We are what we drink. Researchers looked into the health effects of 4 of the most favorite drinks in the Western world besides water – tea, coffee, cocoa, and wine. Here are the results.

• Tea – Dutch researchers reported that tea has beneficial effects on your heart. Green tea is especially rich in strong oxidants flavonols and catechins that provide protection against cardiovascular disease.

 

• Coffee – “What about coffee?“, the caffeine addicts would ask. Greek researchers reported that coffee does not necessarily increase your risk for developing cardiovascular disease. However, coffee has been observed to increase blood pressure and can have some adverse effects when combined with cigarette smoking. Also, the health effects of coffee can vary depending on the type of coffee and the preparation method. In other words, an Arabica caf? latt? might have a different effect compared to a Robusta cappuccino.

 

• Chocolate – When it comes to chocolate, the darker, the better. Who else but researchers from the land of chocolate – Switzerland – should report about the positive effects of cocoa? Cocoa benefits your cardiovascular health by “lowering blood pressure, improved endothelial function, improved insulin sensitivity and platelet function.” Take note that maximum effects come from pure, unprocessed cocoa and not necessarily from the chocolates we buy from Swiss confectioners. During the processing of cacao, some of its antioxidant properties are lost. Dark chocolate is definitely much healthier than milk chocolate or white chocolate.

 

• Wine – Now, this list won’t be complete without wine, right? Italian researchers reported that low to moderate alcohol consumption reduces your risk for cardiovascular disease. Wine, especially red wine, is rich with resveratrol and the antioxidants flavonoids and melatonin. Resveratrol which comes from the skin of red grapes has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. For maximum cardiovascular benefit, 1 to 2 glasses of wine per day for women are recommended and 2 to 4 glasses per day for men. However, you shouldn’t forget that excessive alcohol can lead to major health problems.

In conclusion, tea, cocoa, and wine have beneficial effects on your cardiovascular health. The effect of coffee, however, is not clear and needs to be studied more. A final recommendation from heart experts is as follows:

“Take a coffee or cocoa drink for breakfast, drink green tea during the day, a glass of wine in the evening and … a piece of dark chocolate before going to bed !!!”

Source:

Menendez, S.S. The gourmand’s heart – a bitter sweet relationship? Presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2008 held in Munich, Germany last August 30 to September 3.

It’s no secret among my friends and family that I have a real weakness for coffee. I’m not so great about brewing my own, but instead I visit a drive-thru coffee place almost every day. It’s not only a caffeine addiction, but it’s become a habit that I’ve tried to get rid of many times without much luck.

It dawned on me recently that this addiction isn’t only my own, but also belongs to my kids because they are usually with me when I head off to the coffee drive-thru. It got to the point to where my young kids were saying things like, “Are we stopping for coffee, Mommy?” Of course, it’s not as if I bought coffee for them, but they did enjoy juice or milk and an occasional cookie. Apparently my habit had evolved into a habit for my kids, too.

I knew it had gone too far when one of my son’s first words was “ar-backs,” which is baby for “Starbucks.”

When I did make the bold move to stop getting coffee my kids noticed it right away. For a few days they protested loudly any time we passed by a coffee place and didn’t stop.

This taught me the valuable lesson that my habits have the real potential to rub off on my kids. When I pop my knuckles, my son looks on admiringly and tries to pop his. When I chew on my cuticles my daughter starts chewing on hers too. I try my best to rid myself of these habits, or at least to only indulge in them when my kids aren’t looking.

At the very least, I’m teaching my kids that nobody’s perfect.

I’m writing this at 11:15 at night, big cup of coffee at my side, fully aware that in less than six or seven hours I’ll be crawling out of bed and starting another full day of writing, cleaning, and chasing my two kiddos around. I know I should be asleep, but hey…a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do.

This isn’t uncommon for me unfortunately, so I was quite interested when I came across an article posted by the Nursing Online Education Database: 50 Ways to Boost Your Energy Without Caffeine. My first reaction to the the title was this: “Yeah, right.” Upon reading it, though, it became apparent that they had some good points. I am trying to give up caffeine, so maybe I should try some of their suggestions. Here were some of my favorites:

1. Get more sleep. Well, yeah.
2. Exercise.
3. Get massages.
4. Get sunlight during the day.
5. Avoid people who drain you.
6. Watch your attitude.
7. Try to keep a sleep schedule.

A lot of the other tips were good suggestions for overall health, but I guess that there is a direct correlation between health, contentedness, and energy levels. Nobody knows that better than an exhausted, over-worked mom.

Perhaps tomorrow night I’ll get to bed at a decent hour.

