How Prevalent are Contaminants in Regular Coffee?
We have written about how one of the excellent benefits of organic coffee is the lack of unnecessary contaminants. While there are “regular” coffees that are organic in everything but name because of the cost of certification, the bulk of coffee that folks consume is grown and processed with exposure to synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and other potentially dangerous contaminants. Just how prevalent are contaminants in regular coffee and what is the real health risk?
Testing Popular Coffee Brands for Contaminants
While much of the early evidence of contaminants in regular coffee comes from research studies, those studies did not necessarily test all that many brands in coming to their conclusions. However, the Clean Label Project did more than seven thousand tests on dozens of coffee brands for contaminants and published its results which identify a broad range of contaminants throughout. Here is a snapshot of their results and our thoughts on the significance of coffee contaminants.
Contaminants Found in Popular Coffee Brands
The Clean Label Project found heavy metals, herbicide residue and pesticides in many of the regular coffees that they tested. Glyphosate (Round Up Herbicide and its breakdown product, AMPA, where also found. Why did they test for these contaminants?
Heavy Metals in Coffee
Why are there heavy metals in coffee? Coffee plants absorb minerals from the soil in which they are grown. The higher the concentration of a mineral in the soil, the greater the concentration of that mineral in the coffee bean. In addition, industrial runoff, pesticides, and unsafe farming practices can also result in more heavy metal contamination. Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and Arsenic can all be found as coffee contaminants and all have adverse health effects when consumed in sufficient amounts.
Arsenic Effects on Health
Arsenic in sufficient amounts can result in heart disease, cancer and skin lesions over time. These are results of chronic low grade exposure such as one might expect from food or beverage contamination. These differ from arsenic poisoning in lethal amounts which cause vomiting, nausea, tingling, confusion, seizures, and death. In general the amounts of arsenic in coffee are never enough to cause poisoning symptoms and rarely enough to cause chronic issues like cancer and heart disease but vulnerable individuals such as pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems.
Effects of Lead on Human Health
Lead is a toxic metal with many industrial uses, which can lead to lead poisoning such as with lead paint or leaded gasoline. Its effects on human health are cumulative. They include neurological damage, damage to the gi tract, heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. Children are more vulnerable than adults to lead poisoning as are pregnant women. Severe cumulative lead exposure can be fatal. Lead in food and drinks largely comes from packaging or soil contamination. However, lead in the soil can be found in otherwise safe foods such as coffee beans.
Health Effects of Mercury
Mercury can be found in various industrial settings and can be a serious problem with fish caught in contaminated waters. It can be found in coffee when the soil has high concentrations. Mercury can damage the immune and nervous systems as well as the kidneys. Mercury poisoning is not likely with drinking coffee but long term low concentrations of mercury can be dangerous.
Pesticides in Coffee
Control of coffee pests can be an issue on a working coffee farm. On non-organic farms pesticides may be used. Long term pesticide exposure can damage the reproductive endocrine and nervous systems, lead to cancers, and cause developmental problems in children.
Herbicides in Coffee
A commonly used herbicide used worldwide is Roundup containing glyphosate. Although the testing by the Clean Label Project did not find any glyphosate in their testing they did encounter a glyphosate breakdown product, AMPA. AMPA has been linked to endocrine dysfunction leading to reproductive issues, hormone levels, fertility, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, tumors, and problems with the blood, liver, and heart.
Long Term Coffee Consumption and Health
As we have written about many times, drinking coffee over the long term is linked to many health benefits including a reduction in type II diabetes, cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and more. As such it would appear that across the broad spectrum of coffees that whatever degree of contamination exists, there does not seem to a sufficient problem to reduce many benefits of drinking coffee. Nevertheless, coffee drinkers are well advised to be wary of non-organic coffees that may contain more than trace amounts of contaminants in order to be on the safe side.
History of the Eje Cafetero of Colombia
The region of the entire world responsible for the highest concentrated production of the best Arabica coffee is the Colombian coffee growing axis known in Colombia as the Eje Cafetero. In addition to being a premier coffee growing region, the Eje Cafetero has an interesting history dating back to the early years of this region being a colony of Spain.
