38 Cancer and Coffee.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
38 Cancer and Coffee.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Speaker1:
Hi and welcome to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I am your host and guide, Dr. Jonathan Stegall. Cancer is like a thief who has come to steal, kill and destroy. I have personally seen it wreak havoc on patients, friends and even my own family. But I am on a mission to change the cancer paradigm. Who? The practice of integrative oncology cancer treatment that integrates the best of conventional medicine with the best of alternative therapies backed by science and personalized to each patient. You need a positive voice you can trust. This podcast will share valuable information to give you practical hope for a better outcome. So I invite you to join me on this journey as we seek to change the cancer paradigm together.
Speaker2:
Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I'm your host, Doctor Jonathan Seagal. This is season three and episode number 38. In today's episode, we'll be discussing coffee. Is it good? Is it bad? Should you be drinking coffee if you have cancer? I receive a lot of questions about coffee. So today we are going to dive into it. As always, we encourage you to listen with a loved one or friend. Learning and enjoying the show with a community will be more impactful than doing so alone. Today's show is going to be a great one as we explore the often debated topic of coffee. There's a lot of confusion when it comes to coffee from our general health perspective. Some people say it's bad for you. Some say it's good for you, and others say it's neutral. We know that millions of people start their day with a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the scientific community has conducted studies on coffee and its health effects. Most of us know that coffee boosts energy and improves brain function. You might even be aware that coffee improves heart health and reduces diabetes risk. There are even studies suggesting that it prevents Alzheimer's. But what about cancer when it comes to cancer? There are literally thousands of studies which have evaluated the relationship between coffee and cancer. When we look at the research on humans, we see that coffee has been shown to reduce the risk of developing several types of cancer, including liver, prostate, colon and endometrial.
Speaker2:
There's also evidence in human studies that coffee reduces the risk of mouth, pharynx and larynx cancer as well as certain types of skin cancer. There are several theories as to how coffee reduces cancer risk. One theory is that coffee contains powerful antioxidants. Human studies have shown that DNA damage and inflammation were both decreased after measuring coffee consumption for several weeks. Another theory is that coffee improves insulin sensitivity, meaning that the body's healthy cells are more readily able to take up insulin and thus glucose more easily. This means that there is less sugar and insulin floating around in the blood, which is certainly a good thing. It's important to make sure that insulin gets into the cells rather than remains in the bloodstream, since insulin in the bloodstream promotes growth of cancer elsewhere in the body. This is why type two diabetics who tend to have higher insulin levels in the body as a result of their insulin resistance, have higher rates of cancer. Yet another theory as to how coffee protects against cancer involves its ability to increase a protein known as sex hormone binding globulin. Abbreviated Fbg. Hpg is present in the body and serves to bind excess hormones, including estrogen and testosterone, so that they are not as readily used by the body.
Speaker2:
By increasing HPG, the excess hormone burden is decreased and their risk of hormone driven cancers such as breast, ovarian and prostate are also decreased. So what about decaffeinated coffee? Does it have the same anti-cancer benefits? Interestingly, despite its lower caffeine and phenolic acid content, decaf coffee still contains the same protective phytochemicals as caffeinated coffee. Most studies involving human test subjects show that the reduction in cancer risk in coffee drinkers is similar, whether drinking regular or decaf. The studies on coffee involved as little as one or two cups per day, up to as many as five or six cups per day. This is obviously a wide range. Assuming you are a regular caffeinated coffee drinker, it's important to be aware of your daily caffeine load. Each cup of coffee has between 80 and 100 milligrams of caffeine. The Mayo Clinic recommends limiting caffeine consumption to no more than 400 milligrams per day, and most other organizations agree with this recommendation. So if you're drinking more than four cups of coffee per day, you're exceeding this amount. As we know, some people are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than others. Some tolerate it well, while others feel the effects of even small amounts of caffeine. If you experience caffeine side effects such as headaches or heart palpitations, I strongly encourage you to moderate your coffee consumption to reduce your caffeine intake to a better tolerated level.
Speaker2:
Now, it's also important that we talk about acrylamide. Acrylamide is a chemical which is created when coffee beans are roasted. There have been lab studies suggesting that acrylamide is a carcinogen, meaning that it can cause cancer. These studies were performed on lab animals who were given very large amounts of acrylamide. The United States federal government classifies acrylamide as a carcinogen when it is an occupational exposure, but not when it's in food. I'm not aware of any research which should cause you any alarm regarding acrylamide in your coffee, which is consistent with the fact that coffee consumption reduces the risk of developing many types of cancer. If acrylamide in coffee were harmful, we would expect to see more cancer in coffee drinkers, not less. Still, I want to share some tips on how you can reduce your acrylamide levels in your coffee. The first is to choose dark roast over light roast coffee. It seems that acrylamide forms early on in the roasting process but is broken down later in the roasting process. Now keep in mind that the amount of acrylamide in coffee is extremely small compared to many foods. For example, coffee has 5 to 10 parts per billion of acrylamide. In comparison, a piece of room temperature bread has 40 parts per billion of acrylamide, while toasted bread has 200 parts per billion.
Speaker2:
A serving of French fries has approximately 400 parts per billion of acrylamide and varieties of potato chips have between 2004 thousand parts per billion of acrylamide. So we know that coffee is good for us in terms of overall health as well as in terms of having an anticancer effect. How should you enjoy your coffee? You might ask. I highly recommend organic coffee, meaning that it is grown without using any synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and without the use of any genetically modified organisms. Eliminating these toxic residues is very important. I also recommend drinking your coffee black if possible. If you can't drink your coffee black. A small amount of non-dairy creamer, such as almond milk or soy milk, should be fine. If you require sweetener, please avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame. These artificial sweeteners tend to sneak their way into various flavored creamers and serve no beneficial purpose in the body. Finally, my last piece of advice when it comes to coffee, don't forget that coffee is a diuretic. It increases urination and also acts as a laxative. If you're drinking coffee throughout the day, you are losing water. To prevent dehydration, please be sure to drink plenty of water. As I've mentioned in previous episodes, my recommendation is to shoot for at least half of your body weight in ounces.
Speaker2:
So if you weigh £200. Shoot for about 100 ounces of water at minimum per day. In conclusion, coffee is good for you. Drink organic coffee whenever possible. Be mindful of the caffeine content as well as the dehydrating effect of coffee, but enjoy it without guilt. If you have cancer or if you're wanting to prevent cancer, you do not need to stay away from coffee. I encourage all of my patients to drink coffee. Even one or two cups a day is fine. You don't have to drink five or six cups a day as we as we've seen in the research. So enjoy your coffee. Have a cup or two or even three if you tolerate it and enjoy it. I hope you found this information today to be helpful. As always, I encourage you to subscribe to the Cancer Secrets podcast to be notified when new episodes are released. If you're enjoying these podcasts, please take a minute to provide a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Finally, please share this podcast with your family and friends. All previous episodes are available for free on our website. Cancer Secrets, CNN.com. We have more great episodes coming your way, including some excellent interviews you won't want to miss. I look forward to next time. Bye bye.
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