Coffee Can Kill

I sat down to write this blog with my usual cup of coffee beside me. I was waiting for inspiration to strike while scanning the headlines of the morning. Like the majority of Americans out there, I start my day with a nice hot cup of coffee. It's not so much that I need that caffeine as much as it is a morning ritual. Something to look forward to and on those brutally cold mornings that we sometimes get in Washington, it's nice to have something to warm you up. So it was with a bit of surprise that I read the headline in the news today which stated that coffee consumption might lead some to have their first heart attack. Now I like to think that in the past four or five years I have reversed the trend I had going for myself healthwise and that I'm not in reasonable shape, but the headline was enough to pique my curiousity.

Now normally I know that newspapers have sensational headlines because that's exactly what they want. They want to say something that will intrigue you enough to pick up the paper and read it. I can't tell you the number of times I've read headlines like, "Life Found on Mars!" only to read the sub-headline in small print which says, "is only in microbe form." It's one of those rules of nature I guess, not everything is what it appears to be in the headlines. As such, I knew there had to be more to this particular article than was apparent to the eye. I read the article and in a nutshell it found that there was a study done whereby coffee drinkers were broken down into groups; light drinkers (one cup a day), moderate drinkers (two to three cups a day) and heavy drinkers (enough to be jittery... just kidding... four or more cups a day).

The findings from these groups was fascinating. According to the results in this study, light and moderate drinkers were more prone to having heart attacks due to the fact that the chemical boosts that occur in the body after coffee consumption are rare enough that they can trigger high blood pressure and in turn lead to heart attacks. Now I don't know about you but that strikes me as a bit scary. Either that or a study funded by Starbucks or the Association of Coffee Growers. The study found that if you drink heavy coffee amounts then you ran a lower risk. Of course the caveat to this whole discussion was the fact that if you led a sedentary lifestyle where you just laze about and avoid any activity (not because you can't... but because you don't want to) then you run a risk of having a heart attack anyways. Isn't that convenient.

Studies like this seem to come out every so often. And it's by no means limited to coffee or caffeine. A few years ago popcorn was touted as the end all be all snack food. Movie theatres were thrilled to bits and popcorn sale soared. Then the caveat in that case came to light. Pouring massive amounts of butter on the popcorn made them potential heart attack foods! Always some little hitch isn't it? What about those guys who do the bunless burgers or steak and cheese things. It's good for weight loss right? Yes, provided you work out in addition to following that diet. It's never as easy as it seems. Well, I guess in this case coffee will promote a healthy lifestyle. After all if you drink enough to be classified as a heavy drinker, you'll likely be so jittery that you don't have to drive to and from work, you can probably run! And with gas prices where they are right now, that's probably a good thing!