One fun fact is that coffee from places like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks have significantly more caffeine than most coffees. For example, a small Dunkin’ Donuts coffee has ~40% more caffeine than a Monster Zero energy drink.
Would love to hear your thoughts about alcohol. The latest I've read is any alcohol is bad. On the other hand alcohol is a social lubricant so that "getting together with someone for a drink" is a positive in terms of the benefits of socialization.
I suspect many of the benefits cited in this article are not related to the methylated xanthine in the headline but, rather, to the hundreds of other compounds in brewed coffee, in particular polyphenols.
Indeed – there are many studies that now quite strongly suggest a protective effect of other substances in coffee, e.g. chlorogenic acids.
This embraces hitherto quite unexpected associations, such as a protective effect against diabetes. Crucially perhaps this includes a biochemical mechanism, rather than epidemiological studies that are fraught with confounders. e.g. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/4/1144
What about Diterpenes (Cafestol and Kahweol), the oils in coffee beans that increase cholesterol? Note that these oils aren't present in filtered coffee, so drinking an expresso, moka or french press made coffee may have a different impact than a filtered coffee.
Coffee is roasted bean juice that happens to have caffeine. Seems like a leap to assume it's the caffeine that matters rather than whatever other compounds it has.
Great read. I wrote a review on coffee/caffeine research about 1.5 years ago (https://open.substack.com/pub/shortcutu/p/mean-muggin-part-i?r=qcnj7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post) and came to similar conclusions.
One fun fact is that coffee from places like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks have significantly more caffeine than most coffees. For example, a small Dunkin’ Donuts coffee has ~40% more caffeine than a Monster Zero energy drink.
I’ll stick to the Monster energy drinks so ;)
Thanks for this.
Would love to hear your thoughts about alcohol. The latest I've read is any alcohol is bad. On the other hand alcohol is a social lubricant so that "getting together with someone for a drink" is a positive in terms of the benefits of socialization.
Here is my take on Alcohol. https://paddybarrett.substack.com/p/alcohol-friend-or-foe
Harvard Med published a metaanalysis over 10 years ago with these results. So glad to hear that the data has held. I love coffee ☕️!
I suspect many of the benefits cited in this article are not related to the methylated xanthine in the headline but, rather, to the hundreds of other compounds in brewed coffee, in particular polyphenols.
Indeed – there are many studies that now quite strongly suggest a protective effect of other substances in coffee, e.g. chlorogenic acids.
This embraces hitherto quite unexpected associations, such as a protective effect against diabetes. Crucially perhaps this includes a biochemical mechanism, rather than epidemiological studies that are fraught with confounders. e.g. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/4/1144
What about Diterpenes (Cafestol and Kahweol), the oils in coffee beans that increase cholesterol? Note that these oils aren't present in filtered coffee, so drinking an expresso, moka or french press made coffee may have a different impact than a filtered coffee.
BTW, just found this research displaying some evidence that filtered coffee is healthier.
Summary: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/906648
The original research: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32320635/
Great article Dr Paddy- what about tea?
It gets a mention near the end but maybe a full article in the future might be on the cards.
Coffee is roasted bean juice that happens to have caffeine. Seems like a leap to assume it's the caffeine that matters rather than whatever other compounds it has.