Every time I read or hear about how coffee helps a person stay healthy I silently or not so silently cheer. A Finnish study followed 26,000 men for over 13 years. They were all smokers, but the surprising part was these men had a reduced risk of stroke by drinking two or more cups of coffee each day.
Now I know smoking increases one's risk of stroke, but those two or more cups of coffee cut the risk by over 21% ! Amazing what a little coffee bean can do. Unfortunately the test did not include women or non-smokers so no word (at least officially) if the same results apply to women.
Not the usual grind,
Tip of the mug to A Devv for the use of the photo and to the Economic Times for the heads up.
Filed under coffee by 
If you're flying USAIR you're going to have to pay to drink coffee or other beverages. Starting June 12th for a cup of coffee you're going to have to hand over $1. The airline says it is doing this to offset fuel costs this way. But so far it's the only airline seeking to cover costs. I spend a lot of time flying back and forth to various meetings and it seems the surcharges are becoming more and more numerous.
What are your thoughts?
On another note, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has told the Boy Scouts they can't hand out coffee over Labor Day weekend( for those of you outside the States Labor Day is a 3 day holiday in September where many people travel for holiday before the start of school) at roadstands unless they leave the stands during the early morning hours. 
The Boy Scouts have been offering free coffee to weary drivers for over 25 years. The Scouts accept donations which they in turn donate to charity. The DOT says it is a safety issue. The Scouts have signed waivers of liability but still it's looking like a no go for this Labor Day.
Not the usual grind,
Tip of the mug to Liz Allen for the photo of the Boy Scout, to Kriss Szkurlatowski for the photo of the plane, to Newsday for the heads up on USAIR, and to the Hartford Courant for the heads up on the Boy Scouts
Filed under coffee by
As I've been sorting through my email post-holiday, I came across an interesting coffee study in Science Daily. It seems a researcher in Nashville, Tenn worked with several groups of Alcoholics Anonymous in the city. and came up with some interesting conclusions.
People attending AA smoke more than the usual population and drink coffee more than the usual population. "Individuals attending AA (88.5%) consumed coffee and approximately 33 percent drank more than four cups per day.
The most common self-reported reasons were because of coffee's stimulatory effects: feeling better, better concentration, greater alertness." (Source: Science Daily)
Dr. Peter R. Martin, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, director of the Vanderbilt Addiction Center at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and corresponding author for the study said recent studies are showing drinking coffee is not harmful to health. In some instances coffee reduces the chances of " death from suicide, certain cancers, and other diseases."
Other researchers not participating in the study were not as accepting of the high coffee consumption. Dr.Robert Swift, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University Medical School, says not much is known if coffee makes it easier to quit drinking and stay sober or makes it harder.
Dr. Swift asks if the caffeine and other psychotropic substances found in coffee are the reasons recovering members of AA drink so much coffee.
As this is the first study of its kind involving AA members and groups, it has raised more questions. But at least for the time being, coffee drinking is part of the recovery process at AA meetings.
Not the usual grind,
A tip of the mug for all those attending AA.
Filed under coffee by