There’s been much fuss lately over whether coffee is safe to drink during pregnancy. A summary of the current research: it’s probably safe in moderation, but don’t drink 47 cokes or ten gallons of coffee a day if pregnant.

However, doctors in the Netherlands have discovered the drinking coffee before you get pregnant may be harming your chances of conceiving. Wannabe moms who drank more than four cups of coffee a day had a 26% lower chance of conceiving naturally. Compare that to the damaging effects of smoking – reducing chances by 44%, of being overweight – reducing changes of conceiving by 29%, or drinking alcohol more than three times a week – 26% less likely to conceive.

Doctors already knew that being overweight, smoking and drinking all affect fertility, but are surprised that caffeine has comparable effects.

Conversely, fathers-to-be might benefit by drinking coffee. Men with drowsy sperm can wake them up with a cup of joe, which seems to increase sperm mobility i.e. bettering the chances of the little wiggly things getting to the egg, instead of giving up or getting a bit tired and needing to sit down and then forgetting what they are supposed to do on the way.

Random caffeine fact: spiders can’t spin a web after imbibing caffeine. They get all frantic and confused, and make something that looks like toddler art rather than a web. Spiders high on marijuana or LSD did a better job than the ones who’d drunk lattes. NASA did this research. Aren’t you glad your tax dollars are spent so wisely? (And no, my toddler isn’t on drugs.)

So for those trying to get pregnant, when you brew up a cup of coffee or find a fridge pack of Pepsi has found it’s way into your shopping cart (sneaky little things, those fridge packs) give it to your man, and hopefully it will benefit you both. And you’ll fill up the favor bank for exchanging for foot-rubs and back massages when you do get pregnant.

I love coffee. Every morning begins with a cup. Whenever I head off to a meeting or have a long drive ahead of me I’ll stop by Starbucks or another local shop and load up on some coffee. Yes indeed, I am a fan of coffee.

When I got pregnant I stopped drinking coffee with caffeine altogether. I indulged in decaf coffee once in a while, and even though I missed the little caffeine buzz I figured I was doing the right thing because of all the alarmist articles I had read that claimed caffeine could cause low birth weight and premature birth. I wasn’t going to take that risk, even though I really missed coffee.

Now some researchers are changing their mind. According to a new study by Danish researchers, consumption of caffeinated coffee might not be as dangerous as was once thought. Now some experts are saying that moderate coffee consumption doesn’t heighten the risk of low birth weight and premature birth at all, although they aren’t still so sure about the other risks that may be involved. It sounds like lack of risk may not include pregnant women who also smoke.

I don’t think this study really changes how I view coffee and pregnancy. I think if I were to get pregnant tomorrow (no, thank you) I would still nix the coffee. After all, caffeine is a stimulant, right? I don’t want to get my unborn baby hooked on a stimulant before even being born.

The day I found out I was pregnant, the lead story on CNN.com was ‘the dangers of caffeine for pregnant women.’ Ah, the Universe loves irony.

A few years ago, I sported a pin on my jacket that read, ‘Give me coffee and no one gets hurt!’ In the past year, I’d ‘cut back’ to about three or four (8 oz.) cups a day. And green tea in between.

I love everything about coffee. The taste, the aroma, the positive memory-associations of sipping a good latte after a great meal. Even as I write this, my heart is pounding in anticipation of a cup of the good dark stuff. In my first job as magazine editor, when things got rough at the office, I’d head to Starbucks for a ‘grande soy latte.’

The evening after I found out I’m pregnant, I went to my sister’s house to tell her. I noticed the fresh pot of after-dinner coffee brewing. ‘Do you want a cup?’ she asked.

‘More than anything,’ I said wistfully.

She gave me a funny look and then she remembered the news I’d just shared; and the study. ‘It’s okay. One cup won’t hurt. I drank coffee through both my pregnancies.’

‘Thanks, Mom, nice to know you cared about me!’ my niece interjected.

‘And they’re both fine,’ she concluded.

When I started experiencing the first signs of morning sickness, oh, about 2 days after the pregnancy test showed up positive, coffee lost its appeal. By the third day, my stomach turned at the scent of coffee brewing.

But the brain forgets quickly, and after a week, I was jones-ing again. By now, the caffeine headaches have gone away, and it’s pure psychological addiction.

The other night, after a particularly good dinner, I brewed myself a cup of decaf. I couldn’t even bring myself to drink it. I don’t know whether it was psychological (I’d always swore I’d never drink decaf) or if the nauseated feelings coffee brought on earlier had ruined it for me.

