Comments on: New study suggests coffee is not dehydrating after all

By: Rita

Rita — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 12:58:30 +0000

Dr. Briffa, I know you don’t usually comment on readers’ comments unless there’s a controversy to which you must respond. Therefore, this is in the form of a question about coffee that I hope you will address in some way at some point.

I too love my coffee and find it a delightful way to start the day. I drink just one cup, because I’m so sensitive to caffeine. I don’t notice that it does me any harm and I feel it does me some good, at the very least in terms of pleasure. Still, I often read in articles about diet and health that one must eliminate coffee in order to correct numerous diseases and conditions, as if there were something inherently unhealthy about coffee.

What’s the real deal here, Doctor?

By: Margo

Margo — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 15:34:49 +0000

We buy 50-50 coffee, half decaffeinated, often known as New York Blend. We like the taste, and don’t worry about too much caffeine.

By: Sallie

Sallie — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 13:43:46 +0000

I find instant coffee a bit more digestable, especially in the morning, than the usual brew.. A friend that is very health- conscious says instant coffee is very bad. is it?

By: Cee WB

Cee WB — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 07:44:31 +0000

I too was a coffeeholic, I got through 6 or so coffees a day but about two weeks I dropped it down to 1 to 2 a day and feel so much better, I was feeling bloated and fatigued and thought I’d just see if the coffee was simply too much after a pretty long life (pretty aged now) and it’s been an amazing result. I feel so much better now.

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 00:21:10 +0000

I thought healthy urine should be almost colourless; the darker yellow the more dehydrated one is?
I drink 3-4 espressos a day and feel I couldn’t live without it. However, I use a Nespresso machine & worry that the aluminium in the coffee pod lids will give me Alzheimer’s. Any helpful thoughts on that would be most welcome.

By: William L. Wilson, M.D.

William L. Wilson, M.D. — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 21:30:45 +0000

John–A minor correction. You state: “I am pretty good about drinking water, and usually will drink enough to ensure that my urine remains yellow throughout the course of the day.” I suspect that the more water you drink, the less yellow your urine will be.

I too am a coffeholic. Since my college cramming days I have consumed at least 8-10 cups of coffee a day will no obvious ill effects. Caffeine is a brain-enhancing substance and with me 12 hour work days I need all the enhancement I can get!

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 15:01:00 +0000

I also tend to drink a lot of coffee throughout the day. I enjoy the taste and the effects of the caffeine.

I seem to be very good at conserving fluid; I drink relatively little (other than coffee!), and tend to have fairly concentrated urine. But my body seems to function well like this; I very rarely get headaches, and if I am made to feel guilty by some colleague or magazine article about my low water intake and drink just a few extra glasses of water throughout the day, all that happens is I very quickly need to go to the loo, and I pass very dilute urine! I can’t help but feel that this extra fluid has done nothing for me; if I was constantly dehydrated, surely my body would just relish the extra fluid and put it to good use?

I seem to remember Dr Davis at Heartscanblog saying something about people with a particular phenotype; “the perfect carnivore” – Lp(a) gene carriers. They respond well to high fat, low carbohydrate diets, they have efficient metabolisms and so quickly put on weight with even moderate carbohydrate intake, but tolerate prolonged fasts and low water intake extremely well.

These people also tend to be above average intelligence… well, it’s not for me to say!

By: bill

bill — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 19:50:43 +0000

Dr Briffa:

Your readers come from all around the world. Surely some of them would be interested in our nutrition conference here in San Luis Obispo, California on March 1st, 2014.

Here’s the link to the conference information:

We are having some excellent presenters:

Eric Westman, MD
Jay Wortman, MD
Steve Phinney, MD, PhD
Jeff Volek, PhD, RD
Lynne Daniel Ivey

We hope many of your readers are interested. Thanks.

By: Arthur Taylor

Arthur Taylor — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 16:00:25 +0000

Hmm! – nobody else here like coffee then? Although I’ve never been too bothered by it’s bad press amongst health fanatics, it’s nice to have it exonerated on this property. Slightly OT, my elderly stomach doesn’t like alcohol so I drink very little of it nowadays and don’t get too upset about it, but I’d be seriously bothered if I couldn’t have my morning coffee binge!

By: New study suggests coffee is not dehydrating after all « wchildblog

New study suggests coffee is not dehydrating after all « wchildblog — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 12:30:31 +0000

[…] Dr John Briffa on 17 January […]