coffee

For a long time, people thought that coffee was not healthy, at least for those who drink a lot of it. Coffee can make you nervous and anxious, some say, and many regular drinkers would agree.

In medieval times coffee was considered a drug, and early coffee shops were seen as dens of iniquity, subject to shutdown by municipal authorities across Europe.

Today, with Starbucks and other coffee shops sprouting at every other city and town corner, things have changed quite a bit. Still, few might have expected coffee’s growing role as an important health supplement and powerful preventive cocktail for a variety of health conditions. Indeed, some say it may even turn out to be good for kids!

A recent (2004) National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study by Harvard researchers suggested that those who drank something like six cups of coffee a day had a much reduced risk of developing Type II diabetes compared to those who consumed no coffee each day—up to 50% less for men and 30% less for women.

Researchers were unsure whether this effect was due to the caffeine in coffee or other substances (decaffeinated coffee also worked, but with less impact). Some of the ingredients in coffee, like magnesium, are thought to improve insulin efficacy, so the reasons for coffee’s benefits in this case may be manifold.

Coffee is also positively implicated in reducing the risk for Parkinson’s disease, liver cirrhosis, colon cancer and even gallstones.

According to the Institute for Coffee Studies at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (funded in part by coffee producing nations and manufacturers), coffee could also help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease for long-term coffee drinkers. At the same time, it may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or reduce it depending on its interaction with other conditions like stress and individual health conditions (indeed, none of the researchers involved in studying coffee would consider their findings medical advice for individuals—these, if any, need to be worked out individually with a qualified medical professional who knows your specific medical condition and history).

Coffee is such a complex brew of chemicals, many of which are created and brought out in the process of roasting and brewing coffee, research on the specific benefits of each of these compounds is really only at an initial stage. There are more than 800 aromatic compounds in a cup of coffee. There is little doubt that future research is likely to discover even more effects of coffee consumption on human health.

Is coffee good for children?

According to Vanderbilt’s Dr. Tomas DePaulis, and contrary perhaps to parents who usually try to keep coffee from children, it may not be that harmful. Like in the case of adults, it seems to improve concentration and may help children do a little better on tests for this reason. General mental performance outside of short-term tasks is not necessarily improved, however.

There is also an interesting recent finding from Brazil, according to Dr. DePaulis in Coffee: The New Health Food?that suggests that children who drink coffee with milk “are less likely to have depression than other children.”

There are negative effects of drinking coffee, most of which are associated with drinking large amounts of coffee. But for some people, and particularly for children, even 1 cup of coffee could have negative effects. And keep in mind that kids may be getting caffein from other sources, such as soft drinks.

The National Institute of Health says “a child’s caffeine consumption should be closely monitored. Although caffeine is safe to consume in moderation, it may negatively affect a child’s nutrition. Caffeinated beverages may be replacing nutrient-dense foods such as milk. A child may also eat less because caffeine acts as an appetite suppressant. Caffeine can be completely restricted in a child’s diet since there is no nutritional requirement for it. This may be necessary for a hyperactive child as caffeine is a stimulant.”

Caffeine can also aggravate heart problems or nervous disorders, and children and parents might not even be aware of the risk. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it can also produce symptoms like jitters, irritability and hyperactivity.

Caffeine is also an addictive substance, and can cause restlessness in those who skip the daily coffee dose. In addition, there may be other short-term side effects, such as heartburn, headaches, stomach problems and a elevated blood pressure.

Whatever the truth of this claim, over the coming years, there is little doubt that much more research will be done and future generations of all ages may benefit from this analysis.