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You are here: Home / Archives for coffee

5 Ways Coffee Fights Cancer

September 2, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

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Will coffee help keep you cancer-free? Possibly.

Coffee reduces the risk of certain cancers, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. Of course, there’s no guarantee that a coffee habit will ensure a cancer-free life: cancers are complex and for that matter, coffee’s got its own mysteries. But mounting evidence suggests moderate coffee drinking may help reduce the risks of these cancers:

  • Basal Cell Carcinoma (the most common form of skin cancer)
  • Colorectal Cancer
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Kidney Cancer
  • Liver Cancer
  • Oral Cancer

What’s in coffee that prevents cancer?

Coffee’s considered a good scavenger of free radicals, because it’s rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals. Antioxidants neutralize chemicals (free radicals) that may damage body tissues. Phytochemicals are non-essential nutrients that plants develop for defense, protection, and disease-prevention. Phytochemicals include flavonoids, lignans and phenolic acid. Among the caffeine-rich foods we enjoy, tea and chocolate are rich with these compounds, but based on current research, coffee is the wealthiest.

5 Compounds in Coffee That Fight Cancer

Studies show that at least five compounds in coffee help reduce cancer risk:

Chlorogenic acid – This antioxidant compound is the major phenol in coffee. It’s technically an ester formed between quinic acid and caffeic acid. Caffeic acid is its main component; lab studies show it increases self-destruction of cancer cells and reduces inflammation. Chlorogenic acid’s antioxidants may be slightly lower in decaf and in instant coffee, but they’re still abundant. Quinic acid contributes to the acidic taste of coffee and is another phytochemical with antioxidant benefits.

Cafestol and kahweol – These fat-soluble compounds are extracted from coffee’s oils during brewing and are most available in unfiltered coffee (as in French press or boiled coffee; to drink more of these compounds, don’t use paper filters). Studies suggest kahweol and cafestol stimulate enzymes that neutralize carcinogens and block the proteins that activate carcinogens.

Caffeine – Everyone knows caffeine acts as a stimulant. It’s also a powerful antioxidant. Caffeine appears to reduce the risk for basal cell carcinoma (the most common form of skin cancer), though not for other skin cancers. Studies also show that caffeinated coffee, tea and soda reduce the risk; decaffeinated versions do not. Don’t stop applying sunscreen, experts advise, but caffeine appears to act like a sunscreen by directly absorbing damaging UV rays and blocking ATR, a protein activated by ultraviolet light.

Caffeine also reduces the risk of colorectal cancer risk. Researchers believe caffeine speeds carcinogens’ passage through the digestive tract, reducing exposure to these substances. Caffeine may also influence cell signaling to decrease colorectal cancer development.

NMB – N-methylpyridinium (NMB) appears to boost the potency of antioxidants, but it doesn’t occur with raw beans. It’s created during the roasting process, from trigonellin, its chemical precursor in raw coffee beans. NMB is present in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, including instant.

Contrary to early studies, current research provides good evidence that moderate coffee drinking does not increase cancer risks in most people, and instead may reduce cancer risks.

Coffee Dosage for Cancer-Prevention

How much coffee does it take to get its cancer-fighting benefits? Each study varies in consumption. Some found benefits with as little as one to two cups a day, others averaged four cups, and none of the studies reported benefits when consumption exceeded six cups a day. (Six cups is considered a high dose, and risky for heart and other conditions.) Benefits didn’t happen overnight. Participants generally had a history of several years, if not decades, of daily coffee consumption. (Some research was replicated as lab and cell studies, others as human studies.)

Bottom line:

In the U.S., most coffee drinkers drink from one to three cups a day. If you enjoy coffee, you may be getting cancer-fighting benefits, as long as your daily habit stays within reason, and remains below six cups a day.

