at the alerting effects of caffeine combined with a nap followed by bright light and face washing.
The effects of a short nap against mid-afternoon sleepiness could be enhanced by combining caffeine intake, exposure to bright light, or face washing.
Although all measures were useful the best combination was a cup of coffee immediately followed by a nap.
But Not Too Long a Nap
The one pitfall in using coffee for the perfect nap is that if you sleep past twenty minutes or so you enter deeper stages of sleep and rather than waking up refreshed and able to perform better at the task at hand you wake up later on not remembering where you are and why you are there! Coffee provides the perfect nap but make sure it is just a nap.
Coffee: the Wonder Drug
There is abundant evidence that drinking coffee is good for you? But how much coffee should you drink to obtain the various benefits that coffee offers? Bloomberg Business weighs in on this issue with an article entitled How to Transform Your Coffee into a Wonder Drug.
Coffee lovers of the world know that their morning cup contains a substance to be reckoned with. Caffeine is so effective at juicing our energy and productivity that until 2004, its intake was restricted by the International Olympic Committee. But the original performance-enhancing drug doesn’t just provide a jolt to athletes.
But while caffeine is best known for its ability to keep us awake and alert-more than a few of you are likely reading this piece with a cup of coffee in one hand-research suggests it can sharpen performance across an astonishing range of tasks. As with most things, though, it’s easy to overdo it and negate those positive effects. Here’s how, and when, to dose yourself with coffee just right.
It turns out that coffee works better if you are not tired! It has to do with brain chemistry. And if you want to improve longer term memory over a 24 hour period, drink coffee. This particular info comes from a study published in Nature Neuroscience regarding caffeine and memory consolidation in humans.
It is currently not known whether caffeine has an enhancing effect on long-term memory in humans. We used post-study caffeine administration to test its effect on memory consolidation using a behavioral discrimination task. Caffeine enhanced performance 24 h after administration according to an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve; this effect was specific to consolidation and not retrieval. We conclude that caffeine enhanced consolidation of long-term memories in humans.
Want to remember what is going on? Drink coffee.
Coffee Fosters Cooperation as Well
Another interesting study cited in the Bloomberg Business article has to do with people being more cooperative after drinking coffee. Nutritional Neuroscience reported that caffeinated coffee enhances co-operative behavior.
The present study examined the effects of caffeinated coffee on antidepressant-related co-operative behavior. Seventy-seven low-caffeine users took part in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study of single dose of caffeinated coffee (150 mg caffeine) and decaffeinated coffee (9 mg caffeine) with at least a 3-day washout period. In each session, participants were asked to imagine a fictitious person and play the Mixed Motive Game with that person 45 min after coffee consumption. Heart rate, blood pressure, and state moods were measured at baseline and at 45 min post-coffee consumption. After caffeinated coffee, participants exhibited significantly higher blood pressure. They also allocated significantly fewer scores to themselves and sent significantly more sadness message during the game. These results suggest that caffeinated coffee may help to improve social support and depressive symptoms.
Do you want workers in your business to cooperate with each other? Keep the coffee pot full!
And Much More
Coffee works on the adenosine system which has important functions throughout the brain so it is not surprising that everything from typing speed to overall creativity are improved by coffee. And, by the way, don’t forget that coffee reduces the risk of various cancers, Type II diabetes, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
Do Coffee Go Cubes Really Help Cognitive Performance?
A new product on the coffee scene is the Go Cube. This is a chewable cube that contains caffeine and has the texture of a gum drop. Oddity Central says it is a way to kick start your day.
San Francisco entrepreneurs Geoffrey Woo and Michael Brandt have come up with a revolutionary way for coffee lovers to get their early morning caffeine fix – chewable caffeine cubes. Each 35-calorie bite-sized ‘Go Cube’ is the equivalent of drinking roughly half a cup of coffee. So if you’re running late with no time to brew a fresh cuppa joe, just pop two cubes and you’re good to go.
Go Cubes are 100 percent vegan, made of a special blend of compounds that improve memory and alertness. With a texture similar to gum drops, each cube contains 50 mg of caffeine, 10 mg of Vitamin B6, and 100 mg of L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea. B6 helps aid cognitive function, while theanine helps reduce the anxiety associated with a pure caffeine buzz. They also contain about six grams of sugar per cube, and come in three different flavors – pure drip, latte, and mocha.
Is this just another variation on No Doze pills or do coffee Go Cubes really help cognitive performance. We know that coffee helps us wake up and we know that coffee before exercise helps athletic performance as well.
According to CNN.com there are five reasons to drink coffee before your workout.
A Spanish study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, found that trained athletes who took in caffeine pre-exercise burned about 15% more calories for three hours post-exercise, compared to those who ingested a placebo.
According to the report the necessary amount of caffeine to gain this effect is 4.5 mg per kilogram of body weight. For a 154 pound person this comes to 250 mg of caffeine in a 12 ounce cup. Additionally researchers in Japan have shown that blood flow is increased for an hour and a quarter after drinking coffee with caffeine. And, it turns out that drinking two to three cups of coffee before exercise resulted in less perceived pain from a hard workout.
But, do coffee Go Cubes really help cognitive performance? What does vitamin B6 do to aid cognitive performance and how might theanine help cognition?
What Researchers Say about B6 and Cognitive Function
As far back as 2003 researchers reviewed studies relating to B6 and cognitive function. Their findings are available in PubMed.gov under The Effect of B6 on Cognition.
This review found no evidence for short-term benefit from vitamin B6 in improving mood (depression, fatigue and tension symptoms) or cognitive functions.
It is known that older people have decreased levels of B12 and B6 and that older people have decreasing cognitive function. But when researchers gave B6 supplements in a clinical trial there was no improvement in cognitive function.
