
Coffee drinking inversely associated with mortality - jgalvez
https://www.treehugger.com/health/drink-coffee-live-longer-even-those-who-drink-lot.html
======
knoepfle
Anything that sick people do less is inversely associated with mortality. The
"controlling for blah blah blah" stuff can't be believed---are the researchers
succeeding at controlling for everything that affects health? Not even close.

If you see a claim about food and health that doesn't spend a huge amount of
time talking about the researchers' experimental or quasi-experimental
approach, just ignore it.

~~~
mywittyname
Nutritional science is very hard for a variety of reasons, including due to
experimental deficiencies and political motivations. But that doesn't mean
people should ignore articles like this.

It's an unfortunate reality that Americans must deal with the fact that the
food industry has a massive amount of influence over the FDA and USDA, and
historically, the industry has used this clout to preserve their profit
margins as the expense of our health and well-being. An example of this is the
"food pyramid" whose 2011 replacement MyPlate is still not terribly accurate.

It can take years of studies like these to pressure law makers into forcing
scientific consensus onto an industry who firmly believes the FDA is there to
put them out of business. Without articles like this, it's unlikely that
Congress would ever both to address issues with our food supply.

------
jgalvez
Ray Peat proven right once again.

[http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml](http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml)

~~~
sarabande
Interesting article, although I wonder why this line:

    
    
        Coffee inhibits iron absorption if taken with meals, helping to prevent iron overload.
    

is spun as a positive. Most people I know with iron problems skew the other
way: they are anemic because they don't get enough iron through food.

~~~
jgalvez
Ray talks about that here:

[http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-
dangers.shtml](http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml)

I, too, always thought of iron as something people would be missing often, but
as it turns out, conditions related to __excessive __iron (and estrogen and
PUFA) are much more common. Ray 's argument, in a nutshell, is that iron-
supplemented foods and just about everywhere (due to an excessive worry of
providing too little) and this contributes to the overdosing.

[https://freetheanimal.com/2015/06/enrichment-theory-
everythi...](https://freetheanimal.com/2015/06/enrichment-theory-
everything.html)

~~~
slowmovintarget
Except iron deficiency (and resulting anaemia) is much more common in women
than in men [1]. Coffee intake should likely be reduced for women with iron
deficiency issues, and avoided altogether for children and adolescents.

I say this while having my morning coffee.

[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21934611](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21934611)
and others

~~~
jgalvez
Iron deficiency might be the most common of deficiencies worldwide, for sure,
but there are very few studies addressing the widespread chronic iron excess
in a wide range of daily product consumption in developed countries.

So switching your iron sources to hand picked, natural ones while including a
moderate amount of coffee in your daily diet (and not taking them together)
seems like the way to go for me.

------
vinchuco
Leading causes of death in the US :

[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php)

#1 is heart disease

Causes: excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, no regular exercise, stress

I could be wrong but no exercise seems to be the main culprit based on what
the disease actually is. Given that coffee increases your heart rate may
suggest a causal link.

Edit: Link to the actual study from the article
[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/articl...](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-
abstract/2686145) the comments are worth a look.

~~~
stephengillie
From near the bottom of the comments:

> _And if you have high cholesterol and you don 't want your coffee adding to
> the problem, you need to use a paper filter to trap the cafestol, a compound
> in coffee that raises LDL cholesterol levels._

I use paper filters because it makes cleanup a breeze. Interesting to know
there is a health benefit.

> _Caffeine is a drug and every drug has its downfall. So in my opinion I
> would need more evidence based medicine to prove that caffeine offers a
> benefit to decrease mortality._

Given how many industry health studies have been secretly funded by industry
leaders, with a financial interest in finding health benefits, these "pro-
coffee" results seem suspicious.

~~~
jgalvez
> Given how many industry health studies have been secretly funded by industry
> leaders, with a financial interest in finding health benefits, these "pro-
> coffee" results seem suspicious.

My perception is the opposite. It took decades for us to start seeing positive
coffee studies. My belief is that drug companies actively campaign against
health-promoting agents all the time, like coffee and aspirin.

In Brazil, for instance, every doctor will warn AGAINST caffeine, there's a
huge anti-coffee sentiment in the medical community and I'm not sure how that
came to be.

Ray Peat has been for many years the only voice urging us to reconsider these
things.

[http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml](http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml)

[http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/aspirin-brain-
cancer.shtml](http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/aspirin-brain-cancer.shtml)

------
slowmovintarget
I can't help thinking about _Sleeper_ every time one of these studies comes
out. Still waiting on the hot fudge sundae study.

------
fithisux
Can it help for mild haemochromatosis ?

~~~
jgalvez
Yes, along with balancing out copper. Ray Peat advises eating liver and shrimp
once a week to provide the liver with all it needs to properly handle iron.

