Staple of Programmer's Diet Actually Healthy!

 
Aug 13, 2005

by Judith Dinowitz

Coffee has always been a staple of the programmer's diet. Now new research suggests that it may actually be good for you. A recent study by researchers at Scranton University in Pennsylvania measured the antioxidant content of more than 100 items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and beverages. Coffee was easily the biggest source of antioxidants on the list, taking into account the amount per serving and level of consumption. Second was black tea, followed by bananas, dry beans and corn. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee provided the same level of antioxidants (though why would anyone drink decaffeinated coffee?)

Antioxidants have been linked to a number of health benefits, including protection against cancer and heart disease. They destroy free-radicals, destructive molecules that damage cells and DNA.

I was impressed with the Detroit Free Press article, which mentioned previous research studies that show other health benefits in coffee. In February, a Japanese research report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute stated that people who drank coffee daily, or nearly every day, had half the risk of liver cancer of those who never drank it. The effect appeared in people who drank one or two cups a day and increased in those who drank three to four cups a day. Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health announced that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes. (The effect here was noted in men and women who drank more than six 8-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee a day. The question you've got to ask yourself is: Is the long-term benefit of reduced risk of developing diabetes worth the continuous state of lack of sleep?)

But what does this mean? Should you now be guzzling your cup of Java four times a day?

Not really. Even with these reported health benefits, too much coffee can still make you jittery and raise cholesterol levels. The researchers at Scranton stress that coffee is no substitute for fruits and vegetables. Dates, cranberries, and red grapes contain the highest concentration of antioxidants per serving size of all fruits, and provide more nutritional value overall, but Americans simply don't consume as much of these fruits as they do coffee. The leader of the study, Professor Joe Vinson, of Scranton University, Pennsylvania, advises you to limit your coffee intake to one to two cups a day.

Of course, the coffee producers have jumped on this already! The article in The Scotsman, a British newspaper, quotes a spokesman for the British Coffee Association: "This study reconfirms the fact that moderate coffee consumption of four to five cups a day not only is perfectly safe but may confer health benefits." I trust that our readers are smart enough to recognize marketing hype when they read it.

Study Says Coffee Delivers More Health Benefits Than Fruit and Veg (The Scotsman, Monday, August 29, 2005)

There's Help for Your Health in that Daily Hot Cuppa Joe (Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 29, 2005)

Coffee is Number 1 Source of Antioxidants (FoxNews.com, Monday, August 29, 2005)

That Daily Cup of Coffee Can Help Prevent Cancer, Researchers Find (Detroit Free Press, August 29, 2005)

Grounds for Health (The Mercury News, August 29, 2005)

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