Coffee Helps Workouts!
JustOneMoreMile can be your new mantra if you enjoy JustOneCup before your workout. A recent study suggests that drinking a caffeinated drink may help you stick with your workout a little longer and help ward off fatigue.
This isn’t really news to most of us who already know that a cup of coffee helps keep us going. In fact, it helps with the toughest part of the workout, which is getting out of bed in the first place. But, we’re happy with yet another reason to enjoy another cup of our favorite beverage anyway.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/how-coffee-can-galvanize-your-workout/
How Coffee Can Galvanize Your Workout
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Can a cup of coffee motivate you to relish your trips to the gym this winter? That question is at the heart of a notable study of caffeine and exercise, one of several new experiments suggesting that, whatever your sport, caffeine may allow you to perform better and enjoy yourself more.
Scientists and many athletes have known for years, of course, that a cup of coffee before a workout jolts athletic performance, especially in endurance sports like distance running and cycling. Caffeine has been proven to increase the number of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstream, which enables people to run or pedal longer (since their muscles can absorb and burn that fat for fuel and save the body’s limited stores of carbohydrates until later in the workout). As a result, caffeine, which is legal under International Olympic Committee rules, is the most popular drug in sports. More than two-thirds of about 20,680 Olympic athletes studied for a recent report had caffeine in their urine, with use highest among triathletes, cyclists and rowers.
But whether and how caffeine affects other, less-aerobic activities, like weight training or playing a stop-and-go team sport like soccer or basketball, has been less clear.
So researchers at Coventry University in England recently recruited 13 fit young men and asked them to repeat a standard weight-training gym regimen on several occasions. An hour before one workout, the men consumed a sugar-free energy drink containing caffeine. An hour before another, they drank the same beverage, minus the caffeine. Then the men lifted, pressed and squatted, performing each exercise until they were exhausted.
Exhaustion arrived much later for those who’d had caffeine first. After swallowing the caffeinated beverage, the men completed significantly more repetitions of the exercises than after the placebo. They also reported feeling subjectively less tired during the entire bout and, in perhaps the most interesting finding, said that they were eager to repeat the whole workout again soon.
“Essentially, we found that with the caffeinated drink, the person felt more able to invest effort,” says Michael Duncan, a senior lecturer in sports science at the University of Exeter in England and lead author of the study. “They would put more work into the training session, and when the session was finished, in the presence of the caffeinated drink, they were more psychologically ready to go again.”
How caffeine influences the physiology and psychology of weight trainers isn’t fully understood, Dr. Duncan says. In contrast to endurance sports, an increase in fats in the blood wouldn’t provide much benefit in this kind of exercise.
Instead, Dr. Duncan says, he believes that caffeine “antagonizes adenosine,” a substance in muscles that builds up during exercise and blunts the force of contractions. The more adenosine in a muscle, the less force it generates. Caffeine reduces adenosine levels, “which then enables more forceful muscular contractions and delays fatigue,” Dr. Duncan says. “That’s the theory, anyway,” he adds.
Additional mechanisms may also be at work, other research suggests. For an experiment published last month in The Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers asked a group of volunteers who regularly play team sports to complete a grueling workout designed to simulate the physical exertion of a soccer or basketball game. Such sports commonly involve repeated bouts of intense sprinting, but little prolonged slower running. Most of the effort is anaerobic.
In the test, the volunteers performed about 16 percent better if they had ingested a caffeine capsule 70 minutes beforehand. They also, as it turned out, had far less potassium in the fluid between their muscles afterward. “We believe that potassium buildup is involved” in the kind of fatigue that occurs during anaerobic activities, like team sports and weight training, says one of the study’s authors, Magni Mohr, an exercise physiologist affiliated with both the University of Exeter and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
At the same time, caffeine, while affecting muscles, seems also to have a striking effect on the central nervous system and on those parts of the brain involved in mood, alertness and fine motor coordination during exercise. In a study published last month in The British Journal of Sports Medicine, soccer players dribbled, headed and kicked the ball more accurately if they’d had caffeine than if they hadn’t.
