MILWAUKEE (AP) — One of life’s simple pleasures just got a little sweeter. After years of waffling research on coffee and health, even some fear that java might raise the risk of heart disease, a big study finds the opposite: Coffee drinkers are a little more likely to live longer. Regular or decaf doesn’t matter.
The study of 400,000 people is the largest ever done on the issue, and the results should reassure any coffee lovers who think it’s a guilty pleasure that may do harm.
“Our study suggests that’s really not the case,” said lead researcher Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute. “There may actually be a modest benefit of coffee drinking.”
No one knows why. Coffee contains a thousand things that can affect health, from helpful antioxidants to tiny amounts of substances linked to cancer. The most widely studied ingredient — caffeine — didn’t play a role in the new study’s results.
It’s not that earlier studies were wrong. There is evidence that coffee can raise LDL, or bad cholesterol, and blood pressure at least short-term, and those in turn can raise the risk of heart disease.
Even in the new study, it first seemed that coffee drinkers were more likely to die at any given time. But they also tended to smoke, drink more alcohol, eat more red meat and exercise less than non-coffee-drinkers. Once researchers took those things into account, a clear pattern emerged: Each cup of coffee per day nudged up the chances of living longer.
The study was done by the National Institutes of Health and AARP. The results are published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Careful, though — this doesn’t prove that coffee makes people live longer, only that the two seem related. Like most studies on diet and health, this one was based strictly on observing people’s habits and resulting health. So it can’t prove cause and effect.
But with so many people, more than a decade of follow-up and enough deaths to compare, “this is probably the best evidence we have” and are likely to get, said Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health. He had no role in this study but helped lead a previous one that also found coffee beneficial.
The new one began in 1995 and involved AARP members ages 50 to 71 in California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Atlanta and Detroit. People who already had heart disease, a stroke or cancer weren’t included. Neither were folks at diet extremes — too many or too few calories per day.
The rest gave information on coffee drinking once, at the start of the study. “People are fairly consistent in their coffee drinking over their lifetime,” so the single measure shouldn’t be a big limitation, Freedman said.
Of the 402,260 participants, about 42,000 drank no coffee. About 15,000 drank six cups or more a day. Most people had two or three.
By 2008, about 52,000 of them had died. Compared to those who drank no coffee, men who had two or three cups a day were 10 percent less likely to die at any age. For women, it was 13 percent.
Even a single cup a day seemed to lower risk a little: 6 percent in men and 5 percent in women. The strongest effect was in women who had four or five cups a day — a 16 percent lower risk of death.
None of these are big numbers, though, and Freedman can’t say how much extra life coffee might buy.
“I really can’t calculate that,” especially because smoking is a key factor that affects longevity at every age, he said.
Coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart or respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, injuries, accidents or infections. No effect was seen on cancer death risk, though.
Other research ties coffee drinking to lower levels of markers for inflammation and insulin resistance. Researchers also considered that people in poor health might refrain from drinking coffee and whether their abstention could bias the results. But the study excluded people with cancer and heart disease — the most common health problems — to minimize this chance. Also, the strongest benefits of coffee drinking were seen in people who were healthiest when the study began.
About two-thirds of study participants drank regular coffee, and the rest, decaf. The type of coffee made no difference in the results.
Hu had this advice for coffee lovers:
— Watch the sugar and cream. Extra calories and fat could negate any benefits from coffee.
— Drink filtered coffee rather than boiled — filtering removes compounds that raise LDL, the bad cholesterol.
Researchers did not look at tea, soda or other beverages but plan to in future analyses.
Lou and Mariann Maris have already compared them. Sipping a local brew at a lakefront coffee shop, the suburban Milwaukee couple told of how they missed coffee after briefly giving it up in the 1970s as part of a health kick that included transcendental meditation and eating vegetarian.
Mariann Maris switched to tea after being treated for breast cancer in 2008, but again missed the taste of coffee. It’s one of life’s great pleasures, especially because her husband makes it, she said.
“Nothing is as satisfying to me as a cup of coffee in the morning,” she said.
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Online:
New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org
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Coffee seems to be good for you. Or at least it’s not bad, say researchers who led the largest-ever study of coffee and health.
They found that coffee drinkers seemed a little more likely to live longer than folks who drink no coffee at all. Regular or decaf didn’t matter.
That’s reassuring because a few studies in the past suggested coffee might be harmful. Results of the latest study are published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
WHY THE FUZZY RESEARCH?
Older studies weren’t wrong: Coffee can raise cholesterol and blood pressure in the short term, which in turn can raise the risk of heart disease.
But few studies have looked at coffee and the risk of dying of any cause, let alone specific diseases. Some of those that have involved too few deaths to make firm comparisons.
