
Coffee fruit drinks are weird and fruity
Starbucks fruit drinks (fruits) can look strange and fruities, but according to a new study, they’re not.
The researchers, from the University of Washington, tested six different varieties of coffee fruit drinks.
They also found that the drinks contain some chemicals that are more common in coffee than fruit.
“These findings show that coffee is a good choice for a variety of food and drink choices, but that coffee beverages may have an interesting and potentially harmful effect on humans,” said the study’s senior author and UW associate professor of food science, Michael W. McLean.
“Our results show that drinking coffee is associated with health risks such as cancer, hypertension, and heart disease, and they suggest that the risks for coffee consumption should be weighed against the benefits.
These findings underscore the need for better monitoring of the potential health effects of coffee consumption and recommendations for beverage labeling.”
The researchers tested the drinks on lab mice.
In a series of experiments, they exposed mice to different amounts of the beverages and found that coffee drinkers had lower blood levels of several proteins in the liver and liver fat.
The protein was called acetyl-CoA dehydrogenase.
“We also found higher levels of a molecule called pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, which promotes inflammation in the body,” McLean said.
The study is the first to look at coffee drinks as possible health hazards.
McLean and his team were able to find that coffee drinking increased the risk of developing liver cancer, as well as a variety other diseases including diabetes and hypertension.
But the coffee drinkers also had lower levels of inflammatory cytokines.
“What we found was that the coffee drinking led to higher levels (of inflammatory cytokine) IL-2 and IL-6,” Mclean said.
“These are molecules that have been linked to inflammation in humans.”
“These molecules are very active in inflammation and in the immune system, so they are an indicator of how the body is doing, so it was quite surprising,” he added.
The researchers suggest that these inflammatory molecules may have other health benefits as well.
“They could help our bodies repair itself,” Mc Lean said.
“When we see that inflammation is reduced in the blood, that could be a very positive thing.
We know that the inflammatory molecules we get from drinking coffee are actually doing a lot of good for our body.”
Researchers are still analyzing the results of the study to determine if there are other health effects, but the researchers believe that coffee could be an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
“This study is interesting and important because it indicates that there may be some interesting health benefits of coffee, but we need to understand the potential benefits of these effects in order to make healthy coffee choices,” McLeod said.