Is Coffee Good or Bad for you?

[shijing]

Mercola.com also ran an article on this a few weeks ago:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/16/coffee-health-benefits.aspx

This is the summary:

Many studies have recently been published suggesting coffee is not the health-damaging beverage it’s been portrayed to be; research now suggests coffee can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, stroke, and cancers of the liver, kidney and prostate

Coffee lowers your blood glucose level and may even increase the metabolic activity and/or numbers of Bifidobacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, which are beneficial

Fresh coffee from organic, whole beans that are pesticide-free can help keep your brain and muscle tissue young. Adding commercial milk or creamer, and worse yet sugar, will tend to diminish the value you receive from coffee

You should consume coffee in moderation prior to exercising, without sugar, cream or flavorings in order to maximize health benefits; dark roast coffee beans are richer in beneficial compounds and lower in caffeine than lighter roasts

If you are caffeine sensitive or have an adverse reaction to coffee, you might not have the same reaction to a different brand of coffee, a different type of bean, or a different brewing method

It also lists some recent research that supports coffee's health benefits:

Type 2 Diabetes: A Japanese study in 20103 revealed that coffee consumption exerted a protective effect against type 2 diabetes; further confirmed by 2012 German study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers have also found that coffee doubles glucose intake, which will greatly reduce blood glucose levels.

Parkinson's Disease: Coffee may significantly cut your risk of Parkinson's disease. In fact, coffee is so preventative against Parkinson's that drug companies are designing experimental drugs that mimic coffee's benefits to your brain

Alzheimer's Disease: A 2011 study revealed that a yet unidentified mystery ingredient in coffee interacts with the caffeine to help protect you from Alzheimer's disease

Prostate Cancer: A large 2011 study of nearly 50,000 men found men who drank six cups of coffee per day had 60 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer, and those who drank three cups per day had a 30 percent lower risk

Liver Cancer: A Japanese study found those who drank coffee daily, or close to it, had about half the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a type of liver cancer, than people who never drank coffee; coffee is also associated with less severe liver fibrosis, lower levels of fat in your liver, and lower rates of hepatitis-C disease progression

Kidney Cancer: Coffee consumption may be associated with decreased risk of kidney cancer

Colorectal Cancer: A 2007 study suggested coffee consumption may lower colon cancer risk among women

Heart Rhythm Problems: A study showed moderate coffee drinking reduces your chances of being hospitalized for heart rhythm problems

Pulmonary Function: A 2010 study revealed a beneficial effect of coffee on the pulmonary function of nonsmokers

Stroke: A 2011 study found that women who drank more than one cup of coffee per day had about a 25 percent lower risk of stroke than women who drank less; a 2009 study found women who drank four or more cups of coffee per day reduced their stroke risk by 20 percent

Gastrointestinal Flora: A study in 2009 showed coffee produced an increase in the metabolic activity and/or numbers of Bifidobacterium, which are beneficial bacteria in your gut

 

[anart]

it helps to get things done, a little like acetylcholine.

Of course, caffeine is a stimulant.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Mercola.com also ran an article on this a few weeks ago:

He also ran an article on intermittant fasting recently too. I swear he must have spies on this forum!

 

[Gaby]

This might be relevant for those who have genetic glitches and/or Parkinson's disease in the family:

Gene explains coffee's effects on Parkinson's: study

_http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/29/us-parkinsons-coffee-idUSTRE68S4ZC20100929

Researchers have found a gene that may explain why coffee may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease for some people, and that might explain why some experimental drugs do not appear to be working.

About a quarter of the population carries this version of the gene, and drug developers may be more successful if they test people for it, Haydeh Payami of the New York State Department of Health told the World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow on Wednesday.

Only people with this particular version of the gene are likely to be helped by an experimental class of drugs designed to mimic some of coffee's benefits, Payami told the meeting.

"We are trying to explain why some people benefit from the effects of coffee in terms of reducing the risk of getting Parkinson's disease and others don't," Payami said in a telephone interview.

"But by extension I am proposing that this translates into explaining why drugs that are like caffeine that are in clinical trials are not succeeding," she added.

"The immediate application right now would be for people who already have Parkinson's."

Currently, Parkinson's patients with and without the specific gene are being included in the trials.

Her team studied 4,000 people, half with Parkinson's, using an Illumina "gene chip" to look at the entire genetic map of each volunteer, a technique called a genome wide association study.

They identified a gene called GRIN2A that appeared to protect people who drank coffee from developing Parkinson's.

"About 25 percent of the population has the variant that boosts the protective effect of coffee," Payami said.

This made sense to Payami, whose team's work is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the nonprofit Michael J. Fox foundation and other groups.

GRIN2A is linked to glutamate, a compound that is suspected of killing the brain cells that die off in Parkinson's patients. Glutamate can be affected by another compound called adenosine, and coffee interferes with this process.

AVOIDING JITTERS

Drugs called adenosine A2A receptor antagonists have been tested against Parkinson's and other neurological diseases. Payami said her team's genetic findings may help explain the disappointing results of those trials so far.

