Daily caffeine 'protects brain' | Hacker News Reader

Daily caffeine 'protects brain'

news.bbc.co.uk

17 pointsjlhamilton14 comments

This reminds me of "The Suit is Back" phenomena pg expressed in his submarine essay. I see so many articles that say coffee is healthy that it actually makes me question it more.

(possibly misinterpreted) medical research is on par with PR fluff/astroturfing, huh?

Yes and no. Not all medical research is created equal. The tobacco industry has done a lot of "research" that's not scientifically honest. Google news used to be my home page and once a week in the health section there was an article about coffee. My mom is a coffee junkie and she always talks about the latest coffee health story in the washington post. I'm not levying a formal accusation of foul play, I'm just saying that coffee articles get a disproportionate amount of play for their importance in human health.

(1) Because of how much money coffee generates for its producers and (especially) retailers, I’d guess there are a lot of industry funds being slushed around for research and PR.

(2) Even so, it would be possible to account for far more articles about coffee than would be “proportional” to the magnitude of its health effects, simply because of how wildly popular it is, and its role as a modern ‘social icon’ of sorts.

Put (1) and (2) together and you get the media equivalent of a caffeine addiction.

Right on. Combine that with an ambient fear that coffee is bad for you and we may have an explanation.

My gut tells me this whole caffeine craze is going to be a major health concern in 10-20 years. The amount of caffeine people consume versus 20 years ago is absolutely insane.

I used to drink the equivalent of 12 shots of espresso a day. In fact, I could rock out a cup of nasty NYC bodega sludge and fall asleep 20 minutes later. Now I can't drink it at all lest I have a panic attack, save a small decaf in the morning to fool my brain.

Caffeinism, caffeine allergy and caffeine induced organic mental disorder are real things.

I also wonder if there is any causality between the decline in the number of smokers and the rise in the amount of caffeine we consume.

I also wonder if there is any causality between the decline in the number of smokers and the rise in the amount of caffeine we consume.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. The idea that people with addictions often substitute one addictive behavior for another is conventional wisdom in counseling circles, I believe.

But I'm a former cancer researcher, I know people who have drunk themselves to death, and I have friends who counsel heroin addicts. So trust me when I say this: Caffeine is an excellent alternative.

At least you were able to stop drinking caffeine, and we're pretty sure that your liver or lungs aren't going to explode in ten years from the espresso abuse.

First its bad for you, then its good - I wish they would make up their mind!

I actually don't like the taste of coffee, which makes me a bit of a weirdo apparently, but I believe you can get your caffeine hit from tea instead (or red bull if your really brave!) - but I tend to avoid those too. I would hate to think that I need a hit of caffeine through the day just to keep me awake.

Feel sleepy in the mornings? Goto the gym before work.

Feel sleepy in the afternoon - go for a walk or get away from your desk for a while. I always find those two things wake me up better than anything else.

amen on the afternoon walks... i recently kicked an 8 cup a day habit and, besides afternoon grogginess, I feel frikin' great. Getting up and walking around usually does the trick better than a bump of caffeine any day.

i worked a barista for a year at yahoo hq when i was much younger. they gave out free espresso drinks (how i wish my fortune 100 company would do the same) and other stuff so there were always customers waiting to get their morning go-juice.

the problem was that the heavy drinkers became extremely dependent on caffeine to function properly. some would literally shake from having deprived of coffee while others would tell me to low-fat milk when mixing their caramel machiattos with whipped cream because they want to lose weight.

i myself never touch coffee products.

> while others would tell me to low-fat milk when mixing their caramel machiattos with whipped cream because they want to lose weight.

Magic milk! :)

It seems like, excepting for artificial foods like twinkies, doritos, coke, etc, there's a trend toward stronger-flavor being more nutritious. I'm thinking of coffee, broccoli, liver, chocolate, red wine, and even produce. Modern-day produce is sold by the pound and bloated with water, unless it's organic. I notice, probably because of this, organic produce has a stronger taste. I remember an NPR program discussing how, per pound, produce is less nutritious now than 50 years ago.

Then my brain is a Sherman Tank.

In a related topic, it seems that pulsed microwaves (such as GSM signals) increase the blood-brain barrier permeability. Could that explain their cognitive effects? Could caffeine protect from GSM hazards?

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