All of which would seem to indicate that a grande Americano is the ideal sports beverage. But, Dr. Mohr cautions, many questions remain. “We don’t know the best dose” of caffeine to provide performance benefits without undesirable side effects, he says, like heightened blood pressure or the jitters. In his study, volunteers consumed the equivalent of more than five large cups of brewed coffee before their workout.
Similarly, it’s not known whether people who swill cappuccinos and green tea all day get the same benefits from dosing themselves just before a workout as people who only occasionally drink caffeine, or whether the hour before a workout is the ideal moment to imbibe. Dr. Mohr suspects “it’s likely that you get more effect” if you’re not habituated to the drug, but he and others are currently studying those and similar issues and expect results soon.
In the meantime, “probably everyone can get some” fatigue-delaying and mood-enhancing benefits from caffeine, Dr. Mohr says — meaning that your gym gear should probably include a travel mug.
Coffee Protects Against Skin Cancer
Yet more good news for those of us who can’t go through a day without the sweet aroma of a fresh cup of coffee. According to a University of Toronto study, caffeinated coffee can help prevent cells damaged by the sun from becoming cancerous. We won’t pretend to know the exact effects on “ataxia telangiectasia” and “Rad3” something, but we’ll happily have another cup of coffee happy to know we are likely decreasing our risk of skin cancer.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20093112-247/worried-about-skin-cancer-try-coffee/
Worried about skin cancer? Try coffee
By: Elizabeth Armstrong Moore AUGUST 16, 2011 1:40 PM PDT
- Full disclosure: I just finished a cup of black coffee, and it was damn fine. (And yes, I make Twin Peaks references wherever possible.)
So it is with vigorous jumping up-and-down motions, aided surely by the caffeine, that I write about a University of Toronto team’s findings that caffeine can help lower one’s chances of UV-associated skin cancer by inhibiting a DNA repair pathway, essentially helping cells die after exposure to sunlight.
Like sex on the beach? New research suggests trying coffee on the beach instead.
The team reports on this "protective effect of caffeinated beverage intake" in the August 15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Studies have already shown a reduced risk of skin cancer in those who drink caffeinated beverages. In 2007, for instance, almost 94,000 women participated in a study that found that those who drank caffeinated coffee daily had a 10 percent lower risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer, while those who drank six or more cups daily had an almost 40 percent reduction in risk.
Studies in mice have found the same link, using either ingested or topically applied caffeine, prompting researchers to wonder if adding caffeine to sun block might help improve the efficacy of that topical treatment.
In this study, the team was able to uncover the mechanism by which caffeine helps lower one’s risk of skin cancer. The caffeine molecule itself is already known to behave as a natural sunscreen, but the stimulant also has an effect on DNA.
Caffeine, it turns out, inhibits the activity of a protein kinase–think of this as a family of enzymes–called ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (more commonly referred to as ATR for obvious reasons). ATR is sensitive to incomplete DNA replication, so when it senses damaged DNA, it sends signals to the damaged cells to stop dividing. This interruption of normal cellular mitosis helps these damaged cells become cancerous.
By inhibiting this ATR activity, caffeine essentially helps cells die from the damage caused by UV exposure. Sounds bad, but as it turns out this preemptive measure is far better than letting those damaged cells become cancerous.
While this particular study was performed on mice, and while the researchers have yet to actually test topical application of caffeine, it is a major step forward in understanding precisely how caffeine is reducing skin cancer rates in mice and humans.
And as biophysicist Douglas Brash of Yale University’s School of Medicine tells The Scientist, understanding the mechanism opens the door for developing other treatments that don’t even need to use caffeine: "Caffeine was an interesting historical way of discovering this mechanism, but now that we know the mechanism…maybe we hunt for some other drug that’s more specific."
