That morning cup of Joe is a daily, practically sacred
ritual for many of us. A large body of research has confirmed that a coffee
habit is perfectly fine for most people, and may even have some health benefits
– from fighting depression in women to lowering the risk of stroke and prostate cancer.
But is there too much of a good thing?
A study published
recently in Mayo Clinic Proceedings
suggests that when it comes to coffee, too much appears to be more than 28 cups
per week, at least if you are under 55.
The researchers found that younger men who passed the
28-cup weekly threshold – which works out to about four cups per day – had a 56
percent increased risk of death from all causes. Younger women who were heavy
coffee drinkers had a greater than two-fold increased mortality risk. A cup was
defined as eight ounces of coffee.
"The older people, over 55, were not affected by
these high amounts of coffee," study co-author Dr. Chip Lavie, a
cardiologist at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in
New Orleans, said in a video statement.
Now, these findings left us scratching our heads here at
The Salt, where we've reported in the past on many of the health benefits
linked with coffee drinking. Turns out, we are not alone.
"This result is surprising," Rob van Dam, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of
Public Health, told me via email, "because results from other cohort
studies in U.S. men and women suggest that coffee consumption is associated
with a slightly lower risk of premature mortality."
In fact, van Dam's own research has
found no increased risk of death from any cause in people who drank up to six
eight-ounce cups of coffee per day. And last year, research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested
that people with a daily coffee habit had a lower risk of dying during the
14-year study period than those who abstained.
What's more, van Dam notes that recent studies have
suggested that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of dying from
heart disease, stroke or cancers – all major causes of death. That body of
research, he tells us, is "reassuring."
So what accounts for the increased mortality seen among
heavy coffee drinkers in the new study? The data set used provides clues.
Lavie and his colleagues looked at data for more than
40,000 people, ages 20 to 87, who were enrolled as part of the Aerobics Center
Longitudinal Study, a long-term study conducted between 1971 and 2002. The
researchers followed up with the participants for 17 years on average. But they
were only asked about their coffee consumption once – so, as Lavie himself
notes, we don't know how their coffee habits changed over time.
Another limiting factor: smoking. Heavy coffee drinkers
in the study were more likely to be smokers – which makes sense, since the data
were collected beginning more than 40 years ago. Van Dam thinks the research
didn't do enough to control for smoking. In fact, as we've previously reported, lots of studies in the 1980s failed to
control for the link between coffee drinking and smoking, which is one big
reason why early research appeared to give coffee a bad rep. Evidence
suggesting health benefits from coffee began to emerge only as studies
separated the two habits.
So, what's the bottom line for coffee drinkers?
Lavie says his findings suggest that sipping two to three
cups per day is pretty safe, and possibly beneficial. But Van Dam notes that if
you're generally healthy (and not pregnant or nursing), the "totality of
the evidence" suggests that four cups of Joe per day shouldn't be harmful.
But of course, don't forget to listen to your body.
"If people think they experience detrimental
symptoms related to too much caffeine, such as difficulty sleeping or
nervousness," says van Dam, "they should try reducing their intake."
The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the
finest coffee available for you to limit to two or three cups a day. You’ll get a great cup of Joe with PANIOLA
100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky
Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s
favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience
during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a
medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might
be high octane! We also make COWBOY
ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society! If you are a Chai drinker, you’ll love the
Coconut Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu. The
Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new
products and more! Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com and
look at the coffees. Go to the “Chocolates”
page and find our new Cowboy Coffee Choco-Drops, a coffee caramel smothered in
milk chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder!
We have new Mescalero Morning Cowboy Coffee Candles on our “Bath
Products” page, too.
You know you’re a
coffee fiend when you've worn out the handle on
your favorite mug! So enjoy your coffee, make
it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had
cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!