History of Colombia
Colombia was a colony in Spain’s new world empire with the Caribbean costal city of Santa Maria being founded in 1525. In the earliest colonial days, this region was the New Kingdom of Granada and produced gold using slave labor for its Spanish masters. During the precolonial days indigenous peoples included the Quimbaya, Muisca, Tayrona, and Muisca. These peoples had integrated agricultural system, made pottery and worked gold. The vast majority of the original population died off within years of the arrival Europeans due to infections such as tuberculosis and small pox although between four and five percent of today’s Colombian population is comprised of people with indigenous roots. Colombia broke away from Spain in the early 19th century with the battle of Boyacá being the crucial battle that led to the independence of what today are Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Agricultural products for export included tobacco and cocoa in the earlies days and coffee in the late 19th century. The “violencia” in the middle of the 20th century led to a national power sharing agreement that inadvertently led to the rise of rebel groups that eventual turned to drug trafficking, primary of cocaine. Through all of this Colombia saw the steady rise of coffee production in the area just west of the western most ridgeline of the Andes. This area became the Cafetero Colombiano.
Coffee Fields Along the Coffee Highway in the Eje Cafetero
Coffee Growing in the Colombian Cafetero
Although the region of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda was explored around 1537 it remained largely empty of people until the middle of the 19th century when a group of families moved to the mountain top area that is now Manizales in the department of Caldas. These folks took up coffee farming, taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil and excellent drainage which is excellent for producing great coffee. This area is virtually all mountains so there were never any large farms but rather small family holdings that have been farmed from the 19th century to the present. Today the three departments of Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío make up about fifteen percent of all coffee production in Colombia. Add to this the adjacent areas of Huila, Tolima, and Antioquia and the percentage gets closer to thirty percent. Coffee from this area commands a premium to other coffees produced in Colombia which in turn commands a premium to the NYMEX price for coffee typically quoted as the price of coffee.
Cafetero Coffee Culture
Such is the uniqueness of the coffee culture in the Eje Cafetero that it is a UNESCO historical site. A backbone of the coffee industry in this area is the National Coffee Growers Association and Cenicafe, its research arm. In the most rural areas of the Cafetero “paisa” architecture predominates featuring timber and mud construction, bright colors, and earthquake resistant buildings. As might be expected in a region where travel can be difficult farming families can be somewhat isolated, coming into population areas only occasionally to shop or sell their coffee.
Modern Manizales in the Cafetero Colombiano
Manizales, Colombia lies in the heart of Caldas in the traditional heart of the Eje Cafetero. It is the coffee processing center for the region which is big part of its economy. However, the city has diversified into metal reclamation, manufacturing of appliances, and metal working. It has a strong service sector and is a “university town” with seven main universities located within the city limits. Although this is a safe and very polite town to visit and live in the number of North American and Europeans living in and around Manizales is largely limited to those who have Colombian spouses and have “come home” to Manizales to retire in the “land of eternal spring” at 8,000 feet.
How the Body Metabolizes Coffee
Everything that we humans eat or drink is either metabolized by the body or excreted from it. Because black coffee is free of calories we may be forgiven for assuming that how the body metabolizes coffee is not important but there is more to the story.
Caffeine Metabolism
The part of coffee that wakes us up and keeps us going is caffeine. It is broken down or metabolized in the liver taking away about eighty-seven percent of what is taken in. The remainder goes to the kidneys and is passed out of the body with urine. When caffeine is metabolized the primary product is paraxanthine which, like caffeine, is a central nervous system stimulant. Paraxanthine has a half life of about three hours as it is also metabolized. While paraxanthine is responsible for much of the stimulant effect of coffee its own metabolites are not.