Researchers are already testing drugs that target the ATR pathway to treat solid cancers; skin cancer could now be added to the list.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20093112-247/worried-about-skin-cancer-try-coffee/#ixzz1VETTc12M
Life is like a Cup of Coffee
Great video relating coffee to life. Drink up!
http://www.flickspire.com/m/IAAW/LifeIsLikeCoffee
Stabucks Trenta–A Giant Option!
Starbucks is now offering an even larger cup of coffee, in the form of a Trenta at 31 ounces. Although many are quick to point out that Trenta whole milk latte would have 447 calories and 23.2 grams of fat, Starbucks is only offering the Trenta for Iced teas and one iced coffee. Those drinks could contain up to 42 grams of sugar but that pales in comparison to the 122 grams that would be in a Trenta hazlenut mocha (along with 929 calories and 24 grams of fat)!
So, hopefully Starbucks sticks with the limited options available in the Trenta. But, something tells me the entire line will eventually go Trenta. Along with some waistlines.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12249363
The Starbucks Trenta question: How much coffee is OK?
Starbucks is launching a huge new measure for its coffee shops. The Trenta will contain 916ml of iced coffee but is it bad for you to drink that much in a sitting?
In a nation fighting obesity, the arrival of a giant new cup in the outlets of the US coffee shop giant Starbucks might leave some people scratching their heads.
The 31-US fluid ounce (916ml) Trenta dwarfs their previous largest measure – the Venti cup at a paltry 20 US fluid ounces (591ml).
Scaling up a 591ml coffee to a 916ml coffee, you soon see there might be health implications.
Taking a Starbucks Venti whole milk caffe latte and making it a Trenta, you would be left with a drink that contained 447 calories, including 23.2g of fat with 13.3g of that saturated fat.
You also end up with an alarming-sounding proposition if you scale up an iced hazelnut mocha made with semi-skimmed milk and whipped cream (from Starbucks’ UK offering). As a Trenta this would add up to 929.2 calories, 24.3g of saturated fat, and 122g of sugar.
THE ANSWER
- Starbucks is only offering the Trenta measure for iced coffee and two type of iced tea
- The iced coffee will have only 195mg of caffeine but 42g of sugar
"Consuming nearly half your RDA for calories in one sitting would not make it easy for consumers to follow healthy eating guidelines," says Emma Williams, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation.
But these drinks remain fictional, because Starbucks says it is only using the new measure for a very limited range of drinks – two types of iced tea and plain iced coffee. There will also be a significant proportion of ice in the drinks.
For its Trenta iced coffee, Starbucks advertises total fat of 4.5g, of which 2.5g and a mere 230 calories is saturated. The sugar clocks in at 42g and the caffeine content is 195mg, equivalent to 2.6 of the firm’s espresso measures.
Only the sugar content might cause concern, with Williams suggesting an RDA of 90g a day for women and 120g a day for men. The Starbucks Trenta iced tea lemonade contains considerably more sugar with 59g.
As far as the caffeine goes, two Trenta iced coffee cups a day would be fine as 400mg of caffeine a day is widely considered safe.
A part of BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer questions behind the headlines
"If somebody only drinks one or two cups of coffee throughout the day and spaces them out with water they should be fine," says Dr Sarah Schenker, a registered dietician.
"But as adults we don’t get enough calcium so if coffee is the way we can up our calcium intake then that is the way to do it."
She admits the new 916ml Starbucks Trenta would go through a drinker very quickly. But the 195mg of caffeine within the drink would not have a huge effect on a person who drinks coffee regularly.
"The safest intake of caffeine through the course of the day is about 400mg. The average mug of instant coffee is around 80-90mg."
She admits that coffee can have its positives as it is a rich source of antioxidants, but pregnant women should not consume more than 200mg of caffeine a day.
And of course for most people, the problems with a 916ml iced coffee will be purely logistical – where do you put it and how quickly can you drink it?