* * *

Further reading:

Foods That Fight Cancer: Coffee

Study: Coffee May Reduce Risk of Oral Cancer

Study: Coffee Consumption Reduces Risk of Oral Cancer

Highly Active Compound Found In Coffee May Prevent Colon Cancer

Coffee Consumption and the Risk of Cancers: An Overview

Coffee May Protect Against Skin Cancer

Coffee: Chemistry in Every Cup

Cancer Fighters: A Guide to Phytochemicals (American Institute for Cancer Research)

Filed Under: Buzz, Coffee, Health Effects Tagged With: caffeine, cancer, carcinoma, coffee, health, phytochemical

5 Ways to Up Coffee’s Caffeine

July 6, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

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Bean and brewing affect coffee's caffeine

Wanna Up Your Cup? Tweaking Coffee’s Caffeine

The amount of caffeine in your coffee depends on many factors. You can’t control growing conditions, but you can raise – or lower – the caffeine in your cup with these tips. (They also affect flavor, so choose wisely.)

Longer Brewing Delivers More Caffeine: The longer hot water is in contact with coffee, the more caffeine it extracts. A French press steeps grounds for 4-6 minutes; with drip coffee, water drips through in about 3 minutes.

Robustas Are Twice as Caffeinated as Arabicas: Coffee experts prefer Arabica beans because of their smooth taste. The Robusta variety is harsher, stronger in flavor, and usually less pricey; it’s often mixed into blends to boost impact or lower the price, but good quality espresso blends include robusta for its lovely crema (foam).

Lighter Roasts Retain More Caffeine: Roasting destroys some caffeine content. Longer, darker roasts actually contain less caffeine than light or “blonde” roasts. Espresso is made with dark roasted beans, giving it less caffeine than one would expect.

Hotter Water Extracts More Caffeine: Experts recommend 195-205 degrees, and the higher temperatures extract more caffeine than lower ones. Water boils at 212 degrees F, but that temperature can produce a harsh tasting brew.

Finer Grinds Yield More Caffeine: Finer grinds expose more of the coffee bean to water than course grinds, so more caffeine is extracted more quickly. Despite a longer brewing time, a French press using the customary coarse grounds yields less caffeine than drip brewing with fine grounds. Burr grinders create rougher surfaces, and yield more caffeine, than blade grinders.

More Coffee Grounds Produce More Caffeine: This is logical. The greater volume of coffee grounds, the more caffeine is extracted, with a stronger flavor.

So obviously, the amount of caffeine in coffee (and tea as well) can vary considerably. But as a rule of thumb, I use 100 mg per 8-ounce cup of home-brewed coffee. (Starbucks lists a 16-ounce grande coffee at 330 mg caffeine.) Tea typically ranges from 30-80 mg per cup, so my rule of thumb is 50 mg caffeine per cup of black tea, and 25 mg for green tea.

More to explore:

Calculate Your Caffeine – Infographic compares caffeine per ounce, in coffee, tea, energy drinks and more.

Coffee Profile – in Caffeine Basics, free online book

Filed Under: Buzz, Coffee Tagged With: bean, brew, caffeine amount, coffee

10 Best Coffee Quotes From *Living* People

June 12, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

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10 Best Coffee Quotes from Living People –

Tired of quotes as stale as yesterday’s coffee, from dead people like Einstein and Lincoln? CaffeineAndYou.com delivers coffee quotes from living people – folks still kicking and ticking (at least for now). Don’t forget to share the fun and leave Comments about your favorites…

“Do you love a decaffeinated hazelnut-flavored coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts with plenty of sugar and skim milk? If so, please skip ahead to the next section. We’re here to talk about tasting actual coffee, not sweetened brown milk.”

– Ruth Bourdain, Comfort Me with Offal *

“In Seattle you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.”

– Jeff Bezos

“Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus! This cup is expensive!'”

– Conan O’Brien

“It just seems so watery…Really? That’s what people drink everyday? I don’t see the point in that.”

– Anderson Cooper in 2011, on trying coffee for the first time

“I’ll quit coffee. It won’t be easy drinking my Bailey’s straight, but I’ll get used to it. It’ll still be the best part of waking up.”

– Megan Mullally

“This is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard flight…one, from…here to there. We’ll be cruising at a height of ten feet, going up to twelve and a half feet if we see anything big. And our copilot today is a flask of coffee.”

– Eddie Izzard

“Too much coffee. Too much coffee and Gatorade. It’s a hell of a mix. If you’re ever tired in the morning, just try that mix, and tell me what you think.”

