Coffee Clean Up, or Drink Up?
Not in the exam room
This is from the script I am writing for our LongevityPlaybook.com coaching program…Rachel is our Ai nurse… the questions are real —from a patient or on-line column , blog or podcast subscriber
Question: Food Questions Q 20,016]
[Question Q 20,016]: My wife says I should clean up the stuff in the overflow of the Keurig coffee maker as soon as the overflow into the collection bin occurs—has spilled hot coffee every caused an infection—after all it has just been made with boiling water?
[Ans Q 20,016--Rachel]: Love this question as it gets at an issue that gnaws at me, Dr Roizen so I am asking Rachel to give you the answer as if directly from me …and we’ll finish the answer by telling you all the good things that drinking –not spilling or overflow coffee—can do for you. I know some of this may sound repetitive but so many new subscribes and I’ve been busy writing script like this for our Ai longevity coaching system I apologize and will release a new blog every Thursday afternoon as before.
Why does this question and the pursuit of the answer gnaw at me? Because they ban me drinking black coffee in the exam rooms at the Cleveland Clinic. Do they fear spills—no it is not just the coffee –they ban all food and drink, and apparently cannot separate out coffee tea or water in a tight mug from food or sugared drinks as they fear infections. It is a rule promoted by the Joint Commission—the regulatoe and the FBI for health systems (Yes I coauthored a book with the Joint Commission on patient safety, and would have had even more fun with this #2 NY Times bestseller—we had cartoons—if I had known of this rule at the time).
I drink coffee as a pause when a patient is saying something to me I need to think about and think how it fits into their story---I have a scribe so I fully focus on the patient, but I use to coffee break to help me think—I think drinking the black just prepared coffee is a lot less risky to me than chewing on a pen (my alternative). And it is in a sealed mug (Contago) so even a spill is unlikely
So the question, has fresh brewed black coffee in a sealed mug ever resulted in a burn, an infection, or a gateway to food in an exam room that caused an infection? No, not one article or anecdotal report of even one episode described in the world’s medical liturature that I could find—not one!!! And yet they hinder me from doing my best for my patients with this rule—and probably hurt my teeth due to this rule and my use of chewing a pen instead of sipping form the Contago mug. Okay Dr Oz get rid of that regulation please.
Now why do I think of freshly brewed black coffee as a great longevity promoting food: let me tell you of the benefits by comparing it to an apple:
The old adage says, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. But what if I told you four cups of black coffee a day (maybe tea too) keeps the doctor away for much longer and you stay much younger –at least 4 years versus less than half a year for the apple, bith when consumed daily. Not your beloved caramel macchiato or vanilla latte from Starbucks, but rather 4 classic cups of filtered black coffee. Four cups of Joe.
Coffee is the wake-up juice as caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors (one receptor type that helps you sleep ) within your brain. But black coffee has so many other healthful benefits other than its anti-snoozing properties.
According to a new analysis of data in a study by BMC Public Health folks who don’t drink any coffee and who sit for six hours or more hours a day are 58% more likely to die in the next decade compared to folks who also sit for six or more hours a day BUT drink coffee! (https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-18515-9).
So, take more chugs of coffee! I’ll keep trying to do so too (they may ban me from exam rooms at the clinic—only kidding—I actually obey the rules and chew pens instead).
Another review published in Johns Hopkins Medicine reported data indicating that having two or three 8 ounce servings of black coffee a day can increase life expectancy by more than 4 years (and decrease disability time by about 6 years) by reducing risk of heart failure, liver disease, strokes, Alzheimer’s, colon cancer, and Parkinson’s.
If you want to begin drinking coffee regularly for its anti-aging benefits, you must check on a few things. It must be black coffee, possibly with just a hint of leaf stevia or no sugar added nut milk. But do not go overboard! The coffee should be brewed through a paper filter because unfiltered coffee can increase your LDL cholesterol levels (yes Keurig has a paper filter in its pods).
Be wary of other beverages that claim to give you the same spirit boosting benefits that coffee does. Yes, I’m talking about those energy drinks. These drinks, like Monster and Red Bull, have more caffeine along with some things that increase clotting and do not have coffee’s polyphenols so are probably not as beneficial to your cardiovascular and neurological health. Some of the ingredients cause acute organ inflammation, cardiac arrythmias, and in rare cases, autoimmune diseases (doi: 10.3390/nu15183922).
Does tea reduce the risk of dementia also?
An observational study published in PLOS Medicine examined 365,000 older adults in the United Kingdom over an 11-year period. They found that the individuals who drank two to three cups of tea or coffee had a reduced their risk of dementia by 28% and risk of stroke by 32%. The property that both coffee and tea have in common is similar polyphenols-- micronutrients that are traditionally found in plants, fruits, vegetables, and spices. These nutrients can help reduce inflammation, improve digestion, boost brain health. Also, tea is known to decrease levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein, “bad” cholesterol). A study done in Tangshan, China monitored 80,000 regular tea drinkers over 6 years. They concluded that the individuals “had a slower age-related decrease in HDL levels (high-density lipoprotein, “good” cholesterol that in some people takes LDL from arteries to the liver)”. Thus, they experienced an 8% decrease in risk for cardiovascular disease.
However, there were some drawbacks to this study. Coffee intake was self-reported and did not include the quantity of cups consumed. Also, the overall diet in terms of consumption of fruits, vegetables, and meat was not considered.
Your choices make a big difference! You are a genetic engineer –your choices including coffee or not turn on or off the vast majority of your genes. So, choose your morning beverage like all other food and even the person you spent the night with (if you did)—you’ve got to love that beverage or food (or person), but that beverage or food (or person)should love you back.
Whichever morning time beverage you choose just remember that you are doing more than just having that apple to keep the doctor away. And remember when I run out of the exam room, it it to get younger with freshly brewed black coffee.
So to be direct—it is always good to clean up any spills, but I cannot find any instance where freshly brewed black coffee in a mug or even in a little spill on the counter or into the overflow collector on the machine caused an infection.
Thanks for reading…
Mike Roizen MD
PS by the way, we are still teaching a great Longevity Cooking, adventure course in Lecce, Italy near the Adriatic Coast in late October: it was incredible fun the last two years –there are still a few places available so do not delay signing up---
https://awaitingtable.com/cookery-courses-italy/long-courses/how-to-eat-and-drink/
here is a link to the video from last year: