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In discussing his caffeine audiobook with Terry Gross on NPR Last winter, Michael Pollan called caffeine “the enemy of good sleep” because it interferes with deep sleep. He confessed that after the difficult task of weaning himself off coffee, he “slept like a teenager again.”
Dr Willett, now 75, said: “You don’t need to achieve zero consumption to minimize the impact on sleep”, but he acknowledged that a person’s sensitivity to caffeine “probably increases with age”. People also vary widely in how quickly they metabolize caffeine, allowing some to sleep soundly after drinking caffeinated coffee at dinner while others find it difficult to sleep if they have coffee at lunch. But even though you can fall asleep easily after an evening coffee, it can interfere with your ability to sleep soundly enough, says Pollan in his upcoming book, “This Is Your Mind on Plants.”
Dr Willett said it was possible to develop a degree of tolerance to the effects of caffeine on sleep. My 75-year-old brother, a die-hard caffeinated coffee drinker, claims it has no effect on him. However, gaining a tolerance to caffeine might blunt its benefits if, for example, you wanted it to help you stay alert and focused while driving or taking a test.
Caffeine is one of the more than a thousand chemicals in coffee, not all of which are beneficial. Other positive effects include polyphenols and antioxidants. Polyphenols can inhibit the growth of cancer cells and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes; antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory effects, can counter both heart disease and cancer, the nation’s leading killers.
None of this means that coffee is beneficial, no matter how it’s brewed. When brewed without a paper filter, such as in French press, Norwegian boiled coffee, espresso, or Turkish coffee, oily chemicals called diterpenes penetrate and can increase LDL cholesterol which damages arteries. However, these chemicals are virtually absent from filtered coffee and instant coffee. Knowing that I have a cholesterol problem, I dissected a coffee pod and found a paper filter covering the plastic cup. Phew!
Popular additions that some people use, like cream and sugary syrups, also counteract coffee’s potential health benefits, which can convert this calorie-free drink into a high-calorie dessert. “All the things people put in coffee can result in junk food that is up to 500-600 calories,” Dr. Willett said. One 16 ounces Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, for example, contains 51 grams of sugar, 15 grams of fat (of which 10 are saturated) and 370 calories.
As iced coffee season approaches, more and more people will likely turn to cold brew coffee. Now increasingly popular, cold brew compensates for coffee’s natural acidity and bitterness that occurs when boiling water is poured onto the ground. The cold brew is made by soak the patterns in cold water for several hours, then strain the liquid through a paper filter to remove harmful patterns and diterpenes and retain flavor and caffeine for you to enjoy. The cold brew can also be prepared with decaffeinated coffee.
Decaffeinated is not entirely without health benefits. As with caffeinated coffee, the polyphenols it contains have anti-inflammatory properties that may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer.
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