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Coffee
Consumers should be aware that the herb guarana has one of the highest concentrations of caffeine in any plant and intake of this herb supplement is not advised due to lack of standardization of caffeine content.
The subject of caffeine and fibrocystic breasts is controversial. Research supports both that caffeine may increase breast pain in this condition and possibly affect hormone levels leading to the condition. Other studies have shown that decreasing caffeine intake does not result in improvement.
Colorectal cancer:
Case control studies comparing the highest versus the lowest coffee consumption showed a significant reduction in colorectal cancer (15% risk reduction) and colon cancer (21% risk reduction), but not rectal cancer (5% risk reduction) and in cohort studies risk of colorectal cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer were reduced by 6%, 7%, and 2%, respectively (1).
An analysis of 96,162 subjects (46,023 men and 50,139 women) found that women drinking 3 or more cups of coffee a day had about half the risk of developing colon cancer (but not rectal cancer) compared with those who drank no coffee but no benefit in risk was seen in men (2).
Endometrial cancer: Je, Y et al researched 6,628 cases of endometrial cancer and found that women who drank 3 to 4 cups of coffee per day vs little or no coffee had a 29% reduced risk of endometrial cancer, and risk reduction varied between 21% and 60% depending on study type (case control or cohort study) and on the country of origin (3).
Basal cell skin cancer: Drinking 3 cups of caffeinated coffee was linked to a 21% lower risk of developing BCC in women and a 10% lower risk in men, compared to drinking less than 1 cup per month (4).
Renal cell cancer (RCC): Lee, J et al reviewed 13 studies including 530,469 women and 244,483 men with a follow-up of 7-20 years and it was found that those who drank 3 or more 8-ounce cups of coffee per day had a 16% lower risk (5).
Cardiovascular disease: Mineharu, Y et al found that compared to non-coffee drinkers, men consuming 1-6 cups/week, 1-2 cups/day and ≥ 3 cups/day had a protective effect from coffee with a 22%, 33%, and 55% less rate of stroke and those in the second highest quintile of total caffeine intake had a total cardiovascular disease risk reduction of 38% in men and 22% in women (6).
Kidney stones: Curhan, GC et al noted that increasing intake of fluid reduced kidney stone formation and coffee with or without caffeine reduced stone formation risk by 10% (7).
Diabetes mellitus: Drinking decaf coffee before meals should be avoided by patients with diabetes mellitus as this may worsen the control of blood sugar. Moisey, LL et al found that caffeinated coffee before a high glycemic index meal resulted in insulin sensitivity reduction of 40% (low glycemic index meal reduced insulin sensitivity by 29%) compared to decaffeinated coffee before the same meal (8).
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Beghi et al compared the coffee consumption of 377 patients newly diagnosed cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and determined that lifetime coffee consumption for ALS patients was lower compared to controls (odds ratios of 0.7, 0.6, and 0.4, respectively) (9).
Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: In a review done by Eskelinen, et al it was determined that in most studies moderate caffeine intake, coffee in particular, is associated with a decreased risk in the diagnosis of dementia and AD which included a review of the CAIDE study which showed that drinking 3 to 5 cups per day at midlife appears to decrease the risk of dementia and AD by about 65 percent later on (10).
Please see the caffeine section of Preventive Health Advisor for further evidence-based benefits of caffeine.
