Allow me to begin this blogpost by saying, I'm an insomniac. I average about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Because of my unique sleep schedule, I feel as if I have formed a very close, personal relationship with joe. My cup of joe. Every morning.
Unsurprisingly, I often get criticized for my coffee drinking habit, as it is a nationally accepted notion that coffee is horrible for you because of the caffeine, which is infact America's most used drug. I am often told that the caffeine in coffee stunts your growth. But what most people don't know is that, that "fact" is actually a wives tale. It stems from a study conducted on the elderly where the subjects ages 65-77 drank eighteen ounces of caffeine daily and had greater bone loss over a period of three years when compared to 65-77 year old's who did not ingest caffeine daily. A more recent study compared the bone gain and bone density of 81 teenagers, some with very high caffeine intake and some with very low caffeine intake, over a period of six years. The study found that the teens with the highest daily caffeine intake at the end of the study had no difference of bone gain or bone density than the teens with the lowest caffeine intake. And no growth stunting.
Unsurprisingly, I often get criticized for my coffee drinking habit, as it is a nationally accepted notion that coffee is horrible for you because of the caffeine, which is infact America's most used drug. I am often told that the caffeine in coffee stunts your growth. But what most people don't know is that, that "fact" is actually a wives tale. It stems from a study conducted on the elderly where the subjects ages 65-77 drank eighteen ounces of caffeine daily and had greater bone loss over a period of three years when compared to 65-77 year old's who did not ingest caffeine daily. A more recent study compared the bone gain and bone density of 81 teenagers, some with very high caffeine intake and some with very low caffeine intake, over a period of six years. The study found that the teens with the highest daily caffeine intake at the end of the study had no difference of bone gain or bone density than the teens with the lowest caffeine intake. And no growth stunting.
Though, not having the fear of stunted growth isn't the only reason why coffee is okay to drink, coffee actually has many health benefits too. According to this article entitled "7 Health Benefits of Coffee" from the Huffington Post, experts tend to agree that for the effects of coffee on the body, "....the good largely outweighs the bad for most people...".
The article's listed seven health benefits are:
-Coffee can help you proofread better
-Coffee can help you proofread better
-Coffee can lower the risk of depression in women
-Coffee can potentially save your brain from Alzheimer's
-Coffee could lower a man's prostate risk
-Coffee could ward off skin cancer
-Coffee can protect you from type 2 diabetes
-Coffee can decrease the risk of developing Parkinsons
These health benefits prove that the consumption of coffee can actually be beneficial to a person opposed to the popular belief that it is harmful. I am glad that coffee is finally getting the justice it deserves because it is amazing, in my opinion. But, like anything, coffee is best in moderation, so drink wisely. At the end of the day, America's most used drug is thankfully not as dangerous as it's cut out to be.
-Coffee could lower a man's prostate risk
-Coffee could ward off skin cancer
-Coffee can protect you from type 2 diabetes
-Coffee can decrease the risk of developing Parkinsons
These health benefits prove that the consumption of coffee can actually be beneficial to a person opposed to the popular belief that it is harmful. I am glad that coffee is finally getting the justice it deserves because it is amazing, in my opinion. But, like anything, coffee is best in moderation, so drink wisely. At the end of the day, America's most used drug is thankfully not as dangerous as it's cut out to be.
I am a huge coffee drinker and so, personally, I agree with you that coffee is great and everyone should drink it because it's just awesome. But, if i were to look at your evidence critically, one thing I might point out is that the words "can" and "could" were used before each health benefit the Huffington Post article listed. To say that this "proves" that coffee is beneficial is not entirely true because all of these benefits are merely theories that actually haven't been proven 100% true. As far as I see it, coffee is simply a drink I enjoy and use for a quick burst of energy. The idea that it might be a healthy alternative to other drinks, though, seems like a stretch until some of these theories are proven w/ evidence.
ReplyDeleteKathleen- as long as we are looking at evidence critically here, I want to make sure that you understand that I said coffee CAN actually be beneficial, not that it always is. But just as well, a 20% decreased risk in developing depression, prostate cancer, Parkinsons and skin cancer is something to be talked about. And these are studies published by groups such as the National Cancer Institute and Harvard, which I myself find pretty credible. Also, the point I'm trying to get across in this blog post is that coffee is not as bad as everyone thinks it is. When coffee is put up against other beverages such as milk or juice, there is no question that coffee is not the healthiest option.
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