Are you a coffee drinker? Is it a guilty pleasure for you? It needn't be, although elders and friends of my acquaintance, who abstain from all caffeinated beverages seem just as lively as the rest of us. Then there are tea devotees, who enjoy the benefits of tea in glorious variety. Personally I've traveled most of my life, and I am fond of coffees and teas from all over the globe. Of all the truly restorative routines I know, the Japanese tea ceremony tops the charts; it isn't entirely the tea, itself, although the tea is delicious and invigorating.
Though I don't hook up a coffee i.v. in the morning to keep the flow of inspiration pumping, the morning mug brightens me no end. I expect, someday, to have my ashes scattered over a coffee or cacao plantation (organic, of course!) Why, you ask, am I on about coffee? Simply there is new research on a number of fronts. I'll concede there are layers of nutritional research, so new is a relative term. (This week's new is next week's new, new, and so forth.)
I was cheered to read a "New York Times" article by Aaron E. Carroll, published in May 2015. The article provides an analysis of a number of research studies regarding the risks and benefits of coffee consumption. The article is comprehensive regarding cardiovascular health risks, and goes on to reveal the results of large-scale cancer studies (involving various cancers.) Carroll concludes the news is better than "mixed;" the benefits outweigh the risks, many of which are either mythical or wildly inaccurate.
As with everything moderation, particularly in case of one's daily caffeine "load," seems to me to be an excellent idea. Caffeine is tricky; some people become a bit brighter, maybe a bit more ambitious, after a caffeinated pick-me-up. It can certainly be abused, and can lead to anything from a mild case of the jitters to addiction. I know myself ... know I cannot consume coffee or tea, followed by other caffeinated beverages; it is once a day or not at all. Coffee and tea up my desire for "a little something" sweet, a tendency I keep at bay. A double shot of espresso, a rare treat, will take me from loquacious fun to total brain dump. (My head always fills with ideas and words much more rapidly and in much greater quantity than I can express in conversation. Not so, if I have sufficiently strong coffee, in which case, stand back!)
Here's a segway to a difficult subject. Like the rush toward alternative spirituality of the late Twentieth Century, the rush toward alternative cures swept the hip culture (and, eventually, the mainstream) of the U.S. I guess it was the mid- to late 1970s, when many of my friends were touting the benefits of coffee enemas. The idea began taking hold in the 1930s, in the treatment of cancer by a Dr. Max Gersten. In any event I drew the line; the idea struck me as potentially dangerous, particularly in the hands of the growing multitude of quack healers. Sure enough studies have proven again and again that, yes, coffee contains beneficial substances; however drinking a cup of coffee is much more efficacious for absorption than colonic irrigation. The real issue is the danger of septicemia, a bad word, a potentially deadly outcome (Margolin KA, Green MR. Polymicrobial enteric septicemia from coffee enemas. West J Med 1984; 140: 460.) In short, if there were the remotest possibility of dying from septicemia, why on earth risk it? Which brings me to another subject.
In the process of thinking about this post and researching it, I have run across new (new, new?) information concerning colon cancer and colonoscopy. I'll tackle this equally squeamy subject in my next post. Meanwhile, enjoy that hot, steaming mug of coffee ... by mouth. It has proven nutritional benefits, won't cause you cardiovascular disease or cancer. Best of all it won't stunt your growth, cher, I guarantea!
Here's a segway to a difficult subject. Like the rush toward alternative spirituality of the late Twentieth Century, the rush toward alternative cures swept the hip culture (and, eventually, the mainstream) of the U.S. I guess it was the mid- to late 1970s, when many of my friends were touting the benefits of coffee enemas. The idea began taking hold in the 1930s, in the treatment of cancer by a Dr. Max Gersten. In any event I drew the line; the idea struck me as potentially dangerous, particularly in the hands of the growing multitude of quack healers. Sure enough studies have proven again and again that, yes, coffee contains beneficial substances; however drinking a cup of coffee is much more efficacious for absorption than colonic irrigation. The real issue is the danger of septicemia, a bad word, a potentially deadly outcome (Margolin KA, Green MR. Polymicrobial enteric septicemia from coffee enemas. West J Med 1984; 140: 460.) In short, if there were the remotest possibility of dying from septicemia, why on earth risk it? Which brings me to another subject.
In the process of thinking about this post and researching it, I have run across new (new, new?) information concerning colon cancer and colonoscopy. I'll tackle this equally squeamy subject in my next post. Meanwhile, enjoy that hot, steaming mug of coffee ... by mouth. It has proven nutritional benefits, won't cause you cardiovascular disease or cancer. Best of all it won't stunt your growth, cher, I guarantea!
No comments:
Post a Comment