More Health and Nutrition Bites
Related
Pro-inflammatory diets lead to weight gain
Chronic inflammation, which we know contributes to your risk of heart disease and cancers, is more common in those who consume a more Westernized diet, which includes more trans and saturated fats, omega-6 fats (as opposed to omega-3s), sugar, and alcohol. A Mediterranean Diet, on the other hand, is a more anti-inflammatory diet, and we've seen that a Mediterranean Diet reduces your risk of those inflammation-related illnesses.
Mediterranean Diet and Quality of Life
We know that following a Mediterranean style diet can help prevent a number of chronic diseases and conditions - from improving insulin levels and cholesterol scores to preventing heart attack and stroke. But health is more than just lack of disease - it's also about quality of life.
Lose weight without trying - with beans
As you may already know if you've been following Dr. Gourmet for a while, pulses are legumes, which are described as any fruit that develops seeds lined up in a pod, like soybeans, lentils, garbanzo beans, or peas. Legumes are part of a Mediterranean-style diet, are high in protein and fiber, and have been shown to help prevent colon cancer, improve your cholesterol score (because of their high fiber content), and may even help you lose inches from your waist (improving your Waist to Hip Ratio).
Health & Nutrition Bites
Get the latest health and diet news - along with what you can do about it - sent to your Inbox once a week. Get Dr. Gourmet's Health and Nutrition Bites sent to you via email. Sign up now!
Drinking coffee may reduce all-cause mortality
I've been writing about the positive health effects of coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated, for over a decade, yet there continues to be that perception that coffee is bad for you, whether because of a short-term increase in heart rate (only associated with caffeinated coffee) or because of a connection with an increase in LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol).
Yet the vast majority of research into the effects of coffee consumption is positive, and today's article is no exception.
Authors in Spain continued with their analysis of the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra - University of Navarra Follow-Up) Project, a study of university graduates in Spain that began in 1999 and continues today (Am J Clin Nutr 2018;5(1):1113-1120). Participants respond to demographic, lifestyle, health, and dietary questionnaires at baseline and are re-surveyed regarding their health every two years after joining the study.
For this study the authors focused on the participants' coffee consumption: through the questionnaire the participants estimated their intake of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee by selecting 1 of 9 possible categories of increasing intake, from "never/seldom," and "1-3 servings/month," to "4-6 servings/day" or "6+ servings/day." For this study, a "serving" was defined as 50cc, or about 1.7 ounces (my American readers might best think of this as closer in amount to a "cup" of espresso than a "cup" of coffee).
For purposes of analysis, the estimates of consumption were collapsed into 4 categories of intake: less than 1 serving/day; 1 serving/day; less than 1 to less than 4 servings/day, and 4 or more servings/day.
The authors included nearly 20,000 men and women who participated in the average of 10 years of follow-up, comparing those who passed away during the follow-up period with those who did not. After taking into account age, Body Mass Index, alcohol consumption, physical activity level, and the participant's Mediterranean Diet score (among others), the researchers found that overall, "each additional 2 cups of coffee/d [regardless of whether they were caffeinated or decaffeinated] were associated with a significant 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality," with stronger associations seen in those over 55 years of age.
The authors note that the type of coffee consumed in Spain tends to be nonfiltered, made using pressure (such as espresso) or percolated (with boiling water passed over the coffee grounds). This affects the amount and type of antioxidants, acids, and other substances present in the coffee, thus implying that these results may not be relevant to those who consume mostly filtered coffee.
What this means for you
As always, observational studies such as these can only show association, not causation: there is no proof here that drinking coffee prevented death. Yet this is another small piece of evidence suggesting that not only is coffee not bad for you, it can certainly be part of a healthy diet.
First posted: November 28, 2018