Is that morning cup of joe really worth it?

It was a beautiful December morning – cold and crisp. Finally, a day that held the promise of winter in the air. I was sitting at my computer, enjoying the sleepy silence of my house, with a cat on my lap and a steaming mug of coffee by my side.

Then I started my weekly rounds through the news sites, looking for the latest findings in health research. The more I read, the more my mood dimmed. The aroma of my coffee wasn’t quite as enticing as it had been minutes ago because it seemed that wherever I looked, some study was telling me I shouldn’t be drinking it.

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with coffee. I’ve given it up many times, sometimes even for years. But inevitably, I find myself drawn back to it again and again. It’s that heady smell, that rich taste, the lure of cozying up in a fake living room at Starbucks with a friend and chatting over a cappuccino. And next thing you know, I’ve fallen squarely off the wagon, back to my java fix each morning.

The research hasn’t really helped my cause. Some studies show that coffee is bad for your health. Some say it can actually be beneficial. And some say it’s okay as long as you don’t drink too much of it.

But on this particular day, I came across two separate studies that revealed hidden risks from the coffee habit. And it made me reconsider my latest relapse – and wonder if I shouldn’t give the coffee-free life another go.

Could coffee increase your risk of breast cancer?

The first study examined caffeine’s effects on the hormone levels of 4,998 women between the ages of 36 and 45. None of the women were pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking supplemental hormones that could influence the results. The researchers took blood samples during the first five days of the women’s menstrual cycles to measure hormones levels. Then the women answered detailed questions about their height, weight, eating habits, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and smoking habits.

When they analyzed the data, the researchers found that women who drank more than one cup of coffee per day had significantly higher levels of estradiol (a form of estrogen) than women who didn’t drink coffee. Women who consumed about 500 mg of caffeine each day (the equivalent of about four or five cups of coffee) had nearly 70 percent more estrogen in their blood than women whose caffeine consumption was under 100 mg per day. These findings are significant because circulating estrogen levels have been linked with many serious health conditions, including breast pain, endometriosis, and breast and ovarian cancer.

Switching to “unleaded” won’t do the trick

Ok, so I’ll switch to decaf, you say. Not so fast. The next study I read suggested that drinking decaffeinated coffee might significantly increase your risk of developing another serious disease, one that debilitates thousands of people each year.

I’m talking about rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease that plagues its victims and frustrates their doctors. It’s one of mainstream medicine’s “diseases with no known cure.” CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) has found many promising therapies for treating RA, but 2.1 million Americans – most of them women – still suffer with the disease.

In this trial, doctors studied a total of 31,336 women between the ages of 55 and 69. In 1986, when the trial began, none of the women had RA. During the 11 years of the study, doctors periodically checked in on the participants and noted any diagnoses of RA. The participants also completed regular questionnaires detailing their eating and drinking habits and other health-related behaviors.

When the study ended, there were 158 cases of validated RA among the group. And when they looked at the data, the researchers saw a clear pattern: the women who drank four or more cups of decaffeinated coffee per day were more than twice as likely to have developed the disease.

So decaf might not be a safe alternative to regular coffee. But this study revealed something might be a good alternative. Among the same 31,336 women, those who drank three or more cups of tea daily were less than half as likely to develop RA.

The scientists believe that the decaffeination process may be to blame for the results. So, though they didn’t examine this specifically, decaffeinated tea may be a risk as well (unless it’s naturally caffeine-free, as most herbal blends are).

This certainly isn’t the first study to tell us that tea is better for our health than coffee. And both still seem to support the idea that one or two cups of coffee each day probably won’t do much harm. But when deciding whether to have that cup of coffee – or how many to have – you should consider that other research has shown that coffee weakens your bones, wreaks havoc on your digestive system, and may raise homocysteine levels.

This week I decided to start my mornings with a cup of green tea instead of coffee. And so far, it’s been fine. But don’t sell your Starbucks stock yet. Like I said, it’s a wagon I have a hard time staying on.

Sources:
Fertil Steril 76:723-729, 2001
“Coffee, Tea and Caffeine Consumption and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from the Iowa Women’s Health Study,” presented at the 65th annual scientific meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, November 14, 2001.

Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.