Chocolate may prevent cardiometabolic disorders

BMJ 2011 Aug 29. Chocolate consumption and cardiometabolic disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis. (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK)

• Meta-analysis
• 7 studies out of 4576 references
• 114,009 participants
• cohort or cross-sectional
• Highest levels of chocolate consumption compared to lowest
• 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease
• 29% reduction in stroke
• No significant relation with heart failure risk
• Definitions of highest/lowest consumption groups

Highest	Lowest
once a week or more	never
once a week	less than once a week
more than once a week	never
cocoa intake 4.18 g/day	none
>1 servings/day	none
chocolate 7.5 g/day	1.7 g/day
>5 servings/week	none

How caffeine prevents skin cancer

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 15. Protection from UV-induced skin carcinogenesis by genetic inhibition of the ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) kinase. (University of Washington, Seattle, WA)

• We already know...
• Epidemiologically, caffeine intake lowers skin cancer risk.
• Oral/topical caffeine prevents skin cancer in hairless mouse.

• Here in this article,
• Transgenic mouse with diminished ATR (Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related) activity was made to mimic caffeine effect in genetic level.
• Those mice showed lower incidence of UV-induced skin cancer.
• Inhibition of ATR is suggested to be the mechanism of skin cancer prevention by caffeine.

We may NOT need caffeine for its effects.

Appetite. 2011 Jul 29. Expectation of having consumed caffeine can improve performance and mood. (University of East London, London, United Kingdom)

• 88 non-smokers, aged 18-47 years, half female
• Habitual coffee drinkers (>2 cup/day for >6 months)
• Randomly allotted to each group, double-blinded
• Told to receive ordinary cup of caffeinated or decaf coffee
• In fact, half of each group given the other kind of coffee
• 5 min for drinking, 55 waiting before test

• Improvement in attention and psychomotor speed shown with expectancy of caffeine.

	Given caffeinated	Given decaf
Told caffeinated	++	++
Told decaf	+	-

Coffee components of antiviral activity

Int J Mol Med. 2011 Jul 1. Inhibition of multiplication of herpes simplex virus by caffeic acid. (Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan)

• Previous finding: components of coffee extract inhibits viral multiplication.
• caffeine
• N-methyl-pyridinium formate
• This article is about caffeic acid, which is
• another coffee components, unrelated to caffeine
• commonly found as chlorogenic acid 
• esterification of quinic acid + caffeic acid
• a polyphenol, abundant in plants
• reported to have antioxidant activity
• Caffeic acid inhibits HSV-1 (virus causing cold sore) replication 
• in vitro (HEp-2 cell culture)
• at early time point only
• However, neither chlorogenic acid nor quinic acid did show such antiviral activity.

Less risk of lethal prostate cancer in coffee drinker

J Natl Cancer Inst. 2011 May 17. Coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk and progression in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA)

• Prospective analysis of 47,911 men (Health Professionals Follow-up Study)
• Coffee >6 cups/day compared to no coffee
• Slightly lower risk for overall prostate cancer (425 vs 519/100k person-year)
• Substantially lower risk for lethal prostate cancer (34 vs 79/100k person-year)
• No difference with non-advanced/low-grade prostate cancer
• Regardless of decaf or caffeinated
• Possible links: insulin, testosterone, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory

Coffee reduces ER(-) breast cancer risk

Breast Cancer Res. 2011 May 14. Coffee consumption modifies risk of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer. (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)

• Swedish, population-based case-control study
• 2,818 cases and 3,111 controls
• post-menopausal women aged 50 - 74 years
• Coffee >5 cups/day compared to <1 cup/day
• Modest decrease in overall breast cancer risk
• Significant decrease in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer risk

Coffee may not cause hypertension

Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Mar 30. Habitual coffee consumption and risk of hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI)

• A meta-analysis of long-term prospective studies involving 5 articles, 173k participants

• Habitual coffee consumption of >3 cups/day is NOT associated with an increased risk of hypertension over <1 cup/day.

• However, a slightly elevated risk appeared to be associated with 1 - 3 cups/day.

Espresso coffee foam

Food Biophys. 2011 Mar 30.

 

• Elegant review from Illycaffe S.p.A
• The first author of this article is Ernesto Illy (deceased).
• Espresso coffee foam, aka crema, comes from
• CO₂ gas generated by roasting
• microscopic oil droplets (emulsion)
• coffee cell wall fragments

Less stroke in coffee-drinking women

Stroke. 2011 Mar 10. Coffee consumption and risk of stroke in women. (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)

• Questionnaire study on 34670 Swedish women, followed up for 10 years.

• During a mean follow-up of 10 years, 1680 stroke events occurred.

• Advantage in relative risk in coffee-drinking women: total stroke, cerebral infarction, hemorrhagic stroke (ICH + SAH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage. (No significant advantage/disadvantage in intracerebral hemorrhage)

• Above advantages not nullified by correcting age, smoking, body mass, diabetes, hypertension, or alcohol.