Paraxanthine
Paraxanthine is an antagonist of adenosine receptors. Because adenosine causes relaxation and sleepiness, paraxanthine helps keep us stay awake. Paraxanthine not only causes wakefulness but also improves thinking or cognitive function and blood circulation in the brain. It is a strong contributor to the improved physical performance and motor function seen in coffee drinkers. Unlike caffeine, paraxanthine does not cause as much blood pressure elevation or speeding up of the heart. Paraxanthine causes less anxiety than caffeine.
Coffee Antioxidant Metabolism
Antioxidants are largely responsible for the many health benefits obtained from drinking coffee. Antioxidants are primarily metabolized in the liver where many of the metabolic byproducts have more antioxidant properties than the original compounds. Because metabolism of antioxidants happens quickly they do not stay around in the blood stream for very long. However, both the liver and kidneys store antioxidants leading to longer term protective benefits. Antioxidants are not totally metabolized. A portion is excreted in the urine and also via sweating.
Caffeine in Coffee Affects Metabolism
While the constituents of coffee are metabolized, one of them, caffeine, has a direct affect on the rate of metabolism. Caffeine increases the rate of metabolism in the body by up to eight percent for up to three hours before it itself is metabolized. Paraxanthine, the primary metabolic product of caffeine also speeds up metabolism. Both paraxanthine and caffeine do this by central nervous system stimulation. Caffeine helps promote thermogenesis, which is the sum total of processes that turn food into energy in the human body.
What Else in Your Cup of Coffee Gets Metabolized?
While black coffee is free of calories many people add milk, cream, or sugar to their Java. Your local neighborhood coffee shop probably has flavored lattes, etc. Thus coffee metabolism also involves breaking down caloric coffee ingredients. Simple sugars are metabolized in two or three hours while complex carbohydrates take somewhat longer. Metabolism of fats that may come with your coffee can take hours or even days. While excessive consumption of fats in your diet can lead to obesity there may be a benefit as well. A common effect to adding too much sugar to your black coffee is rebound hypoglycemia where the body secretes insulin and rapidly drops the blood sugar level often causing sweating, anxiety, trembling, lightheadedness, and even confusion, trouble concentrating, mood changes and irritability. A common response is to drink more coffee with sugar which quickly reverses those symptoms only to start the cycle all over again. Thus, adding whole milk of cream along with sugar to your coffee prolonging metabolism can help prevent the rebound hypoglycemia cycle.
Will Excessive Heat Mean Less and More Expensive Coffee
We have written previously on the pages of buyorganiccoffee.org about the changing climate and how higher temperatures are already affecting where high quality Arabica coffee can be grown and how the total area where all coffee can be grown may be reduced over the years. Now the Weather Network reports that ninety-seven percent or more of worldwide coffee production may be affected by rising global temperatures, especially in the coffee belt. The following graph, courtesy of the Weather Network, shows us a snapshot of the projected number of days a year when temperatures will rise into the range harmful for coffee production. The graph gives figures for major coffee producers including Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. These five nations produce three fourths of all coffee consumed worldwide.
Courtesy the Weather Network
Higher Temperatures Will Result in Lower Yields and Poorer Quality
The article that accompanies the graph notes something that we have previously commented on. Arabica coffee needs moderate to cool temperatures to produce optimal yields, avoid diseases, and maintain expected excellent quality. As higher temperatures drive production to higher altitudes in order to avoid excessive heat less and less land will be available for growing the best quality coffee. Even for Robusta, which is hardier than Arabica, excessive temperatures result in lower than optimal yield and quality.
High Temperature Will Affect More Than the Five Top Coffee Producers
The Weather Network article notes that while the five top producers are affected so are all of the top twenty-five, which are responsible for ninety-seven percent of coffee output.
However, the number of day of excessive temperatures each year is not uniform across all countries. As the graph shows, Ethiopia and Colombia currently have fewer excessively hot days a year than Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. This is most likely because coffee in Colombia and Ethiopia is generally grown at higher altitudes already.