GMCR to discontinue some flavors
Here is Green Mountain’s list of discontinued items. Yes, it is a sad day for many of us. The official discontinue date is January 1, 2011, but production is stopping sooner, so if some of your favorites are on here, order up as they will likely run out prior to January! We’ll try to get some extras of your favorites, so let us know if there’s something you want.
Our next JJ Sampler pack will be made up of some of the “Suggested Replacements,” so everyone can try out some new flavors. We will have a new “sampler selection” vote soon – stay tuned!
New Paper KCup being tested
Green Mountain is testing a new paper KCup with a Celestial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea. Honey, Lemon, Ginseng in a green tea is interesting enough, but a paper Kcup is pretty exciting. As a very environmentally conscious company, Green Mountain has been working for years on ways to minimize the environmental impact of Kcups, so it’s great to see them making progress. Once we get our hands on some, we’ll give our report.
WATERBURY, Vt., Sep 22, 2010 (BUS INESS WIRE) — Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR 35.87, -1.13, -3.05%) is pleased to announce it will package and distribute a new green tea in a K-Cup(R) portion pack made with paper.
Celestial Seasonings(R) Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea is the first beverage to be offered in the new paper-based K-Cup, which is designed for use in the Keurig(R) Single-Cup Brewing System. The K-Cup contains authentic green tea and delicate Bai Mu Dan white tea — one of the rarest and youngest of teas — creating a smooth, balanced cup with a pleasantly mild flavor.
"As part of our overall commitment to corporate social responsibility, we are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact by cutting our energy consumption, advancing our product packaging, and pursuing many other initiatives," said Paul Comey, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for GMCR. "We believe K-Cups made with renewable resources like paper represent a positive step as we continue to search for more sustainable alternatives to our current portion pack technology."
"Our analysis suggests that K-Cups made with paper have a smaller environmental impact than K-Cups made with plastic because they reduce the use of non-renewable materials," said Comey. "But we’re not stopping here. Our research has indicated additional areas of opportunity to reduce our environmental impact. We are collaborating with our packaging suppliers on more significant improvements to our portion pack materials, and we look forward to sharing our progress."
K-Cup portion packs contain the exact amount of coffee or tea to create a perfect, single cup. The construction of plastic K-Cups(R) protects coffee from the effects of light, air, and moisture. This new paper-based K-Cup is not currently a viable solution for coffee because the technology does not provide a sufficient barrier to ensure product freshness. Tea can be effectively protected by paper that is lined with polyethylene. While this layer prevents the paper-based K-Cup from being recyclable, it helps to maintain the freshness of the tea and allows the paper to withstand the water, heat, and pressure of the brewing process.
Celestial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea is available online atwww.GreenMountainCoffee.com and www.Keurig.com. A box of 24 K-Cups currently sells for $13.95.
About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR 35.87, -1.13, -3.05%)
As a leader in the specialty coffee industry, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. is recognized for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology, and socially responsible business practices. GMCR’s operations are managed through two business units. The Specialty Coffee business unit produces coffee, tea and hot cocoa from its family of brands, including Tully’s Coffee(R), Green Mountain Coffee(R), Newman’s Own(R) Organics coffee, Timothy’s World Coffee(R) and Diedrich, Coffee People and Gloria Jeans(R), a trademark licensed to the Company for use in North America and owned by Gloria Jeans Coffees International Pty. Ltd. The Keurig business unit is a pioneer and leading manufacturer of gourmet single-cup brewing systems. K-Cup(R) portion packs for Keurig(R) Single-Cup Brewers are produced by a variety of roasters, including Green Mountain Coffee, Tully’s, Timothy’s and Diedrich. GMCR supports local and global communities by offsetting 100% of its direct greenhouse gas emissions, investing in Fair Trade Certified(TM) coffee, and donating at least five percent of its pre-tax profits to social and environmental projects. Visit www.gmcr.com for more information.
