We love to think that our vices are secretly good for us.that chocolate is healthy (even dark chocolate is very sweet), red wine is a kind of elixir (not), and recently, coffee can ward off illness. Dozens of headlines are trending this researchfound a link between moderate coffee intake and reduced risk of dementia. Another study published in September linked to the article About how coffee is good for your heart. another small study It also made news in August for showing that increased caffeine intake was very vaguely associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease in a cohort of 263 people.
I’ve written about this issue, the idea that coffee may have amazing health benefits: It’s been almost 10 years nowmore research comes out, but the essence never changes. In these studies, the authors typically obtained large (or not-so-large) databases of people who were asked various questions about what they eat and drink. Typically, one or two of these questions will ask you how much coffee you drink each day. These people are then followed for years. Researchers are examining whether self-reported coffee intake at the start of the study is associated with future disease risk.
The problem is that this type of research has many weaknesses. people are terrible When reporting how much you eat or drink. Notorious. There are hundreds of scientific studies showing this. people report Depends on the seasonby how much do they have recently atedepends on which food They are asked to talk about. Occasional surveys are generally not a good basis for knowing how much people eat each day. (Do you remember what you ate last week? How was the week before?). Unfortunately, there is no other practical way to obtain this information. Therefore, in these large studies, even with complex statistical corrections, do not have We need to properly measure the amount of coffee people drink. how much coffee do people drink estimate they drink
These studies also provide limited information about cause and effect. Moderate (self-reported) coffee intake (usually defined as about 2-3 cups per day) can be said with a fair amount of confidence. related It’s better for your health than not drinking coffee at all or in large amounts. But even if you take self-reported data at face value, that doesn’t necessarily mean coffee is good. cause better health. Many of these studies are only able to provide useful data on whether coffee is providing any benefit or simply that people who drink moderate amounts of coffee are healthier on average in many ways than non-coffee drinkers. It’s just that the design is not robust. None or loaded.
We have several intervention studies investigating coffee and various health outcomes. These are studies that give people coffee or a placebo and follow up after a few weeks to see what happens to their health. However, large-scale reviews analyzing these interventions failed to find the benefits For (or harm) your heart health. There is some suggestions Although the short-term harm to diabetics is significant, partially disputed According to other studies.
Therefore, we can say with some certainty that people who drink several cups of coffee a day are, on average, very healthy. What we can’t say with confidence is whether coffee is causing the change or whether other factors are at play. Even when people are given coffee in a controlled clinical setting, there isn’t much evidence that coffee has any health benefits.
Personally, I was relieved by this news. why? Well, there isn’t much data showing that coffee has health benefits, but there’s also no data showing it’s harmful to your health. In fact, if you look at the big picture of scientific research on coffee as a whole, coffee is essentially neutral in moderate amounts and may have benefits that balance out any possible harms. You can see that there is.
My opinion as an expert who drinks a lot of coffee and has a keen interest in this issue is that there really doesn’t seem to be any health reason to drink or avoid coffee. surely, many If you drink 8 to 10 cups of coffee a day (where one cup is defined as a standard 8-ounce serving in most studies), you may want to cut back on your coffee. At the very least, that much coffee can affect your sleep.
But if you don’t drink coffee, there’s no need to start drinking coffee unless you want to. Either way, it doesn’t seem to have a big impact on your health, so there’s no need to worry. I’m going to take my own advice and think again cup.
