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I'm going to go out on a limb here and state a theory I've been considering for a while that could explain these coffee health benefit results... The liquids I
by Exo_Tartarus 9y ago
I'm going to go out on a limb here and state a theory I've been considering for a while that could explain these coffee health benefit results...
The liquids I and everyone else consumes can be placed in two classes: pure water and everything else.
When I'm not drinking pure water, my drink of choice is usually coffee, of which I drink about 3 cups a day.
Now let's think of the alternative non water drinks out there... Many of them are sodas which have obscenely high sugar levels, just like most drinks that aren't pure water.
Someone who doesn't drink coffee may have more of these sugar containing drinks when they're not drinking pure water, inundating their bodies with harmful amounts of sugar.
So the benefits we see from high levels of coffee consumption come not from the coffee itself but from a substitution effect of replacing unhealthy sugary drinks with coffee.
A good test for this would be to see if tea drinkers also experience health benefits similar to those seen in the study. If not then that may indicate that my theory is wrong.
- Stanleyc23 9y agoBut for people in general, just because they drink coffee doesn't mean they cannot also drink beverages with high sugar content or am I not getting your thought right?
- PascLeRasc 9y agoThe parent is assuming everyone acts like him, and I'm inclined to agree from personal anecdata.
- Exo_Tartarus 9y agoThe assumptions I'm making are that most people drink water and non water, and the non water they drink is not going to be more than 3 to 4 drinks (cups/bottles) per day, and that people drinking coffee are already filling their quota of non water drinks by drinking coffee so they don't drink sugary drinks.
- KWD 9y agoThe assumption is still that most people drink water during the day in addition to the coffee, and I'd think that is actually not the case. My experience is water is just an occasional drink during the day, not a primary drink.
- Exo_Tartarus 9y agoThat may be true, but wouldn't that not affect my argument?
- an_account 9y agoFrom what I’ve read, they’ve controlled for variables like this. Pure water drinkers don’t see the same benefit. But I’ll be honest, I haven’t looked into it too thouroghly.
- muzani 9y agoCounter theory: Higher coffee consumption might actually increase the craving for some sugary treat like donuts and banana bread, the classic companions to coffee.
- QML 9y agoI thought coffee’s actually an appetite suppressant than stimulant.
- nasredin 9y agoA strong coffee (e.g. via a Moka pot) should send you to the bathroom too.
- BrandoElFollito 9y agoWould you have any sources on that? I casually looked into that claim in the past and read that coffee is as strong a diuretic as pure water.
- throw_away2 9y agoPerhaps they mean as a laxative rather than as a diuretic.
- BrandoElFollito 9y agoYes, I believe so from the comments.
- chucky_z 9y agothere's.... i believe there is enough anecdotal evidence to state with a reasonable confidence level that coffee makes you poop.
- nasredin 9y ago
- hawski 9y agoWhat about all the people that add sugar to their coffee?
- sgt 9y agoMost people who add sugar to their coffee use a couple of teaspoons, so probably less than 15 g of sugar. Now in e.g. a Coca Cola, there's 10.6 g of sugar in each 100ml. You'll probably drink at least 300-600ml of coke.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ezequiel-garzon 9y agoWhat about sugar-free sodas?
- Nydhal 9y agoHere's another theory. Coffee makes you move more. Moving is healthy. Think of how coffee gets people off their desks to get it and also because of the caffeine and the need to urinate after. Its unlike other drinks as people don't carry it in bottles, it requires more movement. Maybe the sedentary lifestyle is what's killing people.
- a012 9y agoProbably right. I drink 2-3 espresso shots a day, one at home in the morning and one after lunch when I have to walk 10 minutes to get. Some people don't even bother to leave their desk or complain it's long walk.
- praulv 9y agoI'd counter that. Coffee makes me sit down and intently focus unmoved; time speeds by.
- superb_herb 9y agoAm I the only one for whom coffee has no effect whatsoever? It just makes me shaky, then tired.
- kelvin0 9y agoCoke and Meth also make you move more ... not sure I'd call those health supplements.
- d13 9y agoI think you're correct. I'm also actually astonished how many people drink sugared/flavoured drinks (including "juice" and "milk") as a substitute for water and never question what effect this might be having on them. I would encourage everyone to stop drinking anything except water for 6 months just to see what happens.
- timthelion 9y agoI usually drink just tap water, and what I've noticed is that over time I will get sick and feel really dehydrated. I then buy myself a 1.5 liter mineral water from the store and feel much better. I wonder if the "tap water" that we drink is actually the "natural state of water", or if people aren't used to consuming water with a higher mineral content in nature.
- whyever 9y agoIf you want to get hydrated, you should drink water with approximately the same concentration of minerals as your body, especially if you lose a lot of water by sweating or sickness. Osmosis in your cells happens along the concentration gradient. Drinking water with too little concentration can cause them to swell, drinking water with too much can make them shrivel. Neither is good in the extreme.
- sjm 9y agoIt depends where you live I think. Your tap water, if it's good, should normally contain a lot of minerals already. If you're drinking some kind of reverse-osmosis filtered water, then what you're saying makes total sense. I lived in Cambodia for a while, where tap-water is a no go for drinking, and even though we avoided buying plastic bottles (plastic is a huge problem particularly in S.E. Asia) and instead stuck to larger tanks of filtered water, we had to make a point of always having some bottled mineral water in the mix. It was quickly noticeable when you hadn't had enough (extremely tired, drowsy, etc.)
- throwaway76543 9y agoTap water doesn't necessarily have any more or less mineral content than bottled mineral water. The variation between mineral water brands and the variation between tap water sources (mostly: well water vs surface) is much larger than any difference between bottled and tap. If you live in an area with hard tap water you're essentially drinking "mineral water" out of the tap. Here's some data for ya: Mineral Content of Tap Water in Major North American Cities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/tbl2/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/t... Mineral Content of Selected Commercially Available North American Bottled Waters: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/tbl3/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/t...
- Fnoord 9y ago> A good test for this would be to see if tea drinkers also experience health benefits similar to those seen in the study. If not then that may indicate that my theory is wrong. Yes, or drinks with artificial sweeteners.
- jasonkostempski 9y agoI'm sure those tea studies have been done, any industry would love to show their product is healthy.
- xellisx 9y agoDrinking "Pure Water" wouldn't be advised, since it will leech minerals from your body.