GMCR routinely posts information that may be of importance to investors in the Investor Relations section of its website, including news releases and its complete financial statements, as filed with the SEC. The Company encourages investors to consult this section of its website regularly for important information and news. Additionally, by subscribing to the Company’s email alerts, individuals can receive news directly from GMCR as it is released.
Celestial Seasonings(R) is a registered trademark of Celestial Seasonings, Inc.
GMCR-S
GMCR Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical fact and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable securities laws and regulations. Generally, these statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "feel," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "should," "would," and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Owing to the uncertainties inherent in forward-looking statements, actual results could differ materially from those stated here. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impact on sales and profitability of consumer sentiment in this difficult economic environment, the Company’s success in efficiently expanding operations and capacity to meet growth, the Company’s success in efficiently and effectively integrating Tully’s, Timothy’s, Diedrich’s and Van Houtte’s wholesale operations and capacity into its Specialty Coffee business unit, the Company’s success in introducing and producing new product offerings, the ability of lenders to honor their commitments under the Company’s credit facility, competition and other business conditions in the coffee industry and food industry in general, fluctuations in availability and cost of high-quality green coffee, any other increases in costs including fuel, Keurig’s ability to continue to grow and build profits with its roaster partners in the At Home and Away from Home businesses, the Company experiencing product liability, product recall and higher than anticipated rates of warranty expense or sales returns associated with a product quality or safety issue, the impact of the loss of major customers for the Company or reduction in the volume of purchases by major customers, delays in the timing of adding new locations with existing customers, the Company’s level of success in continuing to attract new customers, sales mix variances, weather and special or unusual events, as well as other risks described more fully in the Company’s filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s analysis as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake to revise these statements to reflect subsequent developments, other than in its regular, quarterly earnings releases.
One Cup of Coffee Can Help Arteries
Here’s good news from the “land of longevity,” the Greek Island of Ikaria where one third of the residents are over 90 years old. It appears that drinking only one to two cups of coffee per day could keep arteries flexible which reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Since many previous studies on the health benefits of coffee look at those who drink four to seven cups per day, it’s great to see some benefits for the more moderate coffee drinker!
http://sify.com/news/a-cup-of-coffee-keeps-your-arteries-supple-healthy-news-health-kjblOejajbf.html
A cup of coffee keeps your arteries supple, healthy
2010-09-01 11:50:00
Last Updated: 2010-09-02 16:27:35
Just a cup of coffee a day could keep your arteries healthy, supple and ward off heart disease, says a new study.
Researchers investigated regular coffee drinking to see if it helps people live longer. They looked at 485 people with high blood pressure (BP) or hypertension.
They were aged between 65 and 100 years, inhabiting the Greek island of Ikaria, known as the ‘land of longevity’. A third of its residents are 90 years old.
Hypertension stiffens arteries and reduces elasticity, increasing the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, the study said.
Study leader Christina Chrysohoou from the University of Athens found that 56 percent of people, who were moderate coffee drinkers, consuming between one and two cups a day, had the best arterial health, with their blood vessels having the elasticity of younger people.
These findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Stockholm, Sweden.
Coffee Prices Continue to Rise
Just a bit of forewarning – coffee prices are continuing their ascent. Arabica coffee , which is higher quality coffee used by most specialty coffee retailers, has already gone up 52 percent over last year and prices continue to soar. With the cost of green beans, the unroasted beans that are shipped to roasters to be cooked and packaged into your favorite coffee, rising you should expect to see an increase in the cost of your morning cup, or afternoon latte, if you haven’t already.
Coffee Advances on Colombia Supply Concern; Sugar, Cocoa Fall
September 02, 2010, 10:40 AM EDT
By Alistair Holloway and Debarati Roy
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — Arabica coffee rose to the highest price in more than a week as exportable supplies tighten in Colombia, the world’s second-biggest producer. Sugar and cocoa declined.
