| |
"To Drink or Not to Drink"
.... your cup
of coffee.
by Dr. C. K.
Wong, M.D.
Dr.
Wong's advice won't make you live longer, but you'll enjoy a lot more of it less.
In the 19th Century R.L. Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr.
Hyde. Here for the 21st Century is the Strange Case of Dr. Wong vs. Mr. Coffee.
|
Raise
your cup!
A
study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested
that a daily indulgence in coffee may reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's disease is a disease of the nervous system that causes a slow and
gradual loss of motor function. It is estimated (i.e. medical parlance for "we
guess") that the prevalence of this disease is between 60 to 187 per 100,000 population.
We don't really know what causes this disease, but genetic/hereditary factors
probably aren't too important, as only 5% of patients have a family history of
the disease. This observation of possible (please notice I say "possible") beneficial,
or salutary, effects of coffee comes from a study involving more than 8,000 men
of Japanese ethnicity living in Hawaii. There are 102 cases of PD identified.
Here is the good news for Java addicts: those men who drink one or two four-ounce
cups of coffee a day are half as likely to have PD as the non-coffee drinkers.
Those REAL coffee drinkers, who drink 7 or more 4-ounce cups a day are 5 times
less likely to have PD than those with tight lips. But, Java addicts, don't get
excited too fast, (if you're not already hyped-up by the coffee), in medicine,
as in Life, there are always different ways of looking at one thing.
First, if you have already pulled out your calculator and have done a little math,
the prevalence of PD in this group of men is greater than 1,200 per 100,000. Something
is odd here, though I don't know what. Secondly, caffeine, the stuff you Java
addicts are craving, or, have developed a deep appreciation for, is a chemical
that, among many other things, affects the so-called dopamine system of
the brain. Well, guess what also affects this system? You're right. There is no
escaping the truth: amphetamines and cocaine. Got you! In PD, this "dopamine system"
suffers from deterioration. Therefore, caffeine may be enhancing the function
of the dopamine system, and is treating (as a medicine), or masking the symptoms
of the disease. Of course, it is also possible that daily consumption of coffee
does somehow preserve and protect the dopamine system against development of PD.
Thirdly, this study involves only Japanese men, no women, or other ethnicities
of coffee appreciators. On the other hand, since we still have no known way of
preventing Parkinson's disease... drink up! a votre sante. |
| But
not so fast!
Watch
your blood pressure! Four to five cups of coffee a day may raise your blood
pressure by 5 points, an increase that could increase your risk of stroke.
Whether coffee would increase the risk of heart attack is not that clear.
One would expect so. But the information from a study of more than 121,000 female
nurses does not show any relationship between coffee consumption and heart attack
(and who is going to argue with 121,000 female nurses high on caffeine? Have you
ever tried to argue with one nurse high on caffeine?). But female nurses are,
(how should I put this?) special (I want to be able to leave the hospital or my
office tomorrow in one piece with my skin intact). Would this observation apply
to male nurses? To Japanese-Hawaiian American men? To Caucasian males who's German
ancestry traces from Germany to Connecticut to Florida to Texas?
And
watch your cholesterol! Coffee consumption has been shown to increase LDL
cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol (think of "lousy" for the "L" in LDL, and "healthy"
for the "H" in HDL). It turns out that probably it is the bad stuff in unfiltered
coffee that is the main culprit. So, this is not good news for those who appreciate
boiled, plunged, or percolated coffee; really bad news for Middle Eastern, Egyptian,
and Turkish coffee aficionados. Preparing coffee with good paper or a gold filter
would remove most of the offending chemicals that are thought to be the culprit.
So, drink up.... your cup of filtered coffee... |
But
not so fast!
If
you are pregnant, which those Hawaiian Japanese men didn't have to worry
about, you may want to limit your coffee appreciation as much as possible. There
are some studies that suggest that 6 or more cups of coffee daily increases the
risk of miscarriage and low-birth-weight babies. We don't know if lesser coffee
consumption would have the same risks or not. Some researchers have criticized
that these findings or conclusions are flawed. At any rate, before there is more
data, I would say it is prudent to limit your coffee appreciation during pregnancy.
Over the years, there has been much talk about coffee and cancer.
The bottom line is, there is no convincing data so far to support a relationship
between coffee, caffeine, and cancer. You could relax your grip on that cup a
little bit now, but you may not be able to do so due to all that Java in your
bloodstream. For women who are concerned about fibrocystic breast disease (some
doctors advocate not using the term "disease" for this condition as, although
it may be quite annoying, it is a benign condition), there is no evidence that
coffee consumption increases the risk of developing a fibrocystic breast condition.
For those who appreciate coffee a lot, or many times a day, it may be
a good idea to take calcium supplements, as coffee causes you to eliminate
calcium in your urine. Yes, you urinate more calcium if you drink coffee, no kidding.
Now, let us appreciate our one 4-ounce cup of filtered coffee a day.
Let us perform this one daily ritual that defies differences in ethnic origins,
nationalities, religious believes (at least for most religions), and political
bends. Let us appreciate this one thing that we can all do in peace and contentment.
© Dr. C. K. Wong, M.D.
August,
2000 |
Coffee
Forum ....
I want you to know that the Strange Case of Dr. Wong and Mr. Coffee is good. What
a concept: a medical doctor who presents, in living black and white, information
worth knowing, in terms that make sense; a doctor doesn't come across as somebody
auditioning for the part of Henny Penny or somebody with "Starbuck" in their last
name. As I am a devout and practicing hypochondriac (and have been so long enough
to have picked up a thing or two, and I'm not talking 'things' you take care of
with a shooter of penicillin, know what I mean, Bubba, get where I'm comin' from?),
I have been exposed to a generous share of the medical "mumbo unless it's jumbo,
or perhaps it's gumbo" rap. I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning so I can
really kick back and enjoy my one medically-allowed mug of coffee in the a.m.
with a clear conscience. (Note: I've used a "gold" filter for years and recommend
it without reservation.) - M Jarvis, September 11, 2000
Related
Topics: Food | Health |
|
|
