Is Starbucks A Health Food Store?

Joseph Alpert, the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Medicine, writes that many of his patients have at various times been told that "drinking caffeinated coffee could result in increased blood pressure, worsening of diabetic control, and might even trigger a myocardial infarction. Some of my patients also worry that drinking caffeinated coffee might cause cancer."

Those patients, Alpert says, are wrong.

He summarizes what we know about moderate (1 - 3 cups per day) coffee consumption:

• there is no increase in blood pressure for regular users (there is a minor and temporary effect for infrequent coffee drinkers)
• likely decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease, and has no association with myocardial infarction (heart attacks)
• no cholesterol issues
• no diabetes issues -- in fact, 2005 research suggests "coffee consumption may lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes" (link)
• no evidence for any increase in malignancies

... and so on. Coffee, it seems, is generally good for you. There's more support for that idea in other recent research:

• Coffee can be a significant source of antioxidants, which may in turn reduce the incidence of major diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cataracts, and inflammatory disease. (link)
• Coffee appears to lower stroke risk in women -- "healthy women who consumed two to three cups of caffeinated coffee a day had, on average, a 19 percent lower risk for any kind of stroke than did women who drank less than one cup a month. Drinking four or more cups a day lowered risk by 20 percent." (link)
• It's an athletic performance enhancer -- and it's legal. The New York Times reported that "... in study after study, (researchers) concluded that caffeine actually does improve performance. In fact, some experts, like Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University in Canada, are just incredulous that anyone could even ask if caffeine has a performance effect. 'There is so much data on this that it’s unbelievable,' he said. 'It’s just unequivocal that caffeine improves performance.'" Four ounces of coffee for a 180 pound person provides the full effect.

So don't feel guilty about that second (or third) cup of coffee ... you're doing yourself some good.

--- For an overview of coffee's health effects, see this WebMD article.