Main Page Article Search E-Lerts™ Newsletter: Current E-Lerts™ Newsletter Archives E-Lerts™ Newsletter Recipes Archives Defeat Diabetes® E-Lerts™ Newsletter Subscribe Defeat Diabetes ® News by Daniel H. Rasolt Books You Can Use™ Subscribe to Defeat Diabetes Foundation Mailings
About Diabetes    » A1c    » Adolescents    » Awareness    » Cause    » Children    » Complications    » Control    » Costs    » Cure    » Diagnosis    » Drugs    » Elderly    » Gestational    » Hypoglycemia    » Impaired Fasting Glucose    » Impaired Glucose Tolerance    » Inflammation    » Insulin Resistance    » Insulin Sensitivity    » Men    » Metabolic Syndrome    » Minorities    » Obesity    » Organs    » Other Diseases    » Pancreas    » Pre-Diabetes    » Prevention    » Research    » Risk Factors    » Screening    » Statistics    » Stress    » Syndrome X    » Testing    » Treatments    » Type 1    » Type 2    » Warning Signs    » Women Body Care Children Complications Defeat Diabetes Foundation Drugs Elderly E-Lerts™ Governments & Organizations Health & Fitness Insulin MADDCAP™ Mr. Diabetes® Nutrition Obesity Other Diseases Pregnancy Research Risks Self-Management Supplements Type 1 Warning Signs

 

 

 

     

It’s Not The Caffeine In Coffee

Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Most prior research on coffee has focused on caffeine, and possible harmful effects have been associated with the stimulant, said Dr. Peter Martin, director of the Vanderbilt Addiction Center and a psychiatry professor at the university.

Studies at Duke University have linked caffeine with increased blood pressure and heart rate, and an increase in stress hormones that could cause heart disease or a weakening of the blood vessels.

But researchers at Vanderbilt are looking at other compounds in coffee that counteract caffeine's stimulating effects. It is these compounds, called chlorogenic acids, that produce many of the health benefits, they say.

But several independent studies have shown that coffee can combat depression, diabetes, cancer and degenerative brain diseases. Vanderbilt researchers say they're trying to figure out how the compounds in coffee provide these potential health benefits.

Eventually, Martin said, research at the institute could lead to new drugs to treat a wide range of ailments. ''We could gain insights into the most common diseases of mankind,'' Martin said.

The research so far has centered on chlorogenic acids, compounds found in most plants and produced in coffee when raw beans are heated during roasting. Lighter roasts provide the most health benefits because in darker roasts the chlorogenic acids don't dissolve into the water, researchers said.

Caffeine and chlorogenic acids also stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain — the same centers stimulated by such drugs as cocaine and morphine, they said.

Most coffee drinkers know coffee is addictive, and many say they couldn't get through their day without it.

Dr. Tomas de Paulis, a research assistant and Vanderbilt psychiatry professor, said chlorogenic acids counteract caffeine's effects, producing a calming effect and increasing blood flow to the brain. ''Because of this, we believe drinking coffee is different from just taking a tablet of caffeine,'' Martin said.

Coffee's ability to increase blood flow to the brain has been linked to prevention of degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, Martin said. Separate studies have shown chlorogenic acids can prevent diabetes by enhancing the liver's ability to metabolize sugar. This benefit promises to become increasingly important as the rate of diabetes skyrockets with rates of obesity, Martin said. De Paulis and other researchers are now exploring the reasons for coffee's ability to prevent diabetes.

They are also studying coffee's cancer-fighting potential. Smokers who drink coffee regularly have a lower risk of developing bladder cancer than smokers who are not coffee drinkers, researchers said.

Chlorogenic acids also are credited with making coffee an antioxidant, absorbing destructive molecules linked to heart disease and cancer. When people drink large amounts of decaffeinated coffee — 10 cups or so — the antioxidant effects went up, de Paulis said.

There are roughly 1,000 identified compounds in the coffee, and another 2,000 to 3,000 unidentified substances, and information on how these substances interact is limited, he said. ''No one knows how these things modify the effects of caffeine, and that's what we're trying to find out,'' said de Paulis.

Several independent studies have found health benefits of coffee, and the Institute for Coffee Studies is trying to understand how coffee provides these benefits:

• By combating depression and elevating mood, coffee can reduce the risk of suicide and prevent drug and alcohol addiction relapse.

• Its ability to increase blood flow to the brain has been linked to prevention of degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

• It can prevent diabetes by enhancing the liver's ability to metabolize sugar.

• Smokers who drink it regularly have a lower risk of developing bladder cancer than smokers who are not coffee drinkers.

• It's an antioxidant, absorbing destructive molecules linked to heart disease and cancer.

The institute is funded by coffee manufacturers and South American coffee-producing countries. 

Source: Diabetes In Control.com

 

 

 

 

 

 Costa Rica Travel Corp. will donate a portion of the proceeds to and is a sponsor of Defeat Diabetes Foundation.