So, does acoffee Go Cube really help cognitive performance? Coffee helps you wake up and stay awake. There is no evidence that the addition of B6 makes any short term difference. Effectively Go Cubes are No Doze with sugar and a vitamin.
What Is El Niño Doing to Colombian Coffee Production?
The weather effects of El Niño are unpredictable. The last time it hit Colombia torrential rains damaged coffee crops. This time around there is drought in large parts of the Eje Cafetero. In some parts the drought is so bad that the coffee growers association (FNC) and the government are discussing ways to support coffee growers struck by El Niño as reported in vendingmarketwatch.com.
Concerned about the repercussions that El Niño is having on the income of Colombian coffee growers, the National Committee met today to discuss strategies to support coffee growers. Different support alternatives will now be evaluated in teams and presented during the next Committee meeting.
Evaluate, with the Department of Social Prosperity, the possibility of granting access to coffee growing families to socioeconomic stabilization programs that satisfy basic needs.
The Minister of Agriculture will evaluate with the Banco Agrario and Finagro issues related to credit in the coffee-growing sector. This will include favorable loans for renovation using the zoca procedure.
Explore the feasibility of launching a program to reactivate coffee production. The program will include crop and zoca renovations to recover coffee plantations affected by El Niño and will be funded by the National Coffee Fund and the Government of Colombia.
Many growers have been badly hurt and need help because of the drought. However not all growers are in trouble and, in fact, overall Colombian coffee production is up!
Colombian Coffee Production Rises Despite Drought
The Latin American Tribune reports that Colombian coffee production is up 7% for the fiscal year March 2015 to February 2016.
Colombia produced 1.09 million 60-kilo (132-pound) bags of coffee last month, a 7 percent increase over February 2015, the National Coffee Growers Federation, or FNC, reported.
Output from March 2015 through February 2016 totaled 14.2 million bags, up 16 percent from the previous 12-month period.
Despite the recent increase in production growers are concerned about pests such as the coffee borer beetle which tends to thrive in drought conditions.
A major threat to coffee crops in various locations throughout the world is the coffee borer beetle. Hypothenemus hampei, its scientific name, is a small beetle native to Angola in Southern Africa. Over the 20th century it spread to the Americas and to Hawaii. The coffee borer beetle is a threat to coffee crops wherever it is found. In the Latin American regions where the pest is found it goes by the names barrenador del café, gorgojo del café and broca del café. Infestation is spread via the inadvertent transport of infected beans. The primary way to continue to produce healthy organic coffee when there is an infestation is to hand sort the beans and dry promptly after picking. Various organic approaches can be used to deter and destroy the pest while maintaining an organic crop and organic coffee certification.
Problems for drought stricken coffee growing areas of Colombia will not stop with the dry weather but will continue with the threat of plant infestations such as coffee borer beetle on weakened coffee plants.
Coffee Prevents Multiple Sclerosis
It seems that every month or so another health benefit of drinking coffee is reported. This time Newsweek reports that coffee can lower risk for MS (multiple sclerosis) when consumed at four cups a day or more.
A new study finds drinking generous amounts of coffee-more than four cups a day-may reduce a person’s risk for multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the protective layers around nerves of the brain and spine. The findings, more proof that your daily Americano has neuroprotective benefits, were published March 3 online in the Journal of Neurology & Psychiatry. The study found drinking lots of coffee reduces risk for MS by as much as 31 percent.
For the observational study, researchers looked at data from two population studies conducted in Sweden and the U.S. The study out of Sweden involved 1,620 people with MS and 2,788 controls, while the one conducted in the U.S. was based upon 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 controls.
n general, lower risk for MS was associated with high coffee consumption compared with non–coffee drinkers. The Swedish researchers observed the highest level of neuroprotective benefit in people who consumed more than six cups a day, while the U.S. study suggested similar effects in members of the cohort who consumed at least four cups.
The researchers believe it’s worthwhile to conduct further investigations to explore whether compounds that exist in coffee could provide treatment for people with MS-specifically if the health benefits stem from the caffeine or certain molecules in coffee itself. Additional studies would also need to examine if, and potentially how, coffee interrupts MS disease activity.
The benefits of coffee in the case of MS are similar to those see for type II diabetes, various forms of cancer, depression, etc. The more coffee you drink the better the benefit gets. This study like many others is on observational study in which behavior such as drinking coffee is reported and recorded over the years and compared with the emergence of a given disease such as multiple sclerosis. Cause and effect studies on humans require that people in a randomized study drink or avoid coffee for years and then the results are tallied again. However, physiological studies on animals are useful.
When Mice Drink Coffee
A study on mice shows than when the furry critters drink coffee that caffeine reduces the impact of neuroinflamation and demyelization (nerve sheath damage that happens in MS). PubMed published the abstract for an article about neuroinflammation and demyelination and suggests that caffeine treatment could improve or help prevent MS.
Caffeine treatment augmented A1AR expression on microglia, with ensuing reduction of EAE severity, which was further enhanced by concomitant treatment with the A1AR agonist, adenosine amine congener. Thus, modulation of neuroinflammation by the A1AR represents a novel mechanism that provides new therapeutic opportunities for MS and other demyelinating diseases.
This is a mouthful but the bottom line is that caffeine stimulates the production of substances that help reduce inflammation, of nerves in this case, and help prevent disease. While we know from human studies that coffee prevents multiple sclerosis when consumed at 4 or more cups a day there is basic research that demonstrates how this might happen at a molecular and physiologic level. So, enjoy your healthy organic coffee as we add one more good reason to drink coffee, aside from aroma, taste and a morning wakeup.