Health Perks for Seniors 

I have a confession: the more senior I get, the more a creature of habit I become! My daily routine starts at 6:30 AM when I get up and put on the kettle to boil a pot of filtered water, put just the right mix of half-caff and morning mix (I put in one scoop of Starbucks out of four because I like the Starbucks flavor but not the price!) in the French press, wait for the water to boil, pour it into the press, set the timer for 5 minutes and then go out to feed the dogs while the French press does its magic creating that angelic aroma that makes getting up worthwhile.

I LOVE my morning coffee. In fact, if I don’t get it first thing, I’m probably not very lovable until I do! That morning coffee love affair used to come with a bit of guilt because of cautions my doctors had given me about too much caffeine. But now I’ve even found a cure for the guilt. I found it in the Health Journal section of the Wall Street Journal a while ago in a column titled: “Good News in the Daily Grind”.

That column listed the following results from several studies, some of which have been going on for a couple decades:

• 6 cups a day lowered risk of advanced prostate cancer in a 20-year study
• 5 cups a day lowered risk of Alzheimer’s by 65% in 1400 Finns
• 4 cups a day cut the risk of stroke by 43% in women and Type 2 diabetes by 25-35%
• 3 cups a day cut the risk of gallstones by 20%
• 2 cups a day lowered the risk of committing suicide by 60% in a 10-year study
• 1 cup per day cuts the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 7%

You can get more details on any of these studies by doing a Google search on “Coffee” and diving into whichever study you’re interested in. I was particularly interested in the dementia studies, so I did a bit more research there because of all the dementia-related work we do for clients of Visiting Angels ®. Turns out there were two studies referenced. One involved lab mice done by Dr. Arendash at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. In that study, they were actually able to reverse symptoms in lab mice that had been bred with Alzheimer’s. “At the end of the two-month study, the caffeine-drinking mice performed far better on tests of memory and thinking than mice given only water”. 

The other study was done at the University of Kuopio in Finland in cooperation with the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki. It involved interviews with 1409 people over more than two decades. The study found that coffee drinkers at midlife had a lower risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease later in life than those who drank little or no coffee. The lowest risk (65% decreased) was found among moderate coffee drinkers (drinking 3-5 cups of coffee/day). Adjustments for various confounders did not change the results.  

Of course, as with any substance we put in our bodies, there can be negative side effects. The WSJ article specifically mentioned increased risk of miscarriage for pregnant women along with anxiety, jitters, upset stomach, headache, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating. So, before you head out to the grocery store to stock up your pantry with a year’s supply of java beans, you should talk to your doctor about your specific health situation.

I have discussed my coffee love affair with my doctor; fortunately, he gave me a green light for the daily grind. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t.

So, talk to your doctor about your coffee Rx and enjoy the perks of good health! (Does anyone still use a percolator?)  

Thanks for reading All About Seniors… see you next week!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at  https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA