Hearing Economics concludes the 2013 expanded version of International Coffee Day with a new, improved table linking coffee/caffeine intake to health effects. The original table appeared in April 2012 and was updated in September 2012. The studies of varying scientific rigor continue to pour in, most in support of a daily coffee habit.
Coffee effects on hearing and balance remain scant but at least we now have two entries in the table suggesting that coffee does not influence vestibular testing and an alkaloid in coffee (trigonelline) facilitates recovery of auditory neuropathy (AN) in mice.
Meanwhile, the Ida Institute has an entire page dedicated to its delightful “Coffee to Go” idea: Partner with national coffee shop chains to place helpful, witty comments about hearing health and hearing loss on disposable cups and sleeves. The idea is that people are receptive to new ideas when they are doing something they enjoy, such as drinking coffee.
Which is not to say that coffee can’t kill or maim you. Dropping your guard and getting too receptive can be a downer if you imbibe coffee with Whitey Bulger or colleagues with whom you’ve engaged in extracurricular activities. Caveat imbibo.
|
Benefits |
Adverse Effects |
|
| Alertness |
Increased |
|
| Driving Safety |
Reduced risk of accidents for long-haul truckers (63%)[i] |
|
| Energy |
Increased |
|
| Concentration |
Increased |
|
| Mood |
Improves |
|
| Working Memory |
Improves |
|
| Tension |
Analgesic effect |
|
| Physical capacity/Exercise performance |
Increased benefit (used to be considered “doping”); ergogenic aid for perceived effort & neural substrate availability[ii] |
|
| Mortality (all causes) |
Risk of dying over 13 year period reduced 10%-15% with 2+ cups/day[iii],[iv] |
|
| Addiction/Dependence | ||
| Dependence Abuse |
No |
|
| Tolerance |
“little evidence” |
|
| Withdrawal Syndrome |
Benign, 50% who stop have headache; tiredness; &/or decreased attentiveness and contentedness |
|
| Alcoholic cirrhosis |
Strong inverse dose-dependent relationship |
|
| Cardiovascular Disease | ||
| Heart Failure |
Progressive risk reduction up to 4-5 cups/day[v] |
> 5 cups/day increases risk progressively |
| Myocardial infarction |
Protective Effect |
|
| Heart arrhythmia |
May trigger in very susceptible individuals
|
|
| Coronary events | ||
| Blood Pressure |
“small but significant” reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure[vi] |
|
| Ischemic Stroke |
Reduced risk of stroke for 1-3 cups/day[vii] |
|
| Intracerebral hemorrhage |
17% risk reduction with 1+ cups/day[viii] |
|
| Women: CV disease |
No deleterious effects[ix] |
No helpful effects |
| Endocrine Disorders | ||
| Insulin sensitivity |
Improved |
|
| Type II diabetes |
Preventive action |
|
|
>4 cups/day reduces risk of onset of Type II diabetes in post-menopausal women[x] |
||
| Gastrointestinal System | ||
| Colorectal cancer |
15% lower risk, 4+ cups/day[xi] |
|
| Bowel surgery |
Post surgical bowel movement 14 hours sooner with caffeine[xii] |
|
| Mental Processes & Disease | ||
| Anxiety Symptoms (anxiety, nervousness, irritability, insomnia, panic attack) |
Possible link |
|
| Alzheimer’s disease |
Reduction of risk |
|
| Depression |
Reduced (relative to sweet drinks), 4 or more cups/day[xiii] |
|
| Depression in Women |
15-20% decreased risk with consumption of 2-4 cups/day[xiv] |
|
| Cognitive Decline |
Modestly reduced rate of decline, but scant data[xv] |
|
| Cognitive Decline in Women |
Protective effect, increasing with age, for > 3 cups/day[xvi] |
|
| Suicide[xvii] |
risk decreases as consumption increases to 7 cups/day |
Risk increases above 8 cups/day |
| Nervous System Disorders | ||
| Parkinson’s disease |
Dose-related protective effect |
|
|
“modest” improvement in motor function[xviii] |
||
| Other Systems | ||
| Gout |
Reduced incidence, dose-dependent |
|
| Liver fibrosis |
Lowered in some patients[xix], [xx]
|
|
| Oral |
Reduced death from oral cancers[xxi] |
|
| Reproductive Systems | ||
| Endometrial cancer |
>3 cups/day lowers risk[xxii] |
|
| Prostate Cancer |
6 cups/day: “striking decrease” in fatal, metastatic disease[xxiii] |
|
| Pregnancy & Postpartum |
Coffee intake in pregnancy does not cause behavioral problems in offspring[xxiv] |
|
|
No sleep consequences for infants at 3 months[xxv] |
||
| Sensory Systems | ||
| Auditory System |
Facilitates recovery from diabetic & experimentally-induced AN in mice[xxvi], [xxvii] |
|
| Dry Eye |
May reduce by boosting tear production[xxviii] |
|
| Vestibular system |
Does not affect vestibular & balance test results[xxix], [xxx] |
|
| Glaucoma |
Increased risk for >500 mg/day caffeine[xxxi] |
|
| Skin | ||
| Skin |
“powerful anti-aging botanical” purported to reduce signs of skin aging[xxxii] |
|
| Skin cancer |
17% reduced relative risk of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) with 3 cups per day[xxxiii] |
|
[i] Sharwood LN et al. Use of caffeinated substances and risk of crashes in long distance drivers of commercial vehicles: case-control study. BMJ 2013;346:f1140.
[ii] Cole KJ et al. Effect of caffeine ingestion on perception of effort and subsequent work production. Int J Sport Nutr. 1996 Mar;6(1):14-23.
