[Exo_Tartarus]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state a theory I've been considering for a while that could explain these coffee health benefit results...

The liquids I and everyone else consumes can be placed in two classes: pure water and everything else.

When I'm not drinking pure water, my drink of choice is usually coffee, of which I drink about 3 cups a day.

Now let's think of the alternative non water drinks out there... Many of them are sodas which have obscenely high sugar levels, just like most drinks that aren't pure water.

Someone who doesn't drink coffee may have more of these sugar containing drinks when they're not drinking pure water, inundating their bodies with harmful amounts of sugar.

So the benefits we see from high levels of coffee consumption come not from the coffee itself but from a substitution effect of replacing unhealthy sugary drinks with coffee.

A good test for this would be to see if tea drinkers also experience health benefits similar to those seen in the study. If not then that may indicate that my theory is wrong.

[Nydhal]

Here's another theory. Coffee makes you move more. Moving is healthy. Think of how coffee gets people off their desks to get it and also because of the caffeine and the need to urinate after. Its unlike other drinks as people don't carry it in bottles, it requires more movement. Maybe the sedentary lifestyle is what's killing people.

[praulv]

I'd counter that. Coffee makes me sit down and intently focus unmoved; time speeds by.

[kelvin0]

Coke and Meth also make you move more ... not sure I'd call those health supplements.

[digi_owl]

Could have sworn i have seen old ads for meth as a diet pill...

[coding123]

It is the amount.

[a012]

Probably right. I drink 2-3 espresso shots a day, one at home in the morning and one after lunch when I have to walk 10 minutes to get. Some people don't even bother to leave their desk or complain it's long walk.

[d13]

I think you're correct. I'm also actually astonished how many people drink sugared/flavoured drinks (including "juice" and "milk") as a substitute for water and never question what effect this might be having on them. I would encourage everyone to stop drinking anything except water for 6 months just to see what happens.

[timthelion]

I usually drink just tap water, and what I've noticed is that over time I will get sick and feel really dehydrated. I then buy myself a 1.5 liter mineral water from the store and feel much better. I wonder if the "tap water" that we drink is actually the "natural state of water", or if people aren't used to consuming water with a higher mineral content in nature.

[throwaway76543]

Tap water doesn't necessarily have any more or less mineral content than bottled mineral water. The variation between mineral water brands and the variation between tap water sources (mostly: well water vs surface) is much larger than any difference between bottled and tap.

If you live in an area with hard tap water you're essentially drinking "mineral water" out of the tap.

Here's some data for ya:

Mineral Content of Tap Water in Major North American Cities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/t...

Mineral Content of Selected Commercially Available North American Bottled Waters: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/t...

[sjm]

It depends where you live I think. Your tap water, if it's good, should normally contain a lot of minerals already. If you're drinking some kind of reverse-osmosis filtered water, then what you're saying makes total sense.

I lived in Cambodia for a while, where tap-water is a no go for drinking, and even though we avoided buying plastic bottles (plastic is a huge problem particularly in S.E. Asia) and instead stuck to larger tanks of filtered water, we had to make a point of always having some bottled mineral water in the mix. It was quickly noticeable when you hadn't had enough (extremely tired, drowsy, etc.)

[whyever]

If you want to get hydrated, you should drink water with approximately the same concentration of minerals as your body, especially if you lose a lot of water by sweating or sickness. Osmosis in your cells happens along the concentration gradient. Drinking water with too little concentration can cause them to swell, drinking water with too much can make them shrivel. Neither is good in the extreme.

[ijidak]

Very interesting. I've felt this as well. Even bottled flat water, doesn't seem to hydrate me as well as a carbonated mineral water (e.g. Perrier or Pellegrino). I wonder if this is placebo or if there is some other meaningful effect happening.

[digi_owl]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte

[an_account]

From what I’ve read, they’ve controlled for variables like this. Pure water drinkers don’t see the same benefit.

But I’ll be honest, I haven’t looked into it too thouroghly.

[Stanleyc23]

But for people in general, just because they drink coffee doesn't mean they cannot also drink beverages with high sugar content or am I not getting your thought right?

