Coffee is a "Health Drink" 540
WoodenRobot writes "Not that it would stop an Italian or a techie from drinking the stuff, but Chiara Trombetti, of the Humanitas Gavazzeni institute of Bergamo has reported that coffee, especially espresso, is good for you and provides numerous health benefits. All the more reason to tuck into a cup o' Joe - but no more than 3 or 4 cups a day."
As a techie who doesn't drink it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I find that tea is the way to go, so I hope they have a study that shows it's healthy too.
Obviously... (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides that, this article is obviously lacking in supporting information. What did this "scientific" study involve? Was this simply a look at the components of coffee: antioxidants, tannin, etc? Or was it a double blind study that looked at the long term effects of 4 cups a day?
Are you Corn Fed? [ebay.com]
Prejudiced Generalization (Score:3, Insightful)
It's really not good journalism to post material like that guys.
Re:As a techie who doesn't drink it... (Score:5, Insightful)
E' allora? (And so?) (Score:5, Insightful)
I like it too, and I consume loads here in Italy -- but she has a vested interest in saying that espresso is the best of all types to drink.
Why? Because you really have to try hard to find 'long coffee' or caffe' americano here. It's almost impossible. I remember a year ago watching a French girl flip her lid at some poor barista because he couldn't understand that she wanted the 'long coffee' instead of the syrupy stuff. And she was shouting at him in English, which was most amusing. She'd have had more success using French...
Also, no other nationality fetishises food to the extent the Italians do. I'll leave it there.
Is there any news here? (Score:4, Insightful)
If not, they can feel free to give me a call and I'll be glad to hold forth on my semi-informed views on all sorts of things.
Re:Coffee is boring (Score:5, Insightful)
Chris
Re:Coffee is also a great way to lose weight (Score:2, Insightful)
Quoth the article: (Score:4, Insightful)
What is left out is the sentence stating that those same headaches were caused by caffine withdrawal.
Off to Dunkin Donuts for my medicine. Anybody want me to pick something up?
Re:#2 Health benefit (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm healthy, they're healthy. Everybody wins.
Further proof: It's 'kicking' for enemas. [I'm told]
Re:Coffee is boring (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Atkins lovers/Atkins haters = boozers/benefits (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:E' allora? (And so?) (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as the study is concerned, I am always suspicious of things like this. It is *not* that coffee is good for you, much like it is *not* the marijuana or the wine that is good for you, but rather that in specific instances, some of the ingredients can be medicinal. For instance, the oft-sited "fact" that wine is good for you, typically fails to mention that it is only red wine, and then its a result of the natural coloring agent. This agent is also found in red grape juice. So its not the wine, its an ingredient thereof.
Similarly, its not coffe itself, but a specific set of ingredients in the coffee. This means that coffee itself may still be more harmful than good (who knows). Personally, I never touch the stuff, and I think it smells nasty (except *some* of the specialty stuff, but that's different).
Someone will probably next study tobacco and find that its also *good* for you, but I don't think most of us are going to buy that.
Always be suspicious of people who do research. I say this as a person currently involved in various types of research.
Re:Cheers (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you're way out of whack here, son. Cocaine is much more psychological than physical (crack excepted, of course). Cigarettes are a real physical addiction. Why do you think people have "nic fits"?
Plus: coffee does indeed have a minor physical addictiveness (similar to cocaine). In fact cocaine and coffee have similar effects on the body and mind, although of course attenuated for coffee.
So to sum up: you crazy, boy.
Re:Cheers (Score:1, Insightful)
Why don't you try a powerful drug first before calling coffee one? Powerful my ass...
Re:Cheers (Score:2, Insightful)
I did not say white man is evil, I just poked at his (my, I am white) intelligence. Europeans found natives using coca leaf and studied it scientifically. They found the active chemical and threw the rest away thinking what they were doing was a good or smart thing to do. The USA has a lot of problems with cocaine hydrochloride (the stuff you snort), and cocaine freebase (the stuff you smoke, aka crack). The natives still to this day simply chew the leaf. They are also better for it. We should learn from them, and our own mistakes, and realise that we made a mistake. Instead we see ourselves suffering because of our own mistake (purifying it), so we blame the whole plant. This is our typical approach of blaming others, and why we are often looked down on.
Re:Coffee is also a great way to lose weight (Score:2, Insightful)
puff piece (Score:5, Insightful)
Dr Trombetti says she hates the stuff herself - but points to a welter of scientific evidence to back her case.
Hmmm... a "welter" is a "chaotic, jumbled mess" according to webster. Personally I've always preferred my scientific evidence presented in an orderly fashion. Even more, I like double-blind random scientific studies, but they're not even hinted at in this article.
Coffee contains tannin and antioxidants, which are good for the heart and arteries, she says. It can relieve headaches. It is good for the liver - and can help prevent cirrhosis and gallstones. And the caffeine in coffee can reduce the risk of asthma attacks - and help improve circulation within the heart.
I'm sorry to break it to "doctor" Trombetti but these are claims, not evidence. See above comment regarding the absence of scientific studies.
There is no denying that coffee is not for everyone. If you drink too much it can increase nervousness, and cause rapid heartbeat and trembling hands.
Ah, here's the interjected token fact to try to induce readers into a feeling that facts are being recited throughout. Sorry, no sale.
Fact: Coffee may be good for you, it may be bad for you. Fact: Scientifically speaking, this article does nothing to change the preponderance of evidence supporting the latter.
Re:Coffee != hot water (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I overdosed on coffee once (Score:5, Insightful)
An ex-girlfriend of mine once gave me a couple No-Doz type caffeine pills, because I needed to stay up all night to get some work done. I downed both, not realizing she'd meant me to take one at a time -- or, in her case, a half of one at a time. She said nothing, though gave me a funny look. I, still under the delusion that these things really didn't affect me all that much, proceeded to go home, make myself a pot of black coffee, and down it.
Big mistake.
By four in the morning, I was tweaking like the worst speed come-down you can imagine. My head was spinning. I couldn't see straight. My pulse was racing. Hot flashes. Cold sweats. My hands were shaking like a newborn's. I was shaking, scratching, and wiping at my face like a junkie. And worst of all: the nausea. Extreme nausea, coupled with the inability to vomit (I stuck my finger down my throat repeatedly to make it stop -- nothing doing), that lasted for the next fourteen hours, give or take. As soon as the nausea went away for a time, I'd do something like ... oh, I dunno ... drink a glass of water ... and here it all came again.
Add to this the fact that I had to fly to an all-day business meeting at the home office of a Fortune 500 company that morning, and you can imagine how bad my day sucked.
The whole experience made me gun-shy of caffeine for a long time; as soon as I started feeling those telltale effects that you normally don't even think about, I would freak out and have to start drinking water or something.
The moral: Coffee is good. I still luvs me a good Italian espresso. But remember -- it ain't a contest, fellas.