"If this gene really is interacting with coffee to boost neuroprotection, it should work in these clinical trials," she said.

Caffeine has been shown to protect nerves, but it has some unappealing side-effects, including jitters. Payami said the drugs are designed to reduce these side-effects.

"I think it is about time we brought genetics into the design of clinical trials for Parkinson's disease," she added.

"This work shows the potential of using genetic and epidemiological approaches to identify new risk factors for Parkinson's disease," said Margaret Sutherland of the NINDS, one of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Parkinson's is a fatal and incurable brain disease that affects 1 percent to 2 percent of people over 65. It can begin with tremors, sluggish movement, muscle stiffness, and difficulty with balance.

Drugs such as levodopa, GlaxoSmithKline's Requip, or ropinirole, and Boehringer Ingelheim's Mirapex, or pramipexole, can improve symptoms for a while.

Today was my second experiment day with black coffee with no sugar. I was feeling anxious and having difficulty in concentrating. Then I took the coffee and the feeling just fizzled out and it hasn't returned.

My grandfather had Parkinson's disease, so I might have this gene variant. I can drink coffee and fall asleep right away, it doesn't make me jittery.

 

[seek10]

I am not a big coffee fan, it doesn't give me much kick either. Just some time pass. I made some coffee to day from organic coffee powder. I don't see much change in any thing .I will continue to
experiment and see how it goes.

 

[Gaby]

They identified a gene called GRIN2A that appeared to protect people who drank coffee from developing Parkinson's.

[...]

GRIN2A is linked to glutamate, a compound that is suspected of killing the brain cells that die off in Parkinson's patients. Glutamate can be affected by another compound called adenosine, and coffee interferes with this process.

Found out more about this information here :

Genome-Wide Gene-Environment Study Identifies Glutamate Receptor Gene GRIN2A as a Parkinson's Disease Modifier Gene via Interaction with Coffee

_http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3158052/

GRIN2A is an important gene for the central nervous system. Accelerated evolution of GRIN2A in primates is said to have contributed to the dramatic increase in the size and complexity of the human brain which defines human evolution [38]. GRIN2A encodes a subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate-2A (NMDA) glutamate receptor. It is central to excitatory neurotransmission and the control of movement and behavior [39]–[41]. The literature suggest imbalances in NMDA-dependent neurotransmission contribute to neurodegeneration in PD, possibly through massive influx of calcium and impaired mitochondrial function leading to apoptosis; and/or disruption of glutamate-mediated autophagy which is implicated in degradation and removal of proteins like α-synuclein (see [42] for review). The portion of intron 3 containing SNPs with the most significant associations (from base pair 9978046 to base pair 10128367, Table 1, Table 2, and Table 4) includes numerous transcription factor binding sites and two peaks of enhanced histone H3K4 mono-methylation (http://genome.ucsc.edu) [43]. Polymorphisms throughout this region could therefore disrupt regulatory elements, potentially leading to variation in levels of GRIN2A transcript. GRIN2A is expressed at high levels in the brain, most notably in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) [44]. Pharmacologic inhibition of STN with an NMDA-antagonist reduces nigral neuron loss in a rodent model of PD [45]. Deep-brain-stimulation, which also targets STN, is an effective surgical symptomatic therapy for PD.

The other piece of this finding is coffee/caffeine. Our study was not designed to distinguish the active ingredients in coffee. However, we note that the largest replication study (PAGE) measured specifically the caffeine intake in mg from all food sources (drink, food, and chocolate) and replicated our hypothesis and interaction robustly. We also found trends for inverse association of tea and soda with PD, and interestingly, the varied effect size and strength of association was consistent with the relative amount of caffeine in each drink (Table S5). Thus, our data are consistent with experimental observations that caffeine is neuroprotective. Caffeine is an adenosine A2A-receptor antagonist. A2A-receptor enhances calcium influx via NMDA [41] and A2A-receptor antagonists are neuroprotective in animal models of PD; they attenuate excitotoxicity by reducing extracellular glutamate levels in the striatum [46], [47]. Thus interaction between coffee/caffeine and GRIN2A is biologically plausible, and can help formulate testable hypotheses towards a better understanding of the disease pathogenesis.

GRIN2A genotyping may be useful for pharmacogenetic studies. Genetics has not yet entered drug development for PD but the time is here. We now have several susceptibility loci (SNCA, MAPT, HLA, BST1, PARK16, GAK [5]–[10]) that can help identify individuals who are at moderately increased risk of developing PD. We also have at least one neuroprotective compound (coffee/caffeine) which can be pharmacologically modified to alleviate its undesirable side effects. GRIN2A genotyping might also inform treatments for people who already have PD. L-DOPA, the primary PD drug for 40 years, does not slow disease progression and has serious side effects. Clinical trials for new PD drugs have not found drugs that surpass the symptomatic benefits of L-DOPA. There have been numerous drug trials for glutamate-receptor blockers as well as for selective A2A-receptor antagonists. Most were shown to be safe, well tolerated and beneficial [17], [18], [48]; however, the majority did not reach the regulatory threshold for efficacy to be approved as PD drugs. We wonder if some of these clinical trials will succeed if patients are subdivided by GRIN2A genotype. We acknowledge the distinction that the present study examined risk of developing PD; whereas clinical trials have thus far aimed for symptomatic improvements in patients. Nonetheless, there are sufficient parallels to suggest that GRIN2A genotype might also influence efficacy of glutamate-receptor antagonists and A2A-receptor antagonists. This is a simple and inexpensive hypothesis that can be tested in future, ongoing and even closed clinical trials that have banked DNA.