[iii] Freedman ND et al. Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1891-1904, May 17, 2012
[iv] Jane Brody, Having Your Coffee and Enjoying It Too. NYTimes, June 25, 2012.
[v] Mostofsky E. no title given. Circulation: Heart Failure. June 26, 2012.
[vi] Thomas-Jean F, et al. Are you tea or coffee addict? The long term beneficial effect on blood pressure. Parallel Oral Session 7A, 5/17/13, 9:40am. 23rd European Meeting on Hypertension & Cardiovascular Protection. Milan, June 14 −17, 2013.
[vii] D’Elia L et al. no title given. European Society of Hypertension (ESH) 2012: 22nd European Meeting on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection. April 26 – 29, 2012; London, United Kingdom.
[viii] Kokubo Y et al. The impact of green tea and coffee consumption on the reduced risk of stroke incidence in Japanese population: The Japan public health center-based study cohort. Stroke, 3/14/2013.
[ix] Garcia-Lopez E. no title given. American J of Clin Nutrition; May 13, 2011.
[x] Goto A et al. Coffee and caffeine consumption in relation to sex hormone-binding globulin and risk of type 2 diabetes in postmenopausal women. Diabetes. 2011 Jan;60(1):269-75. Epub 2010 Oct 28.
[xi] Rashmi S et al. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea intakes and risk of colorectal cancer in a large prospective study. Am J Clin Nutr, June 13, 2012, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.031328.
[xii] Müller SA et al. Randomized clinical trial on the effect of coffee on postoperative ileus following elective colectomy. Brit J Surg. 2012:99:1530-1538.
[xiii] Chen, American Academy of Neurology’s 65th Annual Meeting. Abstract 2257. Released January 8, 2013. Sweetened Drinks May Boost Depression, Coffee Reduce It.
[xiv] Lucas, M et al. Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Depression Among Women. & Brauser D. Coffee May Keep Depression Away.
[xv] Arab L et al. Epidemiologic evidence of a relationship between tea, coffee, or caffeine consumption and cognitive decline. Adv Nutr January 2013 vol. 4: 115-122, 2013
[xvi] Richie K et al. The neuroprotective effects of caffeine. A prospective population study (the Three City Study). Neurology, August 7, 2007 vol. 69( 6), pp 536-54. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000266670.35219.0c
[xvii] Tanskanen A. et al. Heavy coffee drinking and the risk of suicide. European J of Epidemiology, 16(9), (2000), 789-791, DOI: 10.1023/A:1007614714579
[xviii][xviii] Postuma RB. no title given. Movement Disorder Society’s 16th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. Abstract 421. Presented June 18, 2012
[xix] Molloy JW et al. (2012), Association of coffee and caffeine consumption with fatty liver disease
, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and degree of hepatic fibrosis. Hepatology, 55: 429–436. doi: 10.1002/hep.24731
[xx] Bambha K. no title given. Presented at The Liver Meeting 2012: American Assn for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) 63rd Annual Meeting. Abstract 99. November 11, 2012.
[xxi] Bakalar N. Risks: Coffee Linked to Fewer Oral Cancer Deaths. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/risks-coffee-linked-to-fewer-oral-cancer-deaths/?ref=todayspaper
[xxii] Gunter MR et al. A prospective investigation of coffee drinking and endometrial cancer incidence. Int J Cancer. 2012 Aug 15;131(4):E530-6. doi: 10.1002/ijc.26482. Epub 2011 Nov 17.
[xxiii] Wilson KM et al. Coffee Consumption and Prostate Cancer Risk and Progression in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2011). doi: 10.1093/jnci/djr151. First published online: May 17, 2011
[xxiv] Loomans E et al. Caffeine Intake During Pregnancy and Risk of Problem Behavior in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children. Pediatrics peds.2011-3361; published ahead of print July 9, 2012, doi:10.1542/peds.2011-3361.
[xxv] Santos I, et al. Maternal Caffeine Consumption and Infant Nighttime Waking. : Prospective Cohort Study. Pediatrics, 2, 2012.
[xxvi] Hong BN et al. High-dosage pyridoxine-induced auditory neuropathy and protection with coffee in mice. Biol Phar Bull. 2009 Apr; 32(4); 597-603.
[xxvii] Hong BN et al. Coffee improves auditory neuropathy in diabetic mice. Neurosci Lett. 2008 Aug 29; 441(3): 302-6.
[xxviii] Arita R. Caffeine Increases Tear Volume Depending on Polymorphisms within the Adenosine A2a Receptor Gene and Cytochrome P450 1A2. Ophthalmology, Volume 119, Issue 5 , Pages 972-978, May 2012.
[xxix] FELIPE, Lilian et al . Evaluation of the caffeine effect in the vestibular test. Rev. Bras. Otorrinolaringol., São Paulo , v. 71, n. 6, Dec. 2005 . Available from <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-72992005000600012&lng=en&nrm=iso>. access on 02 Oct. 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-72992005000600012.
[xxx] Enriquez A, Sklaar J, Viirre E, Chase B. Effects of Caffeine on Postural Stability. Int Tinnitus J. 2009;15(2):163-163
[xxxi] Pasquale LR et al (2012), The Relationship between Caffeine and Coffee Consumption and Exfoliation Glaucoma or Glaucoma Suspect: A Prospective Study in Two Cohorts. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. September 21, 2012 vol. 53 no. 10 6427-6433.
[xxxii]Revaleskin Coffee Berry treatments.
[xxxiii] Turati F et al. Coffee and cancers of the upper digestive and respiratory tracts: meta-analyses of observational studies.
Ann Oncol. 2011 Mar;22(3):536-44. Epub 2010 Oct 13.
title image from body by fadi
Now that’s a systematic review that I can drink to!