I am a devoted coffee drinker, so when my friend Ann pointed out that Marie Browning had written a newsletter about the health benefits of my brew, I made sure to get it. I am sharing it here, and want to point you to
Marie's site -- she is a holistic nutrition counselor and a wealth of resources and knowledge on many things concerning wellness.
Marie wrote this article. Enjoy!
Nothing compares to the rich aroma of freshly ground and brewed coffee, at least, not to me. I often say I was born with coffee in my blood, and this is only a slight exaggeration.
My Costa Rican great-grandparents grew coffee, and by the time I was five years old, I knew what good coffee should taste like. While a coffee drinking child was an oddity here, all my Costa Rican cousins and friends enjoyed a small cup of sweetened “café con leche” (coffee with milk) at breakfast and with a snack at midafternoon. My Tennessee grandfather found my taste for coffee amusing and I still have the little cup he found for me through his restaurant business.
One vivid memory I have regarding my early coffee drinking was when my mother and I were flying back from CR. I was only five or six at the time. The Piedmont Airline stewardess (what they were called then) didn’t believe me when I asked for a cup of coffee. She finally brought it and stood there to watch me take a sip. I can still picture her face and the laughter of nearby passengers when I nearly spit it out, loudly declaring it to be “the worst coffee I have ever tasted!” To this day, I refuse airline coffee, knowing it will still be some of the worst coffee available.
My younger daughter inherited my taste for good coffee, and tells me I have ruined her ability to enjoy anything less than quality coffee. My older daughter likes the smell but not the taste, so except for mocha frappuccinos (a.k.a. coffee flavored milkshakes!), she doesn’t touch the stuff.
Today, Costa Rica still produces some of the best Arabica coffee in the world, and while the last of the family plantations were sold off thirty years ago, I still start most days with my favorite Costa Rican café con leche, made with the Britt coffee mentioned below.
Costa Rica has one of the world’s five “Blue Zones”, so called because of its high number of centenarians. Costa Ricans drink a lot of strong, dark coffee. My grandmother enjoyed coffee until she died at 105, as did the neighbor who was still cutting his own grass at 103, and the many other active 80, 90, and 100+ year “oldsters” that I grew up around. You can see why it was a surprise for me to encounter the “coffee is harmful” mentality I discovered here when I moved back to the USA.
People still ask me whether I think it is OK to drink. Here is my answer. Minimally processed coffee is a natural plant product, with dozens of documented and anecdotally reported benefits. I see no reason why the average healthy adult should avoid it.
If you have an addiction type relationship with coffee, you probably need to back off and address the underlying trigger. Drink coffee if you enjoy it, not because you need it.
What you must avoid are the unhealthy artificial creamers and sweeteners that Americans are so fond of, as well as the toxic chemicals that are used in growing, processing, and packaging non organic coffee.
Some people are sensitive to its effects and should not consume it. Many people are highly sensitive to caffeine and shouldn’t drink tea, colas, or coffee. Individuals with certain health issues (especially liver related) might also be wise to avoid coffee.
I do advise pregnant women to avoid coffee. Many women find, as I did, that an early sign of pregnancy is an aversion to coffee. There is surely a reason for this, and I consider it wise to follow Mother Nature’s advice. Coffee should be avoided throughout pregnancy and lactation, unless you enjoy the cries of a wide awake infant at 3 am! In all seriousness, infants shouldn’t be exposed to any caffeine for a number of reasons.
Ongoing medical studies now confirm the benefits of consuming as many as 5 cups of coffee per day. Even institutions like Harvard and the Mayo Clinic acknowledge the value of coffee. A twenty year, 1400 person study in Finland concluded that people who consumed 3-5 cups a day throughout their 40’s and 50’s enjoyed the most long term benefits. Instant coffee proved nearly worthless, and it appears that many benefits are lost in the decaffeination processes. It is notable that coffee researchers usually increase their intake significantly following these studies.
Some studies indicate that caffeine is the beneficial constituent, but further research reveals that caffeine alone is not enough. As always, the search for the isolated “magic bullet” fails. One must take into account the hundreds of phytochemicals and antioxidants in coffee that interact with the body’s complex systems. In general, the higher the intake, the more beneficial. Here are some of the documented benefits of coffee:
Reduction in risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia (up to 70%)
Reduction in risk of cirrhosis (up to 80%)
Reduction in mortality for women from heart disease (up to 25%)
Relief from headaches, asthma, and constipation (up to 100%)
Reduction in risk of colon cancer (up to 25%)
Reduction in risk of Parkinson’s disease (up to 80%)
Reduction in risk of diabetes (up to 60%)
Recent research confirms that coffee helps inhibit dental plaque and decay, lowers the risk of depression by 20% and decreases oxidative DNA damage that leads to cancer and generalized aging.