– Kevin Garnett

“I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.”

– Steven Wright

“At some point, all of us start wondering how much coffee we can drink before our hearts explode.”

– Phil Broughton, Funranium Labs’ Black Blood of the Earth

“What’s silly is paying five bucks for hot milk and flavored syrup! But now I see what’s really been going on all this time! They charge you all that money because they need it for the R & D! Somewhere on the outskirts of Seattle, there’s a secret facility with higher security than Area 51, and inside there are men with poor eyesight and bad haircuts wearing white coats, and they’re trying to make the Holy Grail of all coffee drinks… the Triple Nonfat Double Bacon Five-Cheese Mocha!”

– Kevin Hearne, from Hammered

And a bonus quote to put the crema in your coffee:

“I like light green, sometimes red is fun to look at, not a fan of yellow, unless it’s in a rainbow or on a coffee mug or on a happy face.”

– Chris Kattan  🙂 

* Technically Ruth Bourdain is a parody mash-up of Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. Ruth may not be real, but the mystery writer behind her voice is, so she’s very much alive and kicking. And for more good quotes from authors and famous people (alive and dead), check out Goodreads.com.

 

Filed Under: Buzz, Fun Tagged With: coffee, Fun, quote

Brain Candy: Sugar May Boost Coffee’s Effects

June 6, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

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Caffeine and glucose makes some brain tasks more efficient

MRI: Caffeine + sugar combo = more brain efficiency (seen here as neural activity), with same productive results.

Sugar + caffeine = synergy? Combo boosts memory + attention, says one study. 

Glucose and caffeine boost brain tasks: Sugar-sweetened coffee improves working memory and sustained attention, according to a study published in 2010 by University of Barcelona researchers. They found that glucose (in the form of sugar) and caffeine boost brain function more when taken together than they do separately.

Caffeine and Glucose Synergy

MRI brain scans measured forty test subjects under four conditions: coffee alone, coffee with sugar, sugar alone, and plain water. The subjects were asked to perform certain tasks associated with sustained attention and working memory. Individuals who consumed caffeine and glucose in combination showed no drop in their performance of the tasks, while the areas of the brain associated with these tasks showed reduced activity; in other words, the brain was more efficient. The brain on sugar and caffeine needs fewer resources to produce the same level of performance. Subjects who took only caffeine, glucose or water did not show the same efficiency in brain activity.

An earlier study on caffeine and glucose taken together showed improvements in attention span and declarative memory, suggesting that a combination of caffeine and glucose may benefit attention, learning and verbal memory, none of which were observed when the substances were consumed separately.

What about energy drinks? A smaller study of twenty participants measured glucose and caffeine synergy using energy drinks. Compared with a placebo, an energy drink containing caffeine, glucose, and flavored with ginseng and ginko biloba resulted in significantly improved performance on “secondary memory” and “speed of attention” tasks, but without other cognitive or mood effects. The researchers noted that glucose and caffeine taken separately would not produce the same results. They concluded there is synergy between glucose and caffeine, one that merits further investigation.

Filed Under: Buzz, Caffeine Effects Tagged With: brain, caffeine, coffee, health effects, memory, sugar

Hit-and-Run Driver Pleads “Starbucks Defense”

June 4, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

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Caffeine and bipolar disorder caused Daniel Noble’s reckless driving spree.

True story: Excessive caffeine, a mental disorder, and no sleep lead to tragic consequences…

At 7:30 on the morning of December 8, 2009, Daniel Noble drove his gold Pontiac onto the University of Washington campus and without hesitation, plowed down a student in a crosswalk. One block later, Noble drove up onto the sidewalk and struck another young man. Again, Noble didn’t stop. He drove ahead and parked on the same road in the middle of campus, less than 200 yards from his second victim. Both men’s legs were broken. Noble had knocked them right out their shoes. One shoe was later found high in a tree.

Noble, wearing pajamas and slippers, stepped out of his car and began walking to a nearby building. The car was as shattered as his victims. The windshield had imploded, bearing a gaping hole and crackled veins on every surface. A dent the size of a person marred the roof. Hair and a small piece of scalp peeked out from the weather stripping on the driver’s side door. Officers later said it was a miracle no one else had been hurt.

