Coffee Health Benefits?

Coffee is all too often given a negative reputation. "Caffeine is a drug." "It stunts your growth." "You won't be able to sleep at night."

Most of the myths surrounding caffeine and coffee are, in a word, false.

Yes, caffeine is a drug in the same sense that sugar is a drug: neither are produced by any system but both are used as a stimulant by your body (and both do have similar "rushes" and "withdrawals", although both for sugar is much shorter).

Caffeine does not stunt growth or reduce bone density. I still wouldn't recommend dosing your kids with coffee or Mountain Dew, since few have a caffeine tolerance built up, so the effects would be much more drastic.

The ability to sleep with caffeine is, again, dependent on one's own tolerance. I could personally drink 20 oz right before bedtime and still sleep like a baby. But I also consume a LOT of coffee every day. If you aren't a huge coffee drinker, switch to decaf after noon and you won't notice a thing.

Despite knowing the truth about these old wives' tales, I never considered coffee to be beneficial in any way. To me it's a relatively low-fat and low-calorie beverage that keeps me awake in the morning. But recent studies have suggested that coffee does actually pack some welcome side-effects:

1. Coffee reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes

This is actually very welcome news to me, the son of two diabetics. Drinking at least two cups a day can provide a 30% drop in your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It appears to be a diminishing affect as people who drank large quantities of coffee were at more risk, but there could have also been a smaller sample size of those "binge" coffee drinkers.

2. Coffee stabilizes the heart

The risk of arrhythmia (heart palpitations) dropped 20% for people who drank 1-3 cups a day. This does make sense, in a way: caffeine does affect heart rate, and I would guess that it acts as a stabilizer on the heart (although it does also increase your resting heart rate).

3. Coffee decreases the chance of developing Parkinson's

This is actually the strongest correlation coffee has to any disease prevention, although researchers are still unsure how or why coffee does help to prevent Parkinson's disease.

Until someone tells me to stop, I think I'll be keeping my 3-4 cup a day habit. The pros outweigh the cons (and keep in mind that I'm talking about coffee and cream, not double breve hazelnut lattes with extra whipped cream), at least for now.

For more health tips, check out my fellow blogger's site on health and fitness.

When Big Business Attacks

A few years back my wife bought me a Tassimo single serve brewing system for my birthday. I had mentioned the Tassimo system countless times before in passing conversation, and I was grateful that she took the hint.

I fell in love with Tassimo months before I actually had one in my possession...actually, months before I even tried a cup of their coffee. What persuaded me was their partnership with Starbucks, which allowed me to enjoy a cup of Cafe Verona, Sumatra, or Breakfast Blend, one cup at a time, from the comfort of my own home.

This past March, Starbucks ended that agreement, and instead are now offering K-Cups for the Keurig brand system.

My first reaction was anger. I bought this system specifically so I could drink Starbucks, which was, essentially, the ONLY major brand not offered by Keurig. Now my $150 machine was going to sit in the kitchen, collecting dust, while I brewed entire pots of coffee, wasting half of it.

Now that my caffeine demons have settled down, my anger has been redirected at Kraft (who owns the Tassimo line).

Starbucks' primary complaint was the lack of market exposure to their coffee brand. This was absolutely true. My local grocery only occasionally offered Tassimo discs (T-Discs), and they were usually Maxwell House or Gevalia. The only store where I was guaranteed a hefty selection of Starbucks' T-Discs was at, strangely, Bed Bath & Beyond.

Keurig's are everywhere, it seems. Our slightly impoverished grocery store even has a Keurig system in the deli where customers can purchase coffee for $0.50. Keurig (or Green Mountain, who owns the Keurig line) did everything the right way:

- They offered a variety of choices, and the choices seem to be growing (I can count the brand options for Tassimo with one hand)

- They offered discounted equipment and coffee to offices (we have several in ours). We got ours because one of our executive assistants brought her Keurig to work, and our CEO was hooked after one cup.

- They made their product available EVERYWHERE. K-Cups are sold in grocery stores, department stores, Wal-Mart, Target, Dunkin Donuts, and Bruegger's Bagels.

I bet this is how people that invested in BetaMax felt: kind of embarrassed, very disappointed, and stuck with a product that is going to eventually disappear. It was, definitely, not a smart investment.

Tassimo's new "exclusive" deal is with Gevalia. Their coffee is okay, but they suffer the same lack of exposure and availability that Starbucks endured. Gevalia -- known primarily for being a mail-order/online coffee brand -- probably won't care as much, thankfully; but part of me wishes they got just as fed up and everything was discontinued. I'm too proud to fully admit that I made a mistake, and that would be the only way I could finally join the ranks of the Keurig crowd.