Lower Supply and Continued High Demand Will Likely Drive Coffee Prices Higher
Coffee is second most valuable traded commodity next to crude oil. The market determines prices and as supplies of the best coffee go down the price of high quality Arabica and even good Robust will go up. It may well be that we will become used to coffee with worse flavor and aroma than today even as we pay higher prices. Such will probably be the fallout as higher temperatures affect nearly all of world coffee production.
What Can You Do to Get a Good Cup of Cup of Coffee as the Climate Warms?
We at BuyOrganicCoffee.org have traditionally recommended coffee purchased directly from in and around the Colombian coffee triangle which lies west of the Colombian northern volcanic front. Get your coffee from Colombia by dealing directly with someone like Buy Organic Coffee. Get coffee that is not only Arabica from the most recent harvest but also coffee of the highest quality at reasonable coffee prices. Cenicafe, the research arm of Colombian coffee growers has routinely developed new varieties resistant to coffee diseases and will in all likelihood develop strains that better tolerate excessive heat in the years to come.
6 Things You Maybe Did Not Know about Coffee
Most folks who love coffee do so because of its aroma and flavor. And some folks simply drink coffee to wake up or stay awake and do not worry about anything except the stimulating effect of the caffeine. But there are many interesting and important things about coffee that it is useful to know. Here are 6 things you maybe did not know about coffee.
1) Coffee Caffeine Content Varies Widely
The first thing to know about coffee caffeine content is the Robusta coffee beans have a much higher caffeine content than Arabica coffee beans. As a rule Robusta caffeine bean content ranges from 2 to 4.5% while Arabica coffee bean content can be as low as 1.1% and rarely goes above 1.7%. Espresso, being a more concentrated coffee has more caffeine than a standard cup of coffee of the same variety.
2) Coffee Is a Fruit
Coffee Beans are Actually Fruit: Coffee beans come from the inside of a coffee cherry, which is a type of fruit. The coffee “bean” is, in fact, a seed. Thus, if you do not roast green coffee beans they can be planted to grow new coffee plants. However, if you are going go this route, soak your green coffee beans for a day in water, make scratches on the bean surface which will help water get into the seed itself. Plant seeds in mildly acidic soil (5.5 to 6.5 pH) at just a quarter of an inch depth.
3) The Leading Coffee Consumers in the World Are the USA and Finland
The country that consumers the most coffee is the USA where total consumption is about three and a quarter billion pounds a year. However, per person the US is not the world leader in coffee consumption. That title goes to Finland where folks consume about twelve kilograms of coffee per person per year or nearly three times as much per person as folks consume in the USA.
4) You Can Freeze Your Coffee Beans
Although green coffee beans properly stored keep their freshness for up to three years, roasted coffee beans keep their freshness only for six months tops. You can increase how long your roasted coffee stays fresh by freezing coffee beans in an airtight container. However, be careful about removing the container, opening it and exposing the beans to rooms temperature air and then putting back in the freezer because this will cause condensation on remaining beans and limit the effectiveness of freezing!
5) Coffee Is the World’s Biggest Source of Antioxidants
The richest sources of antioxidants in our diet are nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. However, coffee, which is an excellent source of antioxidants, albeit lagging behind other foods, is consumed across the world in such large quantities that coffee is the world’s biggest source of antioxidants. That fact is important because of the many health benefits of coffee such as reducing the risk of Type II diabetes, various types of cancer, heart disease, and degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. All of these benefits stem from the excellent supply of antioxidants that we receive from drinking coffee.
6) Coffee Can Make You Perform Better and Live Longer
Studies in which people are tracked for years and their habits as well as health status kept track of have shown us a wide variety of benefits stemming from drinking coffee. As a rule the more coffee you drink, up to six cups a day, the more benefits you receive. An overall benefit for coffee drinkers appears to be a longer life. What studies have shown is that a any given age coffee drinkers will likely live a bit longer than others in their age group who do not drink coffee. Over a lifetime another substantial benefit of drinking coffee is that it has been shown to improve both athletic and sexual performance!
