fitness · Science

Research focus: is coffee really good for you in every way? If you ask the Finns, they’ll say yes

catherine w

Honestly, I checked and rechecked the date on this research article blurb, making sure it wasn’t from April 1. Vice magazine broke the news about a new study out of the University of Oulu (in Oulu, Finland, of course) with the results that higher coffee intake groups showed lower total and visceral fat and higher skeletal muscle mass, among other desirable metabolic features (although BMI didn’t change between coffee drinkers non-drinkers). Here’s how the Vice folks put it:

Vice headline saying "Study Finds Coffee Drinkers Have Less Fat, More Muscle, and Are Better Than You in Every Way". Whoa.
Vice headline saying “Study Finds Coffee Drinkers Have Less Fat, More Muscle, and Are Better Than You in Every Way”. Whoa.

Could this be true? Who wants it to be true?

Me-- I do, I do! Thanks Naomi H from Unsplash for the picture.
Me– I do, I do! Thanks Naomi H from Unsplash for the picture.

The researchers noted a bunch of sex-specific hormonal effects, although many of them were transient. Which just goes to show that steady consumption of coffee throughout the day and night might just be the ticket to some improved health metrics… 🙂

Might as well set out enough for the next couple of hours to avoid too many trips back to the coffee machine. Thanks again Unslpash for image.
Might as well set out enough for the next couple of hours to avoid too many trips back to the coffee machine. Thanks again Unslpash for image.

Hmmm. So does this mean all the tea-drinkers out there will need to throw it into the nearest harbor (sorry, that’s a Boston joke) and embrace the bean instead? Not really. What the researchers concluded was what is often (read virtually always) concluded after a finding like this: it merits further study.

No food or beverage can actually work miracles on our health, fitness, appearance or mood. Coffee has its place and its devotees, among them a bunch of folks in Finland and me. We should feel free to drink it or not, given the information we have about it and about us and about its effects on us. And if it makes us feel very very good on occasion, we should feel free to do a little coffee dance.

I'd be dancing if I had that fancy coffee machine in my kitchen. Thanks Travis C from Unsplash for the pic.
I’d be dancing if I had that fancy coffee machine in my kitchen. Thanks Travis C from Unsplash for the pic.

Happy coffee Friday, all!

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Published by catherine w

I'm a feminist public health ethicist (yes, that's a thing). I'm interested in heath behavior change, particularly around eating and activity, and how things other than knowledge affect our health decisions.I'm also a cyclist (road, sort-of-off-road, commuter), regular yoga-doer, occasional swimmer and kayaker and leisurely social walker.

2 thoughts on “Research focus: is coffee really good for you in every way? If you ask the Finns, they’ll say yes”

  1. While I am a coffee drinker and of Finnish descent, I appreciate your caveat. As I once wrote “‘doing your own research’ doesn’t mean reading an article in the popular press that talks about an article in a journal.” And “So no, reading an article about an article, and one intended to sell ads, is not reading or understanding science.”

    Thank you again for distinguishing between research and clickbait.

    Reply

  2. Thanks for the clarification about the science here: an intriguing link, not a cause-and-effect. At least, as far as we know, no study has gone that way yet. I get a bike online publication that had an article about the same study & more or less told us all to be sure we drink plenty of coffee. Annoying. But yours presents what is really out there.

    By the way, wishing you luck in the rapidly arriving NE storm.

    Reply

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