Normal Guy Snaps

Noble stood 6’1″, and weighed 300 pounds. His dark brown hair, fashionably cropped in the upright, spiky style of the times, stood out in all directions. As officers approached him, they could hear Noble swearing and rambling incoherently. When they tried to arrest him, he became argumentative. A struggle ensued. One officer wrestled Noble to the ground. Noble fought back so fiercely, they had to taser him into submission.

Everyone, from his wife to his colleagues, was stunned by Noble’s behavior. He was a financial analyst for the University of Idaho Foundation and bore no history of mental instability or criminal behavior. He often started his day at 4:00 AM. He was a hard working, regular guy.

What could possibly cause Noble to go bonkers?

Was It the Caffeine or the Combination?

Caffeine was at the heart of the defense team’s reasoning. To great public surprise, they won the case. But caffeine alone wasn’t the whole story.

A number of witnesses had testified on Noble’s behalf. The barista at the local Starbucks said Noble was a normal, regular customer. But he’d shown up that fateful, near-freezing morning in pajamas, with no cell phone, and ordered two large coffees. Noble’s wife said he started to act peculiar two or three days before. He gradually got worse. He’d been working long hours in recent weeks to finish up the foundation’s budget, and wasn’t sleeping well at night. He drank coffee and energy drinks to keep going.

Medical experts diagnosed Noble as suffering from a rare form of bipolar disorder – triggered by heavy consumption of caffeine. In other words, Noble had suffered temporary insanity caused by caffeine psychosis. That diagnosis was key to Noble’s defense.

The judge dismissed the charges after concluding Noble was unable to form the mental intent to commit a crime. Noble was released but ordered to receive mental treatment, and not to drive or consume caffeine.

Victim Faces Long Recovery

Meanwhile, the injured students recovered, despite painful and long-lasting injuries.

The 19-year old freshman, Neil Waldbjorn, was hit especially hard. The accident “broke two bones in his right leg, two bones in his left arm, ripped muscles and tendons off the bone in his left leg, and damaged his lungs and spleen so badly that he spent six days in an intensive-care unit,” reported wenatcheeworld.com. Months later, he was still in physical therapy.

Hogun Hahm also suffered a broken leg, and soon after returned to his home in South Korea.

No doubt either victim felt Noble’s caffeine consumption was a justifiable defense, but even a normally benign drug like caffeine can have serious consequences, especially when mental stability is already compromised.

A Caffeine Buzz Gets Out of Control

Some would argue against the merits of Daniel Noble’s legal defense, but the case raises an important question about the world’s most widely consumed drug: Under what conditions can caffeine become a dangerous substance?

In Noble’s case, faulty neural wiring (bipolar disorder) in combination with the overuse of caffeine flipped his mental state upside down. He lost control, and didn’t even remember what he had done.

Caffeine is complex, and not everyone responds the same way, as this true story shows. Caffeine has many benefits when taken in low to moderate doses. But it’s still a potent drug and impacts the central nervous system, including the brain.

To find out how caffeine works, jump over to Caffeine Basics, my online book – it’s free and uploaded chapter-by-chapter at CaffeineAndYou.com.

[NOTE: Chapter 8 – Habit, Safety and Addiction is being updated with new information from the American Psychiatric Association’s just released Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). I’ll upload that chapter soon, as it relates directly to this Starbuck’s Defense post.]

***

So, what do you think? Was Noble’s sentence just, did the judge rule fairly? Was caffeine at the heart of his condition, or was this an excuse? Leave a comment and chime in.

Filed Under: Buzz, Caffeine Effects Tagged With: caffeine, coffee, energy drink, health effects, mental health, Starbucks

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Meet Kate

About Kate Heyhoe

I'm an author and journalist specializing in food and cooking. Caffeine Basics is my ninth book. I've written about the U.S. wine industry, international foods, shrinking your "cookprint," and cooking with kids. Great Bar Food at Home was a James Beard Award finalist, and Cooking Green: Reducing … More

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