I’m on a quest for ‘coffee substitutes.’ I still miss the ritual of sitting down with my morning cup, checking my e-mail and preparing for the day. And I still miss everything about coffee; including, especially, the almost-instant energy perk.

It’s almost an identity crisis. Not only do I miss coffee? I miss everything it represents.

I recently tried herbal tea with ginseng. There it was the elevated heart rate, immediate perk, a burst of energy that didn’t even wear off as quickly as a caffeine high. Then I went online and learned that studies were inconclusive in regard to ginseng and pregnancy, but pregnant women were advised to stay away from the herb. Great.

I’ve started drinking VitaminWater Revive, fortified with lots of B vitamins. It hydrates, and B vitamins, as long as you stick to the recommended daily allowance, are healthy. No ‘energy burst,’ but it’s something to drink in the morning.

I’ve resorted to keeping my energy level up the natural way: exercise, limiting sugar and carbs so my blood sugar levels stay steady throughout the day, and a quick 20-minute cat nap when I really can’t take it anymore.

I’m just glad I don’t smoke or drink heavily, because I couldn’t imagine giving up two addictions all in the space of a few months!

On the heels of a Mount Sinai School of Medicine research which concludes that moderate coffee intake during pregnancy is safe and does not increase the risk of miscarriage, here’s another research saying otherwise. I have written before about confusing research, and here’s another proof.

So here’s the puzzle. The snag on earlier studies ,which concluded that even moderate caffeine intake during pregnancy is risky was this: researchers focused on high intake; researchers included women who had nausea and morning sickness — long associated with a reduced miscarriage risk in the first place — who were forced to cut back on coffee or soda consumption.

Dr. De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente conducted his study taking morning sickness into account, the first researcher to ever do so. The scary conclusion is that drinking 200 mg of caffeine a day, usually the amount found in two cups of coffee, significantly increases the risk of miscarriage. The stats reveal that 25% of women who consumed any caffeine suffered a miscarriage, compared to just 12% of women who didn’t.

The study interviewed 1,063 women who were pregnant between 1996 and 1998. The source of caffeine, whether teas, sodas, coffees, didn’t matter.

My baby is nice and healthy but now I really quake at those green teas I was having while pregnant. Just in moderation, but still… I’ve always said to chuck expert advice out the window, but with such serious implications of caffeine intake during pregnancy, I’d say err on the side of caution and ditch the caffeine completely when pregnant.

For those coffee lovers among you, you may have wondered what this shade grown coffee that we have been hearing about is.

Shade grown coffee is grown in the shade of larger trees and bushes, usually in the rain forests of Central and South America, Indonesia and Africa. Because of this it grows more slowly and is therefore less popular among the big producers. However, there are environmental benefits of buying shade grown coffee. It helps support the ecosystem by encouraging biodiversity and a range of plants all grown together rather than cutting down a section of the rain forest in order just to grow coffee. This has a positive effect on the plants and wildlife. Also, shade grown coffee tends to be produced by smaller companies and so you are supporting the smaller and more local businesses.

Coffee was traditionally only grown in the shade and over time plant that grow in the sun have been developed, however these require lots of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to grow, and so therefore the coffee has a higher level of chemicals in it. Many people also believe that the coffee is fuller, richer and with a more mature flavour.

Further Information

Drink Shade Grown Coffee

What is Shade Coffee

Smithsonian National Zoological Park

There is new hope for pregnant women who need their daily cuppa joe. A study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City reported on January 9^th found that moderate coffee intake during pregnancy does not increase the risk of miscarriage.

In the study, 2,407 pregnant women consumed two cups or less of coffee each day (about 350 milligrams of caffeine) during early pregnancy, and less coffee (about 200 milligrams of caffeine) during later pregnancy. The study, therefore, cannot answer whether or not a greater amount of coffee than two cups is harmful. (Which makes sense, because who would voluntarily put their developing baby at risk?)

The women reported their caffeine intake before pregnancy, four weeks after their last menstrual period, and again during an interview. At each of these time periods, the study found that there was no statistical correlation between the amount of caffeine consumed and risk of miscarriage. Of the 2,407 women, 258 miscarried during the study.

This study confirms previous data suggesting that low amounts of caffeine is not harmful during pregnancy. In their precautions for healthy eating, The March of Dimes lists coffee under the ?Not too Much? category, suggesting that pregnant women limit coffee intake to 2 to 2 ? cups per day. However, when considering caffeine intake during pregnancy, it is also important to consider the fact that caffeine is present in a number of sodas, chocolate, and some medicines. Reading nutrition labels will help you get an accurate picture of how much caffeine you are ingesting each day.

References:

http://www.reuters.com

http://search.marchofdimes.com