Does coffee leach vitamins from your body? Is coffee bad for you? Does coffee conta

[Tross]

I have recently been given much grief over my coffee consumption. I am told that coffee leaches vitamins from you. Is this true? There seems to be a general belief that coffee is bad for the human body. What evidence supports this? Is it the caffeine that is the problem? If so, what about decaffeinated coffee? Is it true that coffee has more caffeine then espresso? If so, is this in relation to serving size or volume equivalent? How much coffee, per day, can an average American drink, if any, without worry of significant damage to their health?

[Markxxx]

Here is a good site PRO COFFEE

Like anything, if you do too much it isn’t good. If you want to hear about the horrors of coffee just type in coffee and vitimins in GOOGLE and you will find it, responsible for heart palpatations to the fall of the Roman Empire.

[Diceman]

If coffee does leech vitamins out of you, won’t you just re-absorb them when you digest the coffee? :dubious:

[Scoo8b]

Hmmmm, I’m drinking coffee right now… Perhaps I will die soon?

[j.c]

My medical advice to you is, if you are drinking an amount of coffee on average and feel okay, then it is okay for you to drink the amount - perhaps more! - on average with no problems.

If the amount of coffee you are drinking seems to cause problems for you, cut back.

[Tross]

I had posted my question in the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup simultanious to this one and there has not yet been a post supporting the vitamin leaching claim, but a link I found credible and informative was offered: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/nutrition/drinks_caff.shtml

Here is some of it’s text:

Coffee
Coffee is a popular drink and here in the UK: 80% of adults drink coffee within the course of a week. But coffee has had some pretty bad press in the past, mainly due to its caffeine content.
…
For the rest of the population there is no evidence that coffee does any long-term harm. Caffeine however does have a very mild diuretic effect - so have a glass of water after coffee to counteract it.

[Tross]

My gf just got back from a yoga retreat where she was told by the center’s food specialist that coffee saps magnesium from one’s body. I did a google search and came up with this site which supports his contention, but appears to have a vested interest in making a buck off the info it provides: http://www.mcvitamins.com/Coffee.htm

The Dutch study it sites was on “unfiltered” coffee, I guess this refers to a French-press? Do you know of any good studies done on the effects of filtered coffee on one’s health? What about tea?

Coffee is one of the few pleasures I allow myself. Personally I think my gf is just jealous of the special relationship I have with my favorite mug, but I don’t think presenting that argument to her will be good for my cause or my health. Please help a fellow coffee enthusiast fight the power.
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If you drink coffee, you may be a special candidate for magnesium deficiency.
Coffee can lead to a chronic deficiency of B vitamins.
Coffee can cause a buildup of toxins within the body, which increases your need for vitamin C and other antioxidants
What to take:
Water - sufficient water is necessary, so drink enough. How much is enough? Read our article on Our Need for Water
Vitamin A & D
Vitamin B Complex
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Calcium/Magnesium
Essential Fatty Acids - see our Article Essential Fatty Acids for more info and what to take and how much and how to get supplements?
Garlic - helps reduce high blood pressure
Homocysteine reducers

[Johanna]

Voltaire had a big coffee jones, several cups of strong black coffee every day. Somebody advised him he should quit because it was bad for his health. He retorted: Look, I’m 80 years old and I’ve been drinking coffee every day my whole life. If it’s as bad as you say, how come I’m still healthy?

Is it true that coffee has more caffeine then espresso?

This question does not compute. Hello. Espresso is coffee.

[PatriotX]

Is it true that espresso has less caffeine than regular coffee?

Yes and no. An espresso cup has about as much caffeine as a cup of dark brew. But servings for espresso are much smaller. Which means that the content of caffeine per milliliter are much higher than with a regular brew. Moreover, caffeine is more quickly assimilated when taken in concentrated dosages, such as an espresso cup.

The myth of lower caffeine espresso comes comes from the fact that the darker roast beans used for espresso do have less caffeine than regularly roasted beans as roasting is supposed to break up or sublimate the caffeine in the beans (I have read this quote on research articles, but found no scientific studies supporting it. Anybody out there?). But espresso is prepared using pressurized water through significantly more ground (twice as much?) than regular drip coffee, resulting in a higher percentage of caffeine per milliliter. Please refer also to Does dark roast coffee have less caffeine than light roast?

Here’s the caffeine content of Drip/Espresso/Brewed Coffee:

Drip 115-175
Espresso 100 1 serving (1-2oz)
Brewed 80-135

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[pulykamell]

The latest study I read in the Sun-Times last week states that scientists have found that drinking coffee reduces your chances (significantly) of Type 2 diabetes. Here’s an excerpt from a [url=“http://www.forbes.com/execpicks/2004/03/12/cx_0312health.html”]Forbes run of the article:
[/quote]

Women who drank three to four cups of coffee per day had a 29% reduced risk of diabetes. Those who drank at least ten cups a day had a 79% reduced risk.

Men who drank three to four cups of coffee a day had a 27% lower risk while those who drank at least ten cups a day had a 55% lower risk.

Crazy, eh?

[bibliophage]

Cecil Adams on Does caffeine stunt your growth?

Caffeine is a diuretic and causes calcium to be leached out of bones and excreted. However, the reviews of the medical literature I’ve seen indicate that the effect is slight and can be readily compensated for with diet.

Calcium, of course, is a mineral not a vitamin.

[bibliophage]

Tross, I have shortened one of your quotations for copyright reasons. In general quoting more than a paragraph or two of a copyrighted work is too much.

bibliophage
moderator GQ