Coffee & Tea: the new Health Food.

[Douglas]

I've enjoyed and benefited from Steve's blog for some time. There is one tenent of his, however, that I strongly disagree with (along with all the paranormal silliness): abstaining from coffee.

Over the past year there have been a number of new studies supporting the strong health benefits of both coffee and tea. In both cases, the benefits outweigh the potential detrimental effects by a wide margin. Here's a good place to start learning about these studies:

Google: benefits of coffee

Google: benefits of tea

I have personally experimented with 30-day on/off spans for each and find that moderate consumption does not hurt my early-riser sleep patterns and has no noticably detrimental effect on any other aspect of my life. It's simply all good.

If the pharma industry had a lock on either one, they would have the biggest money maker of all time--just from the laboratory-proven health benefits alone!

Douglas

[Jim11]

I think the effects of coffee differ greatly from person to person.

I think Steve's coffee posts are worthwhile simply because I think it's a good idea for every regular coffee drinker to try 30 days without it. If they find no difference then at least you know that something you're consuming daily has very little negative effect on you.

All the research on coffee's health benefits seems to be secondary to me. If coffee effected my clarity of mind or heightens nervousness/anxiety in me, I wouldn't drink it regardless.

I am a coffee drinker, and find limited negative effects in moderation. Too much coffee and it really messes with me though. Can't still still, everything seems boring if I'm not constantly active, have trouble concentrating while reading, etc. I can definitely say that I won't be drinking 6+ cups of coffee a day to reduce the risks of Parkinson's.........

[Minsc]

You could just drink herb tea which has no caffeine and plenty of antioxidants..
(like red/rooibos tea)

If you do decide to drink a regular tea, white is the least processed(black is the most, green's in the middle).

[EnduranceNinja]

I love my coffee. I don't have the sources but basically if you don't consume large amount of coffee your ok. And I agree with this. I have expereinced both sides of this. I have consumed so much coffee I got those withdraw headaches and even felt I could not get motivated and start my day without it. I have not used it for many days at once without any withdraws too. Now I just have a cup or two depending how early I get up. My job starts at times at 5am or 130 pm. I try not to have it too much so when the time comes I really need it only a few cups will get me through my job. And another thing I just enjoy enjoying a good coffee or mocha with friends at a coffee shop. I guess it is like having a drink at a bar with some friends. Lucky you don't get a DWI from too much coffee.

[The David]

I've heard a lot about the benefits of tea. As far as coffee, well, I personally have to drink a lot before I can sit still, but I don't know how nutritious it is.

[martin]

I bought some organic decaffeinated green tea and was drinking it for a while, but then my mom bought me a bunch of green tea with caffeine and I've been drinking that.... I'm kinda bothered by the fact that it has caffeine.

[Freelancer]

I lose all concentration power if I drink more then a few cups of coffee, I get into this hyper state where I do a ton of useless ****. Now I'm only drinking tea and never coffee, works much better for me.

[Douglas]

I encourage those who have replied to go read the literature on recent studies (see the Google references). The benefits from Coffee are huge, especially for dementia and related diseases. The antioxidants and other benefits in Black and Green Tea are much more substantial than herbal tea.

Big Pharma doesn't want you to know this. If any one of them owned the rights to a drug with proven benefits of Coffee and Tea, they would quickly become the richest corporation on earth.

Douglas

[mlc82]

Interesting stuff Douglas! I love Coffee to the point of reverence (I like tea alot as well but nowhere near the almost-fanaticism I feel toward my coffee), and this just makes me like it even more. I am a pretty hooked on the stuff, as it's the first thing I want when I wake up, but I can also go without it and not feel like I'm dying (I've been there before though).

I do agree on overdoing it. Caffeine overdose is NOT fun, and isn't what you'd think... Too much won't just get you more and more wired, it can actually start having the opposite effect in large amounts, making you dizzy, sleepy, and unable to concentrate. After finding this out the bad way, I started brewing my coffee 2 cups at a time, instead of half-pots.

[kthdsn]

I didn't think that coffee had any affect on me until I tried going without it for a month. The change was quite dramatic, I was much more alert and eager to get on with my day rather than always sleepy and waiting for bedtime. I have started drinking black tea recently and the sleepiness is back big time. I also notice that on the rare occasion that I have a cup of coffee now I feel jittery, light headed and unable to concentrate. I am shocked that I thought of that state as normal for so long before. I'm going to shift back to green tea which seems to agree with me a lot more.

I also think that the reported health benefits of tea and coffee can be found from other sources like fresh fruit and vegetables which don't have negative affects. I'd rather have those.