Monday, March 29, 2010

COFFEE IS ANTI-INFLAMMATORY. ?PREVENTS DIABETES

I have always been on the look out for latest articles on lifestyles and the heart. At the weekend seminar over the weekend ( a rather successful weekend seminar, if I may add ), I heard a comment made that drinking coffee may be good for the heart. When I had time, I went to do a bit of reading, and found a recent report that appeared in the American J of Nutrition ( report carried in " theheart.org " ) that there was a small study done by Dr Kerstin Kempf ( Dusseldorf, Germany ), of 47 habitual coffee drinkers who were 65yrs or younger, with no evidence of diabetes or heart disease. They were told to stop drinking coffee for 1 month, to washout. After 1 month, they had their inflammatory markers assessed and for the next month, they were allowed 4 cups of coffee a day and the following month, 8 cups of coffee a day. At the end of 2 months, their inflammatory markers were assessed again. Dr Kempf found that after two months of coffee, the levels of IL-18 ( interleukin 18 ) and adiponectin, were significantly lower. There were no change in the hs-CRP and interleukin 6. This was interesting as only some of the markers were affected. I think adiponectin is important, because that factor is often associated with anti-obesity and lessen CAD risk.
In fact there were earlier studies that seem to suggest that coffee drinking may be associated with less incidence of type2 diabetes. The relationship with CAD risk is still not that strong.
I suppose on this basis, we cannot avocate the habitual drinking of coffee as a form of CAD / diabetes protection ( quite unlike the evidence for red wine and fish oils). The studies were too small anyway. However, if you like coffee, you may know that besides your love for coffee, coffee may help you to prevent diabetes and also may protect your heart.

2 comments:

Fran said...

That seems an odd finding - that coffee is anti-inflammatory, when there are several studies out there to indicate otherwise. In my personal experience, I have found that coffee has a direct effect on my arthritis. In fact, when I drink coffee - either caffienated or decaf - I end up in severe pain by the end of the day, and it takes about 24 hours to really get it out of my system.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it seems strange that you say anti-inflammatory. I loose coordination, become dizzy, very nauseous, very hungry (I need to binge eat to feel OK).

Other caffeine products don't do this.