Eight Excellent Reasons to Drink Coffee
Coffee drinkers love their coffee. This, by itself is an excellent reason to drink coffee. However, there are many benefits for coffee drinkers aside from the taste and aroma of a good cup of Java. These include reduced risk of various types of cancer, type II diabetes and even a longer, healthier life.
Drinking Coffee Reduces the Risk of Prostate Cancer
As far back as 2011 we reported that drinking organic coffee reduces prostate cancer risk. At that time we reported that men who drank six of more cups of coffee a day had both a significantly lower risk of getting prostate cancer and a lower risk of developing metastatic and fatal prostate cancer. The research leading to these conclusions regarding coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk are available online.
1)Cancer Risks and Coffee Consumption
Coffee benefits regarding cancer are not limited to prostate cancer. Researchers have found that coffee drinkers also have lower risks of cancer of the endometrium, rectum, colon, liver, nose and throat. There is even evidence suggesting that drinking coffee reduces the risk of breast cancer.
2)Drinking Coffee Keeps You Awake and Gives You More Energy
The caffeine in coffee blocks adenosine receptors in the brain thus keeping a person awake. This effect falls by half about every six hours which is the half life of caffeine in the body. Thus, we use coffee to wake up in the morning and stay sharp in the afternoon. Unfortunately, drinking too much coffee too late in the day keeps us up at night. Research shows that in addition to keeping a person awake caffeine in coffee can improve athletic performance as well.
3)Type II Diabetes Risk Is Reduced in Coffee Drinkers
Another health issue that we reported as far back as 2011 is that coffee drinkers develop less diabetes. Specifically, drinking coffee reduces the risk of getting type II diabetes because drinking coffee increases the level of sex hormone-binding globulin in the body which in turn reduces the risk of type II diabetes. This effect is documented in folks who drink four cups a day and cuts the type II diabetes risk by half. This is another excellent reason to drink coffee!
4)Drinking Coffee Is Good for Your Brain
Drinking coffee keeps you awake and alert which is a good thing but coffee also has long term effects on the brain.
Research suggests that both Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease risks are reduced in coffee drinkers., A study by researchers published in 2023 shows that the caffeine in coffee reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease but is not effective in treating the condition once it develops. The preventative effect is dose dependent. In other words, the more coffee you drink and the more caffeine you ingest the stronger the effect of preventing Parkinson’s Disease.
Although the degree of protection varies according to which research study you consult, drinking coffee as correlated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. A recent prospective study of Alzheimer’s Disease and coffee consumption showed that the more coffee subjects drank the lower their incidence of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. This is an important finding as it helps confirm findings of long-term observational studies of coffee drinking habits and Alzheimer’s Incidence.
5)Drinking Coffee Can Help Prevent Obesity
If you drink black coffee and avoid too much sugar, cream or other additives at your local coffee shop you will likely be successful in controlling your weight. However, simply by replacing your latte with non-caloric black coffee is not the end of how coffee may help weight management. Drinking coffee appears to help in how we develop fat stores and how we metabolize leading to less fat accumulation.
6)Drinking Coffee and Less Depression
Coffee drinkers are less likely that non coffee drinkers to suffer from depression. This effect works on two fronts. Coffee works in the short term to wake us up and keep us going. This is a positive effect short term for preventing depression. However, research has shown that caffeine affects brain chemicals that cause depression over the long term. Thus, by drinking coffee a person gets both short term and long-term protection.
7) Coffee Consumption and Liver Health
Research indicates that two of more cups of coffee a day are good for your liver. Liver enzyme levels are reduced resulting in less inflammation and collagen buildup. The result is less fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Individuals with liver conditions live longer if they drink two or more cups of coffee a day. The link between coffee and liver disease is well established and an excellent reason to drink coffee!
8)Coffee Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
Recent research shows that folks who drink three to five cups of coffee a day have a mild reduction in heart disease risk, 15%. Several studies confirm that as few as three cups of coffee a day can lower a person’s risk of getting a stroke by a fifth! All in all, drinking coffee is not just enjoyable and a good way to stay alert but has numerous health benefits even more than the eight excellent reasons for drinking coffee that we listed in this article.
