Would you like heart disease with your coffee?

Issue 1, Sept 2002.

Recent articles in university and medical school-affiliated newsletters have proclaimed that drinking coffee is safe "in moderate amounts" and that coffee is not a "major" risk factor for coronary disease. That should be good news for coffee drinkers. Unfortunately, these reports are misleading because the research behind them was very narrowly focused, looking only at single issues, such as incidence of heart attacks. They ignore the fact that people face a variety of other risks and concerns.

What does it matter if coffee is not a "major" risk factor for heart attack, when its minor risk factors can add up to be substantial contributors to others diseases? Granted, one cup of coffee per day is not likely to cause any significant risks, but the more you drink over this one-cup maximum, the more likely it will interfere with your health.

Research clearly has shown that excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages is dangerous. Caffeine addicts are at higher risk of cardiac arrhythmias, which can precipitate sudden death. Coffee raises blood pressure, and it also raises both cholesterol and homocysteine, two risk factors for heart disease.

Besides the slightly increased risk of heart disease, there are other problems. First, caffeine is a stimulant. The consumption of caffeine gives you the false impression that you can get by with less sleep. It also reduces the depth of your sleep. Such sleep deprivation results in higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol and interferes with glucose metabolism, which leads to insulin resistance, and subsequent higher baseline glucose level, further promotes aging, blood vessel disease, and other problems. In other words, caffeine consumption promotes inadequate sleep, and less sleep promotes disease and premature aging. There is no substitute for adequate sleep.

The second issue is that drinking coffee boosts estrogen levels. Higher levels of estrogen worsen problems like endometriosis, breast pain, and menstrual disorders. Increased estrogen levels also are associated with higher risk of breast cancer, so it is possible that in the future we may discover that coffee is more dangerous than anyone thought. Of interest is a recent study that showed that women who consumed more than 500 milligrams of caffeine per day (4 to 5 cups of coffee) had nearly 70% higher estrogen levels during the early part of their menstrual cycle than women consuming only one cup or no caffeine. Keep in mind that coffee, which has 40-175 mg of caffeine per cup, is not the sole cause of America's caffeine addiction. Tea has 30-110 mg. per cup and colas have 40-90 mg per 12 oz.

Thirdly, it has been found that drinking even moderate amounts of decaffeinated coffee can quadruple a person's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Since these studies involved decaffeinated coffee, the researchers speculated that organic solvent in the decaf coffee might be the culprit.