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Coffee and the body You know about coffee’s impact on the oral cavity, but what about whole body health?
In the March issue of Modern Hygienist we looked at a variety of ways in which coffee can impact oral health. As a companion to that information, here, we look at some of the systemic consequences of java that you should discuss with your patients. A temporary fix Caffeinated coffee can initially cause stimulation in the Central Nervous System, which in turn can decrease the feeling of drowsiness or fatigue.1 Caffeine has a half-life of four to six hours, so the effects can last for many hours. For this reason in particular, patients often consume caffeine to feel more alert, but this effect, however, is only short term, and may actually result in making a person feel fatigued and depressed after the stimulating effects start to subside. This rollercoaster can lead to caffeine dependency since a person may feel the need to consume more caffeine to maintain that alert feeling. It may seem obvious, but a surprising number of people consumer caffeine before bedtime, which can cause difficulty sleeping. This can then initiate a cycle wherein the patient feels drowsy in the morning and needs to drink a cup of coffee to wake them up.2 Caffeine can lead to higher levels of cortisol in the body, the hormone known to regulate stress; higher levels of cortisol can lead to increased stress, heart disease and diabetes. Many experts also believe that higher levels of cortisol can lead to fat and carbohydrate cravings, which in turn can cause weight gain.2 According to a study in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, woman who consume more than 200 mg of caffeine a day are twice as much at risk for miscarriage that women who do not consume caffeine. The study states that caffeine can cross the placental barrier and can reach the developing fetus.3 One study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found a correlation that long-term coffee drinking can reduce the risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, stating, “In small, short term studies, acute administration of caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity and impairs glucose intolerance.”4 A separate study, entitled Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A prospective cohort study in younger and middle-aged U.S. women, concluded that, “U.S. women aged 26–46 years at baseline consumption of two or more cups of coffee per day, were associated with a substantially lower risk of Type 2 Diabetes during 10 years of follow-up. This association was similar for caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and for filtered and instant coffee. The inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes was independent of caffeine intake.”5 Amy Nieves, RDH, graduated from Middlesex County College in 1999 and currently holds licenses in New Jersey, Nevada and Florida. She is best known for being the woman behind Amy’s List, an online dental hygiene community (www.amyrdh.com). She also serves as a Minimum Intervention specialist for GC America and has co-authored a book with Shirley Gutkowski, RDH, BSDH. For more info on the book, visit www.rdhpurpleguide.com. Resources
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