WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Is Coffee Good or Bad for You?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum and this this is another

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<v Speaker 1>classic from our archives. In this episode we consider coffee,

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<v Speaker 1>which I am drinking as I write this intro. Every

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<v Speaker 1>few years, it seems there's another round of mildly sensational

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<v Speaker 1>headlines about how it's great for you or the very worst.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's break down the science. Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>vogel Bomb. Here. Coffee is a beverage with laura and legend,

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<v Speaker 1>as rich as a double caramel latte, but far more contrary.

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<v Speaker 1>An advertisement from the first coffee house in England promoted

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<v Speaker 1>coffee is good against sore eyes and excellent to prevent

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<v Speaker 1>and cure the dropsy, gout and scurvy. But in the

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<v Speaker 1>early seventeen hundreds, Germans believed the beverage made women sterile.

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<v Speaker 1>But an old wives tale states that have bubbles appear

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<v Speaker 1>in your java, you're due to come into some money,

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<v Speaker 1>which wouldn't be a bad thing considering the price of

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<v Speaker 1>a cup of these days. In more recent times, another

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<v Speaker 1>idea took hold of the public's imagination regarding coffee, that

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<v Speaker 1>it had the power to stunt a child's growth. But

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<v Speaker 1>just as a pot of coffee boiling over doesn't actually

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<v Speaker 1>mean that it's going to rain, which was a thing

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<v Speaker 1>that people thought at one point, the assertation that the

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<v Speaker 1>drink makes for a nation of hobbits has been proven false.

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<v Speaker 1>How coffee got associated with this myth is cloaked in

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<v Speaker 1>the espresso steam of history, but most experts agree that

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<v Speaker 1>it has something to do with an early study linking

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<v Speaker 1>caffeine to reduced bone mass and osteoporosis. Those studies, however,

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<v Speaker 1>were conducted on elderly people whose diets were lacking in calcium,

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<v Speaker 1>which could easily have explained the loss of bone mass.

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<v Speaker 1>Subsequent studies showed that women ages sixty five to seventy

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<v Speaker 1>seven who drank about eighteen ounces of caffeine daily did

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<v Speaker 1>have greater bone loss over a three year period than

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<v Speaker 1>those who did not, but the effects occurred only in

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<v Speaker 1>women with unusual variations in their vitamin D cell receptors,

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<v Speaker 1>and the effects were completely mitigated if the women ingested

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<v Speaker 1>they're recommended daily one thousand, two hundred milligrams of calcium.

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<v Speaker 1>Focusing exclusively on children, A more recent study tract eighty

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<v Speaker 1>one teenagers for six years. The result there was no

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<v Speaker 1>difference in bone density between the biggest buzz catchers and

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<v Speaker 1>those who drank the least amount of caffeine. But just

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<v Speaker 1>because a cup of Joe won't keep your little Joe's

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<v Speaker 1>and Josephine's pint sized all their lives doesn't mean that

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<v Speaker 1>there isn't cause to be concerned about children and coffee.

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<v Speaker 1>These days, coffee creations can seem more like a dessert

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<v Speaker 1>than a simple pick me up in a cup. The

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<v Speaker 1>Starbucks menu include such treats as a mint mocha chip

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<v Speaker 1>frappuccino blended with chocolate and tapped with whipped cream, while

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<v Speaker 1>Duncan Donuts offers up vanilla bean Kolata's that list corn

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<v Speaker 1>syrup not once, but twice on their ingredients list, along

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<v Speaker 1>with sugar and sweetened condensed skim milk. So although it's

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<v Speaker 1>been proven that there are relatively minor health issues associated

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<v Speaker 1>with caffeine jitteriness, anxiety, heartburn, insomnia, it's actually the other

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<v Speaker 1>ingredients that are added to coffee, especially sugar, that have

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<v Speaker 1>nutritionists worried. It's no secret that America has a burgeoning

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<v Speaker 1>problem with childhood obesity and diabetes, and eight hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty calorie packed drinks like the large Koolatta are not helping.

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<v Speaker 1>This is particularly troubling when, according to the National Coffee Association,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen to twenty four year olds represent the fastest growing

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<v Speaker 1>segment of people turning on to coffee every year. In

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<v Speaker 1>addition to expanding young waistlines, coffee can cause the mouth

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<v Speaker 1>to dry out, which contributes to tooth decay. The problem

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<v Speaker 1>is compounded by the fact that the tanic aciding coffee

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<v Speaker 1>can stain teeth enamel, giving some grins an unwanted mocuchi

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<v Speaker 1>no tinge and coffee doesn't just affect the health of twentysomethings.

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<v Speaker 1>Pregnant women are also warned to consume no more than

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<v Speaker 1>two cups per day. Researchers in England found that pregnant

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<v Speaker 1>women who drank more than two hundred milligrams of caffeine

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<v Speaker 1>per day, the amount in two average sized cups of coffee,

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<v Speaker 1>were more likely to give birth to underweight babies. Lower

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<v Speaker 1>birth weights can also lead to spontaneous miscarriages, another health

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<v Speaker 1>concern with which caffeine has previously been associated. But if

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<v Speaker 1>you relatively limit your caffeine intake, drink enough water, get

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<v Speaker 1>enough calcium, and don't add shovelfuls of sugar to your java.

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<v Speaker 1>The health benefits of coffee may far outweigh it's negatives.

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<v Speaker 1>Far from being the devil's drink, as coffee was once

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<v Speaker 1>called by Christians in the fifteen hundreds, study upon study

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<v Speaker 1>has proven that coffee can have health benefits. At one time,

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<v Speaker 1>coffee was thought to have negative cardiovascular effects, including heart

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<v Speaker 1>attack and abnormal heart rhythms, although it does cause minor

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<v Speaker 1>and temporary increases in blood pressure. According to an Iowa

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<v Speaker 1>women's health study that tract twenty seven thousand women for

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen years, those who consumed one to three daily cups

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<v Speaker 1>of coffee reduced their overall risk of cardiovascular disease by

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<v Speaker 1>It was also once thought that coffee could be a

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<v Speaker 1>major contributing factor in pancreatic cancer due to a Harvard study. However,

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<v Speaker 1>coffee's role as carston gen has since been disproven, and

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<v Speaker 1>current research has shown that it can help ward off

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<v Speaker 1>breast in uterine cancer in women but white. There's more.

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<v Speaker 1>A study of over a hundred and twenty five thousand

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<v Speaker 1>members of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan showed that heavy

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol drinkers cut their risk of cirrhosis by per cup

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<v Speaker 1>of coffee per day, and even among non tipplers, coffee

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<v Speaker 1>has been shown to slash liver cancer risk, and two

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<v Speaker 1>global studies have shown that coffee reduces the risk of

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<v Speaker 1>type two diabetes, sometimes up to even better. Those beneficial

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<v Speaker 1>effects are related to chlorogenic acid, which is found both

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<v Speaker 1>in decalf and regular brews. However, excess consumption of anything,

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<v Speaker 1>including caffeine, is never a good idea. The magic number

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<v Speaker 1>four coffees benefits seems to be between one and four

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<v Speaker 1>cups a day. So while the old wives tale about

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<v Speaker 1>coffee stunting your growth isn't really true, another piece of

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<v Speaker 1>traditional wisdom certainly is all things in moderation today. This

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article will drinking coffee really

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<v Speaker 1>Stunt Your Growth? On how stuff works dot com written

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<v Speaker 1>by Michael Franco. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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