Arguing with hard research data is pointless - they speak for themselves.
There are many more findings implying that substance X changes or correlates
with the change of phenomenon Y. There are legitimate studies supporting the
beneficial effect of somoking on some molecular or clinical variable. I am
sure that soon some researcher will announce studies showing negative
relationship between cell phone use and some neuromodulator which, in turn,
is implicated in pathogenesis of disease Z. Reductionistic research is
neither right or wrong is simply relates to simplified world. Even with
pharmaceuticals, clinical and pharmacoeconomic studies are one thing and
actual prescription patterns - quite another. There are studies showing that
more people die because of car pollution than in car accidents and there are
also studies showing that cars save lives, just like cell phones do.

It is therefore not the studies themselves, but what people make of them,
that really matters. Social psychologists discovered that when people are
presented with conflincting  information, such as about what is good or bad
for you - they display conformist behavior. Where source A is saying
"butter" and source B - margarine, people will tend to reinforce old habits.
Even occasional mention "to the contrary" may ruin the advertising strategy.
That is why anti-advertisers, such as Adbusters.org are hated enemy. The
same works for health promotion: occasional media revelation of benefits of
smoking (even last year!), alcohol (it affects positively cholesterol,
studies show, but ruins your body and mind and accelerates aging), exclusive
red meat diet etc. does the job. People want to conform and they are looking
for justifications, to maintain peace of mind and self-esteem.

The real question is: shall we ruin their peace of mind and self-esteem? A
friend a mine, a practicing family physician, says that he is not pointing
out bad habits to his patients. He has done his reading and knows that only
a massive media campain ("brain washing") could effectively change people's
behaviour and talking to patients about their habits and weaknesses could
make things worse, and that they could also switch to another doctor who is
more "lenient".

What is even more intersting, studies show (studies again :) that healthier
people are neither more nor less happy than the sick in several countries
studied, with the exception of acute pain. Yes, we declare that health
matters most, but when push comes to shove we choose other priorities,
mostly immediate consumption pleasure. Why bother making people healthier
then? Rational addiction theorists would just leave it all to the individual
whose rational behavior is axiomatic.

And now back to coffee. It gives pleasure, it helps socialize, its increases
GDP, gives employment. If we forget about the exploited workers in the
developing world, we can easily relax with a cup of Java. For the more
socially sensitive there is also a Fair Trade option. And while relaxing we
can only hope there will be no War for Coffee, since the second largest
world producer of this crop is - after Brasil - Vietnam, still communist.

To wrap up, I believe that health promotion people should be very critical
of casual findings and always see the big picture. We have plenty research
and generations' experience on what is good and what is bad to change the
world, it is that systemic motivational mechanisms are lacking. And one more
thing about the "accurate data", say on cost-effectiveness: In corporate
strategic management actual market research data and other "analytical data"
play little role. They are more symbolic, they make the organization look
rational, and this belief actually makes them more rational, regardless of
the data. Strategic decision makers see the big picture and follow the
mision, they develop a culture, for instance "marketing culture". This
culture is a paradigm for finding answers and asking questions. If we adopt
what I call "preventive paradigm" we will follow the mission and occasional
news about healing properties of coffee will be understood in its own terms.

Personally I like coffee very much, only it is "grain coffee" made from
barley, rye, beets and chickory. Poland is supposed to be number 1 producer
and Japan number 1 consumer of this specialty known for centuries in this
neck of the woods, now largely crowded out by the "real thing". It also
hepls socialize and relax and even if studies showed it caused cancer I
would be reluctant to give it up :)

Jaroslaw G. Wechowski, M.D.
Ph.D. cand. (management)
Warsaw School of Economics

-----Original Message-----
From: Health Promotion on the Internet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Hali Oliver-Smith

Coffee Consumption Linked to Lower Diabetes Risk

For many people, a cup of coffee signals the start of the day. For those who
continue to drink the beverage all day long, new findings support their
habit. According to a report published in the current issue of the journal
Annals of Internal Medicine, heavy java drinkers have a lower risk of
developing type 2 diabetes, a disease that currently afflicts about 15
million Americans.
Sufferers of type 2 diabetes, which is sometimes referred to as adult-onset
diabetes because it is more common in older patients, do not utilize insulin
properly to metabolize food. In addition to age, risk factors for the
disease include being overweight and physically inactive. In 2000, a Dutch
study suggested that once other risks are accounted for, coffee drinkers may
be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-coffee drinkers are, but
it did not differentiate between caffeinated and non-caffeinated varieties.
In the new work, a group of researchers from Harvard University and Brigham
and Women's Hospital in Boston followed some 126,000 people for more than a
dozen years. Every few years the participants answered detailed
questionnaires that included questions about their java habits. The
scientists determined that men who drank more than six cups of caffeinated
joe each day had a risk of developing type 2 diabetes that was half that of
their peers who did not drink caffeinated coffee. Among women, the risk was
30 percent lower for regular coffee drinkers compared to non-drinkers. The
effects for decaf coffee lovers were smaller: a 25 percent risk reduction
for men and a 15 percent reduction for women as compared to non-drinkers.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Levy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]

Did you say MORNING COFFEE or MORNING FIX!!! I used to need my morning fix,
now I simply savour my morning herbal tea with no side-effects!!
Joe
--
Quoting Rebecca Tinning <[log in to unmask]>:

> Hi
>
> Sorry I don't have time to reply to your postings....I HAVE TO GET MY
> MORNING COFFEE!!!!
>
> Cheers!
> Rebecca
> Web Communications
> Australian Health Managemetn Group
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Levy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, 5 February 2004 4:31 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Coffee and health
>
> Coffee is the modern day drug that keeps the world together. However,
unlike
> cigarettes, you don't kill other people "directly" when you overindulge!
You
> only kill them indirectly- health care costs, heart disease, depression,
> etc.
> Joe
> --
> Dr. Joseph Levy
> Professor, School of Health Policy and Management
> Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies;
> Director, Wellness Centre at York University;
> Academic Advisor, Vanier College
> 274 Vanier College, 4700 Keele Street
> Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
> Phone: 416-736-2100 ext, 33898
> email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Fax: 416-736-5899
> http://www.yorku.ca/wellness
>
> Quoting "Thuringer, Ellen" <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > I heard recently that if coffee was brought forward today for approval
> from
> > the FDA it would surely not pass! Yet it seems coffee makes the world go
> > round especially in hospitals where you have to trip over coffee vendors
> to
> > get in the doors...
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jareoslaw G. Wechowski [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: February 3, 2004 2:10 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Coffee and health
> >
> > There is much talk about trans-fats, cholesterol, salt and simple
sugars.
> > Interestingly, little is ever mentioned about population health effects
of
> > coffee "addiction". In the Ottoman Empire coffee was banned as a potent
> > drug. Some years ago coffee was considered to be an occasional treat,
not
> > worth any public health worries. But coffee is not just blood pressure
and
> > peptic ulcers. I am aware of studies linking coffee consumption and
> > mutations in sperm DNA. After all, coffee contains mutagenes and
> > carcinogenes resulting from the roasting process. Chemical additives and
> > pesticides might also play a role.
> >
> > Meanwhile, the global reader may learn from WebMD, promoted by Hotmail,
> that
> > coffee is not only health food but possibly a miracle cure.
> >
> > http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/80/96454.htm?printing=true
> >
> > Nearly 100 years ago there were real scientific articles demonstrating
> such
> > beneficial effects of tobacco. Do we have to wait another 100 years?
> >
> > Jaroslaw G. Wechowski, M.D.
> > Ph.D. cand.
> > Warsaw School of Economics

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