The Fitness Guru

A couple of weeks ago, a study was released that found that men who consumed six cups of coffee per day greatly reduced their risk of prostate cancer. A couple of days later, another study announced that women who drank four cups of coffee a day stood the risk of decreasing their fertility.

So is coffee good for men and bad for women? Do you have to drink six cups in order to start reaping the benefits? (article continued below)

I love my coffee. I love to start the day with a cup of coffee and nurse that sucker all morning long. I have been doing it for years. Occasionally, I will jump on the “no coffee” bandwagon, and inevitably I feel like I am depriving myself. So I stick to my cup. And, more often than not, when I get that morning coffee, someone raises an eyebrow and says “you drink coffee?!?” Yes. Yes I do.

But all these different studies had me guessing what exactly are the pros and the cons of coffee drinking. There are soooo many studies and so much information, I thought I’d take a little research adventure and find out. With the help of The Daily Mail, here’s what I found:

1 Cup per day: Hey! This is good. A Greek study says that you could lower your blood pressure. BUT at the same time, if you suffer from sleeplessness, that one cup could leave you tossing and turning during the night.

2 Cups per day: sports researchers have found that two cups can help your workout intensity, while other researchers have found that this amount can help stave off Alzheimer’s. BUT two cups also increasing the amount of stress hormones in your system– adrenaline and cortisol. Women who are pregnant want to avoid those hormones. And people who are trying to lose weight also want to be careful about the cortisol in their systems as this dandy little hormone helps you hold on to fat.

3 Cups per day: women reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer by a fifth, the American medical journal Cancer reported in 2008 while men who drink three cups of coffee have a 40 per cent lower risk of developing gallstones. BUT coffee drinkers who have more than three cups a day may increase their risk of heart attack, a U.S. study in 2006 found. And bizarrely, drinking just three cups of a coffee a day may make some women’s breasts shrink, according to researchers from Lund University in Stockholm.

4 Cups per day: There is 400mg of caffeine in four cups of coffee and this amount is thought to provide the maximum benefit of coffee’s disease-combating antioxidants. University of Utah scientists found people who drink four cups daily are 39 per cent less likely to suffer from cancers of the mouth and larynx. Four cups can also reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes. BUT people who drink four cups are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

5 Cups per day: Researchers at the National Cancer Centre in Tokyo found that drinking five cups of coffee reduced the risk of serious liver damage by three quarters. BUT Several studies have shown that this amount of coffee is a risk factor for osteoporosis, as caffeine can interfere with the absorption of calcium. Many experts dispute this claim, but agree that five should be the limit…..just to make sure.

…..and on and on and on……

Once again, we find ourselves with some much contradictory information. What to do, what to do?!?!

We all have certain thresholds: for body composition, illness, additives, etc. We all have that great aunt who smoked four packs of unfiltered cigarettes every day and lived to be 104 years old. Does that mean we should smoke? Probably not. Her threshold for lung disease was much higher.

If you have hereditary issues that can effected by coffee consumption, the smart money is on cutting back coffee consumption. If osteoporosis runs in the family, why run the risk by drinking more coffee and tempting fate. As with everything else, the best bet is to educate yourself on your body and what is right for you. That may be a totally different plan of action from your best friend and co-worker. And, certainly, if you tend to use coffee as a crutch, returning to the pot several times a day in order to simply function, step back and take a good look at your consumption: it might be time to back off.

My one cup is perfect for me. I enjoy it as my morning ritual, it gives me a little boost in the morning, and I just really love the way it tastes.

Take a moment and think about your consumption and the ramifications, both good and bad, before you go and kneel before the God of Starbucks.

Rock on!!

So here’s a great article in the New York Times celebrating coffee! Now, beware! This is not justification for drinking twelve cups while you are at work. But if you are feeling a bit sluggish before your workout or want to go a little further before that evening run, maybe a small cup of Java will do the trick.

Starbucks, perhaps reacting to Dunkin’ Donuts swift move on the coffee market, has created the new “trenta”. Brushing up on my grade school French, it translates as “thirty”. It is a remarkable 31-ounce iced coffee. Yummmmmm…….

But perhaps it should have been called the Vingt, French for 20. Of course, this would have been confusing for the Baristas, as Venti is a coffee size that already exists in Starbuckese. But I have some sound reasoning behind this: the calorie punch behind this new drink is 200. Add some sweetener and some milk or cream and you can be looking at 220 calories of caffeinated excitement.

Now, a “normal” cup of coffee is about 6 to 8 ounces and many studies have shown that one or two cups a day may actually have health benefits. But 31 ounces? 220 calories?

“The new “trenta” will offer four to five cups of coffee in one serving, and unfortunately the additional caffeine will not “burn off” the excess calories,” says Jessica Bartfield, MD, internal medicine and medical weight-loss specialist at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, part of the Loyola University Health System. “People need to recognize that that drinks are not necessarily innocent ways to quench our thirst, boost our energy, or satisfy a sweet tooth. Drinks are rather sneaky sources (usually) of empty calories – nutritionally deplete.”

And all those extra calories? We do the quick math and that cab lead to a weight increase of 2 pounds a month or 21 pounds a year. From your morning coffee. See? Venti equals 20. Oh so clever!

As I have said over and over again, it all comes down to portion size. We live in a society that savors excessive portions. And if you get served in a big cup, subconsciously you feel the need to drink more. That’s just how our brains work. Drink out of a small cup and your expectation to satisfaction because markedly less.

Portions portions portions. With everything. If you are trying to lose weight, or maintain your current weight, understanding calorie intake in situations like this is key. That doesn’t mean you have to skip your morning coffee. But it does mean you have to understand that ice coffee is not simply a refreshing beverage– it is a source of calories and all those calories are going to end up somewhere.

I know I know I know– I’m such a bummer: you have to walk into a store or coffee shop and think. But these companies are spending a great deal of time, money and brain power getting you to not think and simply consume more and more. And the effects can be frustrating at best, and, at worst, hazardous to your health.

If you missed it, check out the 8-year old discussing portions, particularly the insight regarding pancakes.

Morning Brew at the DUMBO General Store

Caffeine can help your workout by increasing endurance (it slows the breakdown of glycogen giving you more fuel over the course of your workout), delaying fatigue, keeping you more alert, and lowering “perceived exertion” so that you can work a little harder. The average cup of coffee has 60 mg of caffeine which is perfect for the 150 lb exerciser.

Just use caution if you have an adverse reaction to caffeine. If you are not used to caffeine, start with a small amount and make sure that it doesn’t give you the post workout jitters.