1st Cup Of Coffee: Hardening Your Arteries

mikewhittaker writes "A recent article on The Times refer to a report which indicates that the intake of caffeine from a single coffee can have adverse effects on your arteries and heart." Actually, it goes so far to say that the first cup of coffee is the worst. Of course, basically, anything you do is bad for at some level, so I guess it's choosing your poisons.

Yet Another Caffeine Study

[javaDragon]

They did it again ! Sometimes the study says "cofee bad", the next day another one claims "coffe good". With so many divergent results, how can one still trust any of those studies ?

Re:Get your caffeine somewhere else!

[Erbo]

For that matter, what about Penguin Mints [peppermints.com]? Or Coke? Or all that other caffeinated stuff?

I'm wondering if the study's confusing the effects of caffeine with the effects of all the other alkaloids and stuff present in coffee. If they're not, boy, am I screwed :-).

Eric

Re:Yet Another Caffeine Study

[Flabdabb Hubbard]

It doesn't really matter. The coffee will not kill you before you have had at least a chance to reproduce. Hence from a strictly biological perspective it is not 'bad' for you.

In fact, it is only bad for you if you think a few extra years of alzheimer's and incontinece in your twilight years is something to look forward to. Personally, I'd rather continue drinking coffee and die a couple of years early. Not a big deal.

coffee, caffeine.

[wilgamesh]

let me point out that this article claims the study advises at the end says that one should switch to decaffeinated coffee- so is it the caffeine in the coffee that's causing the artery hardening, etc?

to establish that it's the caffeine, then a control study should have been done with decaffeinated coffee. even better, another study should be conducted in which the effects of no-doz or other purified caffeine pills are measured relative to placebo pills.

and if it is *just* the caffeine, then clearly the advisory should be applied toward all caffeinated drinks. just such jolt, or cola, or tea.

in short, i think that either the reporting of this science or the science itself is a bit sloppy. this must have been funded by some anti-coffee foundation.

Re:addictive qualities

[Van Halen]

I can attest to this. I went completely without caffeine for about 13 months somewhere in '98-'99. I wasn't nearly as addicted as a lot of people here are, I'm sure, so it was really no big deal as far as missing it. But I noticed the same thing - I just felt better all around, despite the fact that I wasn't really living any healthier in other respects (exercise, diet, sleep, etc).

Unfortunately, even for someone like me who doesn't have to have it every day, it's all too easy to get back into it. I broke the streak not because I really wanted a caffeinated beverage, but because I felt like 13 months was long enough. I still don't drink much caffeine in general, but no longer going for the streak meant that the door was wide open for the occasional binge when not getting enough sleep. The last two weeks are a prime example - a busy time at work plus moving to a new apartment mean not much sleep. I'm on my 4th Mountain Dew of the day as I type this and I don't feel that great. My brain may not be nodding off to sleep, but my body, and especially my heart, feels like crap.

A day or two without caffeine and I'll be feeling much better...

Re:addictive qualities

[Antipop]

I can attest to this. I recently became straight edge [poisonfree.com] [poisonfree.com] and decided to give up caffeine. The first few days I had headaches and that kind of thing. It's been 3 weeks and I feel so much better. I used to have so much trouble getting up and getting ready for school but now I can wake up and do what I need to, I don't stumble around for the first few hours until I get a Coke in me. I can concentrate better in the morning, I sleep better, I can wake up, and I've got more energy. It's deceptive how much of an impact caffeine can make on you because you don't really think about it. I encourage everyone else to give it up for a few weeks, you'll feel much better.