[Exo_Tartarus]

The assumptions I'm making are that most people drink water and non water, and the non water they drink is not going to be more than 3 to 4 drinks (cups/bottles) per day, and that people drinking coffee are already filling their quota of non water drinks by drinking coffee so they don't drink sugary drinks.

[KWD]

The assumption is still that most people drink water during the day in addition to the coffee, and I'd think that is actually not the case. My experience is water is just an occasional drink during the day, not a primary drink.

[Exo_Tartarus]

That may be true, but wouldn't that not affect my argument?

[PascLeRasc]

The parent is assuming everyone acts like him, and I'm inclined to agree from personal anecdata.

[hawski]

What about all the people that add sugar to their coffee?

[sgt]

Most people who add sugar to their coffee use a couple of teaspoons, so probably less than 15 g of sugar. Now in e.g. a Coca Cola, there's 10.6 g of sugar in each 100ml. You'll probably drink at least 300-600ml of coke.

[xellisx]

Drinking "Pure Water" wouldn't be advised, since it will leech minerals from your body.

[Fnoord]

> A good test for this would be to see if tea drinkers also experience health benefits similar to those seen in the study. If not then that may indicate that my theory is wrong.

Yes, or drinks with artificial sweeteners.

[muzani]

Counter theory: Higher coffee consumption might actually increase the craving for some sugary treat like donuts and banana bread, the classic companions to coffee.

[QML]

I thought coffee’s actually an appetite suppressant than stimulant.

[inDigiNeous]

There's been studies to this, for example [1]

"Dando's previous research had already found that when you chemically block people's ability to taste sweet flavors, it makes them crave more sugar and seek out higher-calorie treats. Based on his collective research, we now know that drinking a caffeinated cup of coffee, which has the same blocking effect, makes people want cookies or cake more than they otherwise would."

Caffeine seems to blocks the adenosine receptors, which makes us feel less sleepy, but these same receptors also play a part in helping us taste sweet flavors. While doing this, it pushes us to find more sweet, sugary tastes. This might be a part of why when drinking coffee especially, which is also pungent and bitter in taste, opposed to sweet, might drive us toward these sugary treats.

Also I feel coffee depletes our energy levels very fast, making us feel more tired when the effect comes down, making hte body want to replenish those energies quickly, and high in sugar ingredients do that fast, with a price though.

It's interesting why tea and mate for example don't have this effect so clearly, maybe it has to do with the bitternes of coffee and the way it is roasted, not sure.

1: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-coffee-an...

[nasredin]

A strong coffee (e.g. via a Moka pot) should send you to the bathroom too.

[BrandoElFollito]

Would you have any sources on that?

I casually looked into that claim in the past and read that coffee is as strong a diuretic as pure water.

[chucky_z]

there's.... i believe there is enough anecdotal evidence to state with a reasonable confidence level that coffee makes you poop.

[m_fayer]

Yeah really no need to study this. There's "anecdotal" and then there's "this happens to 80% of people and we have cute euphemisms for when you excuse yourself" and that to me is as good as the most rigorous of studies. Now uhh, excuse me, back in a sec.

[nasredin]

Hmmm, I smell an IG Nobel prize opportunity for an ambitious grad student who is not afraid to get his hands dirty.

[GordonS]

What? I drink rather a lot of coffee and have never had that effect. I've never heard it from anyone else either. Is there any non-anecdotal evidence for this?

[sjg007]

The caffeine relaxes the intestinal tract..

[dxhdr]

Caffeine is a stimulant. One of the things it stimulates are your colonic muscles which can induce peristalsis.

[throw_away2]

Perhaps they mean as a laxative rather than as a diuretic.

[BrandoElFollito]

Yes, I believe so from the comments.

[ojbyrne]

This is mentioned in the article, 2nd last paragraph.

[pcr0]

That statement was ambiguous, I assumed it was referring to coffee drinks like mochas and lattes instead of additional snacks.

[jasonkostempski]

I'm sure those tea studies have been done, any industry would love to show their product is healthy.

[ezequiel-garzon]

What about sugar-free sodas?