LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

caffeine

Will That Cup of Coffee Protect My Brain?

by

I’m not sure where along the process caffeine got such a bad rap.  I continue to see suggestions to avoid caffeinated products like coffee and tea.

I can understand if someone has adrenal fatigue and needs an IV directly from the coffee pot just to get started in the AM, but other than that the research is pretty soundly in favor of mild caffeine consumption.

This particular study looks at the ability of caffeine to protect against the free-radical-induced damage to the brain of rabbits that was consistent with Alzheimer’s dementia damage.  They found that even low levels of caffeine were able to protect the brain.

At our office, we have an espresso machine at the office and I play the role of barista at lunch, creating mochas with a double shot of espresso, cinnamon, organic cocao and dark chocolate almond milk.  Just recently switched to organic raw Ecuadorian cocoa…

Kidney Stones Suck; Add This to Banish Them

by

Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/arboreality/
Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/arboreality/

Kidney stones are one of the most painful acute conditions that humans can endure.

Whenever I asked female patients who have had both children and kidney stones which was worse, the answer is always the kidney stones.  Maybe this is because childbirth is a natural process and the body will release endorphins to curb the pain.

Either way, kidney stones are extremely painful and if you just had a kidney stone you are likely willing to do anything to avoid getting another.

Like pretty much everything else in medicine, dogma rules when it comes to advice on lowering your risk of getting another kidney stone.  And frankly, the research that I have come across is pretty limited as well (you can read about some of them in a previous article by clicking here).

What I usually tell patients is that it is clear that a plant-based diet will lower your risk of kidney stones and, despite the long held belief that vitamin C contributes to kidney stones, they do not.

Another long held belief is that caffeinated beverages will also increase the risk of kidney stones.  This may be related to the also-long-held-but-incorrect belief, that caffeinated beverages dehydrate you.  This is the reason that the “experts” tell you to drink an additional glass of water for every caffeinated beverage that you take in.

Regular Rantings readers will know that I am not a big fan of the “8 glass of water a day” recommendation (especially when that water is from BPA-laden plastic water bottles) and I have always felt that the need to drink an additional glass of water for every glass of tea or coffee you drink was unneccesary.

Do you really think the Dalai Lama is dilligently drinking a glass of water for every cup of green tea he is drinking?

Of course not.

Looking back at blog posts I did over a decade ago, I was pretty sure that caffeinated beverages needed to be avoided for kidney stone prevention.  But, like a handful of other recommendations over the years, this one is subject to change.  Especially according to this particular study.

In this study, researchers looked at 4982 kidney stone patients to see if caffeine intake had an effect on their risk of developing kidney stones.  Here’s what they found:

  • Those with the highest intakes of caffeine intake had a 26%, 29% or 31% lower risk depending upon which is the three study groups were looked at).
  • Higher caffeine intake was linked to higher urine volume, calcium, and potassium as well as with lower urine oxalate and supersaturation for calcium oxalate and uric acid (meaning that the urine could hold more calcium before stones started to form).

Overall, these are pretty strong numbers given the long-given recommendation to avoid caffeinated beverage intake.  So, if you are a kidney stone sufferer, than it’s time to add some tea and / or coffee to your daily regimine.

 

COFFEE MODIFIES GI HORMONE EXCRETION AND GLUCOSE TOLERANCE – (10-15-03)

by

Coffee acutely modifies GI hormone secretion and glucose tolerance: glycemic effects of chlorogenic acid and caffeine. For me, coffee falls into the “everything in moderation” category (incidently, broccoli and other veggies from the brassica family are not in the moderation category–overindulge). What I do have a problem with is coffee drinkers who cannot function until their fifth gallon of coffee–these people usually have adrenal insufficiency that they are trying to override with super-physiologic doses of caffeine. For everyone else, coffee has shown to have benefits from their polyphenols.

AJCN — Abstracts: Johnston et al. 78 (4): 728

Read entire article here

 

THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK THAT EXTRA CUP OF COFFEE! – (12-19-05)

by

Habitual Caffeine Intake and the Risk of Hypertension in Women

This study found no link between caffeine from coffee and high blood pressure. However, the relationship was there for cola beverages, both diet and fully sugared. A few comments here. I believe coffee has gotten a bad rap because of the habits usually associated with it (i.e. coffee=breakfast, coffee & danish, stressed out office worker…) but the polyphenol content of coffee is pretty high and would confer a protective effect on a variety of conditions. The fact that colas increased risk should come as no great shocker.

But, for those decaffers out there, pay attention to how your coffee is decaffeinated. Many use a process involving trichloroethylene and methylene chloride-compounds which have been shown to cause cancer in the lab. Granted, the levels the animals were exposed to were much lower whatever residues are left in the coffee, but it does leave room for questions.

Read entire article here

DIETARY INTAKE IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA – (04-25-05)

by

Dietary intake in patients with asthma: A case control study

It is funny how little we look at dietary factors in the treatment of asthma.  I remember a few years back I had a middle aged male patient who I could not even adjust without him going into a one minute coughing spasm that require water to calm down.  He had been seeing a pulmonologist for 10+ years.  I mentioned to him that refined carbs and caffeine could affect airway reactivity.  Turns out he was drinking Mountain Dew several times per day.

Bottom line–one month later, after avoiding Mountain Dew alone, he was back to normal.  This was never once mentioned to him by his “specialist.”

Read entire article here

THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE – (02-11-08)

by

The Neuroprotective Effects of Caffeine

Coffee has dealt with a bad rap for many years but this bad rap is not deserved. Much like chiropractic, the minivan and quiche. We have seen studies showing a protective effect of coffee consumption on Parkinson’s risk. The bottom line is that coffee contains polyphenols, just like tea, dark chocolate and red wine. These compounds are well known to protect us from chronic disease.

 With this in mind, this study was designed to evaluate caffeine intake, but intake was based on “cups per day,” which of course would include tea as well. But caffeine has its own set of benefits, although, like anything else, too much can create problems, in this case by overloading the adrenal glands. So caffeine is known to increase blood flow to the brain, and so increased nutrients to the brain would provide neurons with the ability to stay healthier.

Read entire article here