Why Do We Roast Coffee?
The coffee that we drink comes from ripe cherries, the fruit of the coffee plant. However, we do not drink the squeezed fruit. Rather, we get coffee from the beans of the coffee plant and not the ripe beans but rather processed and then roasted coffee beans. Removing the coffee fruit or cherry makes sense as we do not use it to make coffee but why do we roast coffee as well? If you have ever had brewed green coffee you will remember the grassy, acidic and earthy taste somewhat a mix of herbal and green tea. This taste is nothing like what we are familiar with as coffee drinkers.
What Does Brewing Do to Coffee?
By roasting coffee we remove the “grassy” taste, reduce its moisture content and create complex chemicals with complex flavors and aroma. With darker roasts we caramelize the coffee bean creating a sweet taste. Over the years coffee roasting has always been done to create the desired taste and aroma of the coffee that we love. Simultaneously we create antioxidants that provide many health benefits for coffee drinkers. Specifically, heating coffee beans degrades chlorogenic acids making the coffee less sour and creating sweetness. Roasting turns coffee beans from green or greenish tan to brown. During the roasting process oils trapped in the bean migrate to the surface creating a glossy or shiny appearance. Roasting does not change the amount of caffeine in coffee beans. Depending on temperature and time of roasting we get a light brown bean with fruity and acidic flavors. Increased temperature and time reduce acidity and lead to a chocolatey, smoky or bitter taste.
Coffee Roasting and Shelf Life
Ideally we roast coffee just before we grind up the beans and brew a pot. For shelf life it is better to keep green coffee beans which, when properly stored, keep their freshness up to three years. Roasted coffee beans, when properly stored, can retain their freshness for up to three months. When roasted coffee is ground it begins to lose freshness immediately. Roasting has to do with getting the aroma and flavor that you want and not with keeping your coffee fresh.
Who First Roasted Coffee?
When coffee first reached Yemen in the Middle East in the 13th century was when we have the first historical evidence of coffee roasting. As coffee spread across the Ottoman Empire to Constantinople and into Europe it was roasted coffee that became popular and spread across the globe.
What Is the Best Coffee Roast?
There are four basic levels of coffee roasting. They are a light roast, a medium roast, a medium dark roast, and a dark roast. Each darker level of roast is created with a slightly higher temperature and slightly longer roasting time. A light roast retains much of the original flavor of the coffee bean. From medium to a dark roast coffee has a steadily more caramelized and smokier flavor and increasingly more oil. The best coffee roast is the one that you like best. To the extent that you want to preserve all of the unique flavors of your coffee beans a light roast is better but if you prefer the stronger, caramelized flavor of a darker roast that is the one for you.
Coffee and Treatment of Type II Diabetes
We have known for years that drinking coffee reduces a person’s risk of getting type II diabetes. This type of diabetes affects about 38 million US adults and more than half a million adults across the world. This condition impairs the body’s ability to use insulin, thus resulting in high levels of blood sugar. High blood sugar over time leads to high blood pressure, strokes, heart disease, kidney damage and failure, diabetic retinopathy and blindness, peripheral blood vessel problems including ulcers and even amputations. The personal cost of dealing with type II diabetes and its complications averages about $4,000 per American patient per year. While we have known for some time that coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of this disease we have only recently found out that there are constituents of coffee that help treat the disease!
How Does Coffee Help Prevent Type II Diabetes?
While coffee as of yet is not recommended for treatment of type II diabetes studies have shown that a little as a cup a day reduces the incidence of this disease and the effect improves up to six cups a day. Researchers believe that antioxidants (polyphenols) in coffee are responsible for this effect. What they have previously observed is that if you drink coffee you are less likely to be diagnosed with the disease but no one has previously shown that coffee consumption reduces blood sugar levels in type II diabetics. That has now changed.
Coffee Beans Before Roasting
How Does Coffee Help Treat Type II Diabetes?
