The purpose of this blog is not to bash coffee drinkers, rather its to talk about the ethics of coffee in America. As a coffee drinker myself and enjoy my morning cup of coffee. I am however, an observer of ethical and unethical behavior.
Lately, whenever I log onto the home page of my internet provider, I invariably see some form of advertising (in the form of a story) for a coffee company – usually Starbucks and medical articles, written in lay language, extolling coffee’s virtues. This occurs with a more than casual frequency and association.
Given all of the foods and beverages, supplements and treatments, why coffee and why so often? Why not rutabaga’s or Vitamin B12; fish sticks or lemons?
On top of that observation, our internet provider that carries all those coffee company articles has an association with MSNBC and virtually all of the articles are written by NBC News. Now there’s an interesting coincidence.
So today I saw yet another NBC article extolling the virtues of coffee and how scientists have just proven that drinking a cup of coffee will not give you heart palpitations and that coffee can actually be good for your heart. The piece cited some pretty exciting medical research on the topic and I’m thinking “Wow, those doctors must really love coffee to write about it so much!” What I didn’t see was a link to the primary research. What I did see, was a link to an earlier article. I did a little checking so here’s where the ethics of coffee begin to surface.
The back story
We need to go back about three months ago, November 16, 2015 to another NBC Nightly News article entitled: “Study Finds More Evidence Coffee Can Be a Life-Saver – Study: Drinking coffee could lengthen your life.”
You’ve got to admit that the piece (by Maggie Fox), is pretty heady stuff. Even if you hate coffee, it is tempting to hold your nose and gulp down a cup or two every day just so you can live to be 110. From the article:
Bottom of Form“Researchers have found even more evidence that coffee can be good for you. People who drink regular, moderate amounts of coffee are less likely to die from a range of diseases, from diabetes to heart disease.”
However, the devil is always in those darn details. The first thing I noticed is that this back article also lacks a link to the original research. Even if you are not a scientist, original research can tell us many interesting things; for example, who sponsored the research? Teams of scientists, physicians or graduate students are not going to work for free. Where did the money come from?
The person who led the study is quoted as follows:
“The main message is that regular consumption, meaning three to five cups of coffee a day, is associated with lower risk in total mortality and mortality from several causes like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and suicide.”
Pretty impressive stuff, but stuck below that quote Dr. Hu continued (my italics):
“In previous studies on that issue, most of the coffee was caffeinated coffee. In our study, both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee showed a lower mortality risk but there is no final conclusion yet.” Just asking, but if there is no final conclusion why say that drinking coffee – regular or decaf – could lengthen your life? Doesn’t that seem that there is a challenge with the ethics of coffee or at least coffee advertisements?
The subjects
Did they test this coffee theory on coffee shop customers? No, they didn’t. As it turns out, the study was conducted over a 20 year period of 200,000 doctors and nurses. It was a statistical survey done on arguably the healthiest segment of our population.
Physicians and nurses generally eat better, have access to better medical care and engage in a healthier lifestyle than those of us who struggle to pay medical bills, work two jobs, scrap to buy groceries and have stressors such as paying the mortgage or even taking their kids to a ballgame. The researcher states (the italics are again mine):
“We are not advocating coffee as a strategy for prevention of the chronic diseases because coffee drinking is individual behavior and there are other factors in the diet that have a bigger effect. People should also be aware of the amount of added sugar to coffee drinks which can become a problem (there go your caramel and chocolate drinks)…The main message is that people who enjoy drinking coffee should not worry about it being harmful for their health.”
While I would agree it is good news, rather than bad (as if bad news would be released!), understand that the research and the release of the information was tailored to the commercial aspects of coffee consumption.
I am glad that drinking my cup of coffee won’t hurt me, but ethically we need to always be aware of where these studies are coming from, how they are conducted and most importantly, who gains from this information? Enjoy your coffee folks but beyond that, just try to live a healthy life.
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