In The News This Week … Feb. 13–19, 2005: In Defense of Caffeine (and Wine)

Previously in the news, we've heard of the dangers of caffeine, including making us forgetful, and causing inflammation, and maybe heart disease.

Now, finally, there's some research defending caffeine – though not against the two above-mentioned concerns. The defenders are two studies appearing in the February 16, 2005 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The first, Influence of Coffee Drinking on Subsequent Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Prospective Study in Japan, found that habitual coffee drinking appears to lower the risk of liver cancer. The second, Coffee, Tea, and Caffeine Consumption and Incidence of Colon and Rectal Cancer, found that consumption of coffee, tea with caffeine, and caffeine was not tied to colorectal cancer. (And decaf coffee was actually associated with a reduced incidence of rectal cancer – but we're here to defend caffeine, not promote decaf.)

And previously, we had noted in the news that researchers had found cognitive benefits in moderate alcohol consumption. Now, further proof has been found that moderate alcohol consumption is good for the health. An article published in the March 2005 British Medical Journal's publication Heart looked at 102 women under 75 who had had a heart attack or undergone a revascularization, PTCA, or CABG procedure for blocked arteries. They found that the women who drank small amounts of wine (but not spirits or beer) each day had the healthiest heart rhythm.

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