Chinese researchers at the Kunming Institute of Botany in South Central China studied roasted Arabica coffee beans from that region. They identified compounds that appear to help slow carbohydrate breakdown which has been a goal for developing medicines to treat diabetes. Researchers identified three compounds that inhibit an enzyme, α-glucosidase, which is an enzyme that researchers hope to target for treatment of diabetes. This enzyme slows the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar. While the researchers are not currently saying that you can treat type II diabetes with coffee they hope to use their findings to develop medications that can be used to treat patients with the disease, control their blood sugars, and reduce the risk of life threatening complications! The scientists discovered three separate compounds in roasted Arabica coffee capable of slowing the process by which α-glucosidase breaks down carbohydrates into sugar.
How Much Does Coffee Do to Help Avoid and Treat Type II Diabetes?
Observational studies show an up to 30% lower risk of type II diabetes in coffee drinkers. This figure, by itself, is a good reason, along with diet and exercise for dealing with the risk of this disease. It it far too early to anticipate the amount of help that a medicine derived from coffee will offer in treating the active disease. Nevertheless, research continues and give us hope that a prevalent and dangerous disease in modern society will be better avoided and controlled thanks to the constituents of our morning cup of coffee!
Who Should Worry About Type II Diabetes?
Type II diabetes runs in families, so if such is the case in your family, is wise to take preventative measures. Being overweight and not physically active increases your risk of this disease, so maintaining an ideal weight and exercising regularly are both good ideas. The risk of type II diabetes goes up in midlife. As such having your blood sugar checked when you enter your 40s is also a good idea. Type II diabetes, unlike type I where a person does not secrete insulin, comes on gradually so a person at risk has ample time to deal with the issue by adjusting diet and exercise. And, if you are at risk for this disease and are interested in adding one more useful tool, drink a cup of two of find Arabica coffee every day to help in prevention!
2026 Coffee and Cancer Update
A few years ago we wrote about a California law that almost led to coffee being labeled as a carcinogen. The chemical acrylamide is produced when coffee is roasted. It is found in many industrial products and in tiny amounts in many foods. It is thought to possibly be carcinogenic in sufficiently high concentrations and quantities in industrial settings. However, none of these quantities or concentrations are encountered in foods or coffee. Thus, it is unlikely that acrylamide in coffee causes cancer. This was finally determined to be the case by a California court thus preventing the need for “cancer risk” labeling on all coffee sold in California. That case was years ago. What is the current state of knowledge regarding coffee and cancer? Here is our 2026 coffee and cancer update.
Cancer Incidence in Coffee Drinkers
The best evidence regarding coffee and cancer comes from long term population sampling studies that help correlate incidence of various types of cancer with how much coffee folks drink. Evidence is clear that coffee drinkers have lower incidence of endometrial and liver cancers. There is also suggestive evidence that the incidence of colon, prostate, and mouth cancers is lower in coffee drinkers. Less clear evidence suggests that laryngeal and skin cancers are also less likely in coffee drinkers. The gold standard types of studies, namely double blind studies, have not been done regarding coffee and cancer. Such studies would require that people drink a beverage every day that might or might not be coffee, now know if it was coffee or not, and that their incidence of cancer be kept track of over the years. This is the sort of study required for medicines to be to OKed by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is highly unlikely that such studies will ever be done for coffee and the incidence of cancer. Nevertheless, current evidence from population studies is sufficiently compelling such that it allows us to proceed with more questions about why coffee drinking helps us avoid cancer.
Why Does Coffee Reduce the Likelihood of Cancer?
Coffee contains ample amounts of antioxidants such as chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, cafestol, kahweol, and N-methylpyridinium, all of which reduce inflammation. By reducing inflammation these compounds both reduce DNA damage and hasten the self-destruction of damaged cells. These two properties are likely ways that antioxidants in coffee reduce the risk of cancer. An informative articles in Antioxidants, published February 2025 recounts how antioxidants in coffee combat oxidative stress, improve cardiac and metabolic health, and even improve brain function (reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease). Additionally, they comment on how antioxidants also help coffee improve the outlook for aging and longer lives.