I suffer rare but potentially debilitating migraines. The first thing I do if I feel one coming on is make myself a large, strong cup of coffee. I follow it with my preferred migraine pain medication (not available in the US) and capsules of ginger and feverfew. Usually, I am successful at completely preventing the migraine, and am able to go about my day normally. Just recently two members of my family had the beginnings of bad headaches at nearly the same time. They both took over the counter pain killers but experienced little to no benefit. Within minutes of drinking the coffee I made for them, both said that next time they’d skip the pills altogether and have the coffee only, because of the virtually instant relief they experienced. Even if coffee alone doesn’t work for you, know that coffee increases the uptake of pain medication and pain relief by at least 40%.
Asthma is another condition for which I routinely encourage the use of coffee. Coffee drinkers have less asthma to start with, and coffee appears to significantly stop or inhibit an asthma attack in progress. Decaf will not work for this, as it is the caffeine that is known to open bronchial passages. This is one condition for which I would definitely consider giving coffee to a young child. Asthma attacks are terrifying for parent and child alike. It doesn’t take much coffee to see a quick calming response, and the coffee can be sweetened and mixed with milk to make it more palatable for the child.
Caffeinated coffee promotes good peristalsis, or muscle contractions of the intestinal tract (decaf is somewhat effective). Coffee drinkers rarely suffer from constipation, as the brew encourages bowel movements within a few minutes of consumption.
Then, there’s the part of the coffee fruit that you don’t get in a cup of coffee. Many people are unaware that coffee beans are seeds wrapped in a thin layer of sweet fruit within the coffee berry. Berries ripen at different rates over several weeks’ time, which is why quality coffee must be handpicked. When I was small, you couldn’t walk through my grandmother’s neighborhood without passing plots of coffee, and even as an adult, I had a coffee plantation right across the street from my house. It was always a treat to reach in and find a ripe red berry to pop into your mouth as you walked by.
The coffee berry contains a multitude of unique polyphenols and glyconutrients that support immune system function, healthy blood glucose levels, and cellular repair. These are only available to most of us via whole food supplements. Some of the best information on coffee berries can be found at my informational link to New Chapter.
I always choose organic coffee, of course, to avoid chemical toxins, and I also look for Fair Trade labeling, so that I know the grower, not the middleman, makes a profit. I prefer shade grown coffee for its flavor and environmental superiority. Coffee grown under fruiting shade trees requires less water, and harmful chemical additives, and provides crucial habitat and food for innumerable birds and other wildlife. Even erosion is prevented by the shade grown coffee methods which build up soil rather than promoting runoff. Shade grown coffee plantations are cool and beautiful jungle habitats, alive with the sounds of birds, and full of creatures like frogs and lizards. (They’re full of scorpions and snakes, too, but that doesn’t sound as picturesque!)
If you enjoy good coffee and want to know more, I encourage you to visit the
coffee link for Café Britt on my website home page, or at the bottom of this newsletter. Be sure to click on the Coffee Tour link to see what the place looks like, and the About Café Britt link for information about their coffee philosophy.
I know the family who started Britt and drink their coffee because it consistently meets my standards of quality, and social and environmental responsibility. I always visit the coffee plantation when I’m in Costa Rica, because it has a great café and gift shop, where you can taste all their coffees, chocolates, and nuts. I highly recommend their Coffee Tour if you’re ever down there—it’s a fun and educational experience. In any case, if you are thinking about trying their coffee, know that their mail service is amazing. Yes, I’m biased, but after having family plantation coffee most of my life, Britt was the only other coffee in Costa Rica that measured up, and I am always trying to sing their praises!
In closing, if you’re one of those people who worried about drinking coffee, I hope I’ve eased your mind. Don’t abandon your very healthy cups of tea, but feel free to enjoy some coffee each day, too!
PS. I wrote this article several months ago, but
this recent magazine article offers some great info.
Last, this is from my website FYI page: (please read the entire article
here: http://healthiersolutionsbymarie.com/fyi.html)
Self Help for Stroke
A new drug containing caffeine and alcohol is proving extremely helpful for stroke victims when administered within 2 hours of the stroke. In one small study, 60% of patients had little or no disability following stroke, when given the new drug.
You can approximate this drug easily. Prepare a cup of very strong coffee and add 1 oz. of whiskey to it. Drink it immediately while you wait for help. The coffee alone will not help, and the whiskey alone will cause more harm. It is the unique combination of the two that provides the benefits. If a stroke is confirmed you will have improved your outcome, if it is a false alarm, no harm will have been done.