Common non-coding variants in GRIN2A have been associated with Huntington disease (HD) [49], [50] and schizophrenia [51], and rare mutations have been described in patients with neurodevelopmental phenotypes [52]. Schizophrenia is associated with a (GT)n repeat in the GRIN2A promoter that may increase disease risk by suppressing gene expression [51]. Three GRIN2A SNPs have been associated with onset-age of HD; they are conserved and reportedly tag a binding site for CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein [49], [50]. HD and PD are both neurodegenerative movement disorders, thus the possibility of a common genetic element was of interest.

 

[andi]

Interesting researches Psyche!

Today I tried regular milk with my coffee just to see what happens. I didn't expect to feel as bad as I did/do. My belly is hurting, my head is hurting - I feel like crap, and all that in just under 1/2 an hour. That thing is really evil!

 

[Gaby]

Today I tried regular milk with my coffee just to see what happens. I didn't expect to feel as bad as I did/do. My belly is hurting, my head is hurting - I feel like crap, and all that in just under 1/2 an hour. That thing is really evil!

I would try without dairy. In the past, I wouldn't even think about drinking coffee without cream or milk. But when I tried black coffee just the other day, I was surprised at how nice the flavor was. My taste buds seemed to have changed with the keto diet.

 

[andi]

Today I tried regular milk with my coffee just to see what happens. I didn't expect to feel as bad as I did/do. My belly is hurting, my head is hurting - I feel like crap, and all that in just under 1/2 an hour. That thing is really evil!

I would try without dairy. In the past, I wouldn't even think about drinking coffee without cream or milk. But when I tried black coffee just the other day, I was surprised at how nice the flavor was. My taste buds seemed to have changed with the keto diet.

Same here, I enjoy the flavour and wouldn't ruin a good coffee with dairy. I've tried butter in it but personally don't like it that way. ;)

 

[Beau]

Same here, I enjoy the flavour and wouldn't ruin a good coffee with dairy.

Um, didn't you just do that?

 

[Laura]

I'm going to stop for a few days. There are a couple of things that I want to check. It's not much, but the lining of my nose feels sort of raw. I'm not sure if it is the coffee or not. So, I'll stop a few days, see if it clears up and then test again. I also haven't been sleeping as well as I normally do. I DO love coffee, but maybe that's a clue.

 

[mnmulchi]

Re: Coffee bad aswell?

Black or green tea (with or without butter) and a bit of stevia and xylitol is great on occasion. Also, as mentioned, cocoa. I drink cocoa with cocoa butter and grass fed butter with stevia and xylitol and a pinch of salt every morning. It's also great with coconut oil.

Black or green tea are very good but to my taste, Oolong tea is just totally delicious. And there is a lot of varieties of Oolong tea.

And in the summer, you can make a iced tea with your oolong leaves.

Thanks Gandalf for mentioning Oolong tea, I just tried a plain Oolong version and enjoy it as well. It seems like a more complex tasting black tea. There are so many different teas available, it's hard to decide on which ones to try! Never having been a big tea drinker, I'm now finding I prefer the variety of tea flavors, to the taste of coffee.

 

[andi]

Same here, I enjoy the flavour and wouldn't ruin a good coffee with dairy.

Um, didn't you just do that?

Yeah I did :) Yuck!

[quote author=Laura]
[...]
I also haven't been sleeping as well as I normally do. I DO love coffee, but maybe that's a clue.
[/quote]

I don't sleep as well either as when I don't have coffee, maybe I'm having some too late (6-7pm).

 

[Deleted member 8431]

I've noticed that I've became a lot more sensitive to caffeine since I started changing/adjusting my diet.

I now feel a lot more energetic, less drowsy/sleepy/tired and have a much better quality of sleep so waking up is by far less 'exhausting'. Before I'd take two strong coffees at wake-up time and fuel on it (maybe 3-5 during work days).

Now just taking half a cup to one whole cup of coffee in the morning (regular strenght) is well enough and does not knock me down a few hours after.

But anyhow, point is that getting to a better diet makes all the diffrence.

Peace.

 

[Ollie]

...

I don't sleep as well either as when I don't have coffee, maybe I'm having some too late (6-7pm).

It is recommended that you drink coffee in the morning to allow the 'stimulant' effects to get through your system before you go to sleep. I usually drink it after my breakfast drink of broth, which is after my bacon or pork sausage pattie.

In terms of 'buzz' and quantities of coffee, I've found that it depends on the brand/mix of coffee (at the moment I'm only on organic instant granules). Next, I'll invest in a cafetiere and grind some beans and see what happens with that. :) Learning is fun! :D

This may help, or not.