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By Robrt L. Pela
You’ve quit smoking. You’ve curtailed your cocktail hour. You’ve even given up your daily ration of lard-infused snack cakes. But you’ve got both hands wrapped tightly around your coffee cup, and you’re not letting go. Researchers might deliver medical proof that a single espresso will shorten your life by three decades, or proclaim that a jigger of java contains enough toxic waste to level a small village. You don’t care. You’re not dumping out your morning cuppa joe for anything.
 According to a pile of recent studies, you don’t have to. Although coffee has been linked to illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, and been accused of stunting our growth and spoiling our appetites, medical evidence has proven these theories as weak as watered-down Sanka. In fact, some experts claim that coffee provides certain health benefits, particularly for athletes. Unless you’re putting away two pots laced with whole cream and a cupful of sugar every day, coffee is probably the least harmful habit you can choose.
“Coffee gets a really bad rap,” according to Don Holly, Director of Roasting and Quality at Green Mountain Coffee company. “Especially when you consider its advantages. There are compounds in coffee that increase concentration and coordination, provide temporary mental and physical energy, and assist in long- and short-term memory. Not to mention it tastes great, too.” 
When coffee isn’t warming us up or waking us up, it’s busy preventing various ailments, according to Kenneth Davids, author of three books on the benefits of coffee drinking and editor of The Coffee Review, an educational Internet magazine about America’s favorite brew. Davids quotes a long list of medical studies on caffeine consumption that prove that coffee drinkers are less likely to experience hypertension or to contract diabetes. And folks who drink up to three cups a day, Davids says, have a forty percent lower incidence of developing gallstones.
“Coffee has been used for years by runners and endurance athletes to aid in metabolizing fatty acids,” Davids reports. That’s because caffeine, the compound that gives coffee its kick, increases the circulation of those fatty acids and enhances the oxidation of fat. And during prolonged endurance activity, the New England Journal of Medicine reports, caffeine can spare both liver and muscle glycogen by facilitating the use of fatty acids for energy. Furthermore, the South African Medical Journal reports that, because caffeine causes a rapid release of calcium ions in muscles, the complex mechanisms of a muscle contraction may be enhanced and become more efficient with caffeine use.
 In fact, nearly every study completed in the last 20 years has cleared coffee’s bad name. Early studies linked coffee to cardiovascular disease, elevated cholesterol levels, and an increased risk for coronary artery disease and heart attack. But a study of more than 121,000 female nurses found that after researchers adjusted for cigarette smoking among coffee drinkers, coffee consumption—even at high levels—didn’t increase risk of heart attack. And, while a report released by the American Medical
Association found a significant association between drinking more coffee and decreased bone mineral density, the same study reported that drinking a glass of milk each day counteracted this potential caffeine-related loss of calcium.
“Just about the only coffee myth that hasn’t been shot down is the one about how it can increase cholesterol levels,” says Linda Yoshino, coffee expert and former director of The Coffee Review. “But those statistics refer to espresso, French press, or boiled coffees that aren’t filtered. If you’re using a paper filter when you brew, you’re filtering out all the bad fats and any compounds that can be harmful.”
No matter how it’s prepared, Holly says, it’s best to exercise moderation with your favorite French roast. “If you’re drinking more than ten cups of coffee a day, you’re probably taking in too much caffeine for your body to process comfortably,” he says. “You can cut back on caffeine without dropping coffee altogether.”
Because quitting coffee cold turkey can result in headaches and indigestion, Davids suggests gradually reducing your intake by about a half a cup a day. “I always encourage people to drink smaller amounts of higher quality coffee,” he says. “If you’re worried about caffeine, try mixing two parts Costa Rican decaf to one part of your favorite regular bean. Or use darker beans, which contain less caffeine but not less flavor.”
Abandoning coffee altogether is neither necessary, Davids says, nor advisable. “At worst, it’s harmless,” he says. “At best, it has a couple of health benefits for athletes and the rest of us who just like the taste.”
Why, then—with word on java’s potential health and athletic benefits continuing to grow—has a hot cup of mud maintained such a bad reputation?
“That’s easy,” Davids insists. “We’re a profoundly puritanical society. Anything that tastes this good and makes us feel great must be secretly rotten.” See recipes for coffee-flavored treats and healthy foods to go with that cup of coffee.
Caffeine: Just The FAQs
What is caffeine?
Chemically speaking, caffeine is an alkaloid, a compound found in cola nuts, coffee, tea, cacao beans, and other plants. Caffeine causes different biochemical effects, and is easily oxidized to uric acid and other methyluric acids which are also similar in chemical structure.
Where does it come from?
Caffeine is found naturally in more than sixty plants. The most familiar natural sources of caffeine are coffee and cocoa beans, kola nuts and tea leaves; from these, coffee, chocolate, cola and tea are made. Caffeine is also extracted from other plants and manufactured synthetically and added to foods and medicines.
How much caffeine is in decaffeinated coffee?
In order to label coffee as decaffeinated in the United States, federal regulations require that the beans must have had their caffeine level reduced by no less than 97.5 percent. Panamanian coffee is normally about 1.36% caffeine by weight; other Arabica coffees are about 98.64% caffeine free, even before anything is done to lower their caffeine content.
How can caffeine harm me?
Caffeine can intensify certain heart rhythm problems. It can also cause a temporary rise in blood pressure. However, elevated blood pressure generally occurs in people who drink coffee only occasionally. It’s been suggested that caffeine can increase the amount of calcium excreted in your urine, which may increase your risk for osteoporosis and hip fracture. However, you’d have to take in large amounts of caffeine every day for it to have any noticeable impact on bone density.
How will caffeine affect my diet?
Although caffeine is not an appetite suppressant, it does affect metabolism. Experts aren’t convinced that caffeine truly makes any difference during a diet.
Is it true that espresso contains less caffeine than regular coffee?
Sort of. An espresso has about as much caffeine as a cup of dark brew. But, because servings for espresso are much smaller, the content of caffeine per milliliter is much higher than with a regular brew. Moreover, caffeine is more quickly assimilated when taken in concentrated dosages, such as in an espresso cup. The myth that espresso contains less caffeine probably comes from the fact that darker-roasted beans, like those used for espresso, contain less caffeine than regularly roasted beans. That’s because roasting breaks up or sublimates the caffeine in coffee beans.
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