The Antioxidants article is pretty dense reading but it does a complete job reviewing pretty much every aspect of coffee pertinent to human health. The important part for us in reviewing current knowledge about coffee and human incidence of cancer is that the research is solid and compelling. There will never be double blind studies regarding coffee and cancer but the basic science, combined with population studies is compelling.
How Much Coffee Should You Drink to Get Its Anticancer Benefits?
The evidence is solid that even one cup of coffee a day has health benefits from reducing the incidence of type II diabetes to improving heart health to reducing the risk of cancer to even prolonging human life. The benefits increase with each extra cup of coffee a day up to six cups a day, where benefits level off. Because many people find six cups of coffee a day hard to tolerate due to jitteriness, higher blood pressure, or gastric distress one might wish to switch to decaf coffee at some point in order to achieve the full benefit of six cups a day. Nevertheless, as of 2026, scientific evidence supports our ongoing belief that coffee is good for your health and even reduces the risk of various types of cancer!
Most Common Coffee Varieties Grown in Colombia
Colombia is best known in the coffee world as a producer of high quality Arabica coffees. However, there are many varieties of Arabica grown in Colombia. Coffee farmers choose to grow coffees varieties that offer superior flavor, high yield, and provide resistance to coffee leaf rust, which has the potential to destroy all of the coffee plants on any given coffee farm. Common varieties grown in Colombia include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Castillo, and Colombia. Each has features that make coffee farmers choose it as the primary coffee grown on any given farm.
Caturra
Historically the most common coffee variety grown in Colombia is Caturra. This variety is favored for its relative resistance to leaf rust and high yield, making it an ideal choice for coffee plantations. Caturra is often grown in conjunction with other varietals like Castillo and Colombia, but it remains the primary choice for many coffee farms across the country. Like other commonly grown coffees, Caturra came to be used because it is a natural mutation of the bourbon variety that occurred in the 20th century in Brazil. This natural mutation also has a higher yield than the bourbon variety it came from. Caturra is a smaller than average plant making it management and harvest easy. Caturra is popular in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Brazil as well as in Colombia. This is a good Arabica coffee but not the best. Its yield and leaf rust resistance are considered fair trade offs for less than top quality.
Castillo
Castillo has risen to the top spot of Arabica coffee production in Colombia with roughly forty percent of all Colombian coffee being this variety. Castillo is not a natural mutation but rather a hybrid developed by Cenicafé, the research arm of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation. It is a cross between Caturra and a disease resistant variety from the island of Timor in the East Indies. Like Caturra, it is a compact plant and easy to manage and harvest. It is significantly less susceptible to leaf rust and has a high yield. Castillo grown at higher altitudes is sweet and balanced with a popular flavor profile superior to Caturra.
Typica
Typica is an old coffee variety with exceptional flavor and floral notes. It is generally limited to being grown at higher altitudes where the risk of coffee leaf rust is less. One of the oldest coffee varieties, Typica is known for its floral aromas and nuanced flavors. Coffee farmers who grown this variety have a large plant with yield challenges and perpetual risk of coffee leaf rust with the tradeoff being that it produces some of the best coffee in the world!
Bourbon
The Bourbon coffee variety comes from coffee exported from Yemen to an island in the Indian Ocean. The original name of the island was Bourbon but now is named Reunion. This coffee has exceptional aroma and flavor but, like typica, is easily infected by coffee leaf rust. Thus, in Colombia, Bourbon is only grown at the highest altitudes where leaf rust is uncommon.
Cenicafé 1
The most recent hybrid developed by Cenicafe bears their name. It is a cross between Caturra and Timor Hybrid 1343. It features superior seed quality, a compact plant, high yield, and superior adaptability to conditions throughout all of Colombia’s coffee growing regions. Besides being resistant to coffee leaf rust this variety is resistant to Coffee Berry Disease. Cenicafé developed this hybrid with a changing climate in mind so that Colombian coffee production and quality will suffer less as the climate changes!