Colombia’s 2011 coffee harvest may slide after wet weather caused the worst outbreak this year of a plant-damaging fungus in a quarter century, robbing plants of nutrients, according to Jose Sierra, who represents Antioquia, the nation’s largest coffee-growing province. Before today, coffee futures jumped 34 percent since June 1 as prospects for the crop dimmed.
“People are worried about the weather conditions,” said Rodrigo Costa, the vice president of institutional sales at Newedge USA LLC in New York. “Also, the short-term fundamentals are bullish.”
Arabica coffee for December delivery gained 3.75 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $1.861 a pound at 10:25 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $1.8665, the highest level for a most-active contract since Aug. 23. Before today, prices jumped 52 percent from a year earlier as global production lagged behind demand.
In London, robusta coffee for November delivery declined $6, or 0.4 percent, to $1,641 a metric ton.
Arabica coffee is grown mainly in Latin America and favored for specialty beverages such as those made by Starbucks Corp. The beans are milder than robusta, which is used in instant coffee and espresso and cultivated mostly in Asia and parts of Africa.
Sugar, Cocoa
Raw sugar for October delivery fell 0.07 cent, or 0.3 percent, to 20.42 cents a pound on ICE. Earlier, the most-active contract had declined as much as 1.1 percent and rose as much as 0.3 percent.
On NYSE Liffe in London, white sugar for October delivery slipped 90 cents to $580 a ton.
Cocoa for December delivery fell $15, or 0.5 percent, to $2,737 a ton on ICE. In London, cocoa for September delivery was up 0.3 percent at 1,932 pounds ($2,969) a ton.
Lavazza purchases piece of Green Mountain
After gobbling up roasters, now they are selling a slice of Green Mountain to the Italian espresso company Lavazza. Lavazza already has a single serve espresso machine, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with together.
Lavazza pursues stake in Green Mountain Coffee
By EMILY FREDRIX (AP) – 1 hour ago
NEW YORK — For an extra jolt to its finances, Green Mountain Coffee Rosters Inc. is selling a 7 percent stake to Lavazza, Italy’s best-selling espresso brand, for $250 million.
Together, the companies plan to develop new single-serving espresso machines and espresso capsules that will complement Green Mountain’s popular Keurig coffee makers, which brew single cups of tea or coffee.
The deal is expected to close in September and advances both company’s strategies, they said late Tuesday.
Green Mountain wants to expand its successful single-serve K-Cup lines, and Lavazza has been buying companies in India, Brazil and Argentina to fuel its growth. This is Lavazza’s biggest foreign acquisition.
Lavazza, based in Turin, has agreed to buy newly issued shares at 10 cents par value common stock at a price equal to the 60-day volume weighted average price at closing, less 7.5 percent. The deal includes the possibility of buying additional shares up to 15 percent of Green Mountain.
The deal must be approved by U.S. antitrust regulators.
The companies’ new single-serve products aren’t expected to reach the market until at least 2013.
The Keurig system’s success has been fueling growth for Green Mountain, which is based in Waterbury, Vt.
As shoppers cut spending at cafes during the recession, the systems presented a less-expensive alternative. Rival Starbucks Corp. jumped into the market in September with its Via instant coffee line.
Last month Keurig said its third-quarter revenue rose 64 percent to $311.5 million, thanks largely to rising sales of Keurig machines and accessories, which accounted for about half of the company’s revenue. It expects shipments for K-Cup packs to rise as much as 76 percent this fiscal year.
Green Mountain’s $300 million acquisition of Diedrich Coffee Inc. — one of four roasters licensed to produce K-Cups — closed in May.
The Lavazza investment will let Green Mountain make more purchases, Janney Capital Markets analyst Mitchell Pinheiro told clients in a note Wednesday. It also brings Lavazza’s brand value and expertise to Keurig products and could help with launching Keurig in Europe, he said.
He reiterated his "Buy" rating on the stock and $40 price target.
Shares of Green Mountain fell 47 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close at $30.99 Wednesday.
