A friend tweeted a link to this AAP/NZ Herald story about research into coffee drinking, with the ALARMING headline… Coffee quaffers face increased death risk: study
As someone who, from long years of practice, knows how to repeatedly give up drinking coffee (i.e. I’m imbibing again, at present) reading it made me queasy — but not for the obvious reasons.
No, it was the terrible inconclusiveness of the ‘study’ typified by this statement about the (supposed) increased mortality of ‘heavy’ coffee drinkers:
“It could be the coffee, but it could just as easily be things that heavy coffee drinkers do,” says The University of Queensland’s Dr Carl Lavie.
Wha? The whole article is a bit like that, with a double-mindedness that makes me (a) laugh and (b) think it shouldn’t have been reported. That line, “It could be the coffee …” Well! Spare me.
Read it at NZ Herald … and see what you think.
– P
I saw the headline and didn’t bother reading it. I’ve seen too many articles of this nature, and heard too many scientists complain about the sorry state of science (mis-)reporting in the mass media.
And yes, part of my reaction is the childish old “how do you increase your death risk when your risk of death is already 100%?”
So let’s just go back to the old “all things in moderation” thing and enjoy our caffeine – I, too, have plenty of experience quitting coffee, but what makes it easier for me is living in China. A good, strong, bitter cup of Longjing green tea is what gets me going in the mornings. That also has the advantage that it can be near-endlessly refilled until the last remaining goodness has been sucked out of the leaves. Just waiting for my “Longjing drinkers face increased death risk” article.
Nice one Chris. Long life to you! – P