CAN WE TRUST THIS ONE?
No study is perfect, and like most diet studies, this one is just based on observing people’s habits and resulting health. So it can’t prove coffee lengthens lives. But experts say it’s the best look yet at this issue.
It involved more than 400,000 people and was done by the National Institutes of Health and AARP.
Researchers also took into account smoking, drinking alcohol, exercise and other things that can skew results.
HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DID COFFEE MAKE?
Very little, especially in relation to bigger factors such as smoking.
Compared with those who drank no coffee, men who had two or three cups a day were 10 percent less likely to die at any age. For women, it was 13 percent.
A single cup a day lowered risk a tiny bit: 6 percent in men and 5 percent in women. The strongest effect was in women who had four or five cups a day — they had a 16 percent lower risk of death.
SO IT’S OK TO DRINK ALL I WANT?
Watch the sugar and cream. Extra calories and fat could negate any good from drinking coffee.
Doctors also suggest drinking filtered coffee — that removes the compounds that raise LDL or bad cholesterol.
CHICAGO (AP) — An antibiotic widely used for bronchitis and other common infections seems to increase chances for sudden deadly heart problems, a rare but surprising risk found in a 14-year study.
Zithromax, or azithromycin, is more expensive than other antibiotics, but it’s popular because it often can be taken for fewer days. But the results suggest doctors should prescribe other options for people already prone to heart problems, the researchers and other experts said.
Vanderbilt University researchers analyzed health records and data on millions of prescriptions for several antibiotics given to about 540,000 Tennessee Medicaid patients from 1992 to 2006. There were 29 heart-related deaths among those who took Zithromax during five days of treatment. Their risk of death while taking the drug was more than double that of patients on another antibiotic, amoxicillin, or those who took none.
To compare risks, the researchers calculated that the number of deaths per 1 million courses of antibiotics would be about 85 among Zithromax patients versus 32 among amoxicillin patients and 30 among those on no antibiotics. The highest risks were in Zithromax patients with existing heart problems.
Patients in each group started out with comparable risks for heart trouble, the researchers said.
The results suggest there would be 47 extra heart-related deaths per 1 million courses of treatment with Zithromax, compared with amoxicillin. A usual treatment course for Zithromax is about five days, versus about 10 days for amoxicillin and other antibiotics. Zithromax is at least twice as expensive as generic amoxicillin; online prescription drug sellers charge a few dollars per pill for Zithromax.
“People need to recognize that the overall risk is low,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University health outcomes specialist who was not involved in the study. More research is needed to confirm the findings, but still, he said patients with heart disease “should probably be steered away” from Zithromax for now.
The study appears in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute helped pay for the research.
Zithromax, marketed by Pfizer Inc., has been available in the United States for two decades. It’s often used to treat bronchitis, sinus infections and pneumonia. Wayne Ray, a Vanderbilt professor of medicine, decided to study the drug’s risks because of evidence linking it with potential heart rhythm problems. Also, antibiotics in the same class as Zithromax have been linked with sudden cardiac death.
Zithromax is among top-selling antibiotics. U.S. sales last year totaled $464 million, according to IMS Health, a health care information and services company.
Pfizer issued a statement saying it would thoroughly review the study. “Patient safety is of the utmost importance to Pfizer and we continuously monitor the safety and efficacy of our products to ensure that the benefits and risks are accurately described,” the company said.
Patients studied were age 50 on average and not hospitalized. Most had common ailments, including sinus infections and bronchitis. Those on Zithromax were about as healthy as those on other antibiotics, making it unlikely that an underlying condition might explain the increased death risk.
Medicaid patients generally have more disability and lower incomes than other patients, so whether the same results would be found in the general population is uncertain, Ray said.
Dr. Bruce Psaty, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, said doctors and patients need to know about the potential risks. He said the results also raise concerns about long-term use of Zithromax, which other research suggests could benefit people with severe lung disease. Additional research is needed to determine if that kind of use could be dangerous, he said.
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Online:
New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org
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AP Medical Writer Lindsey tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A well-known Mississippi oncologist accused of orchestrating a plot to kill his ex-wife’s divorce lawyer said he wanted a picture of the slain attorney with a “bullet between his eyes,” according to testimony Wednesday.
The lawyer was never hurt, though, in part because state agents were tipped off to the possible $20,000 murder-for-hire plot and were waiting at the attorney’s office when the hit man showed up. A shootout occurred and when the firing stopped, the alleged assassin, clad in a black ski mask, was dead and his associate was severely wounded. A bullet also grazed an attorney general’s office investigator.
Dr. Ralph Arnold Smith Jr., 70, is charged with conspiring to kill attorney Lee Abraham, who represented Smith’s ex-wife. The divorce records were sealed in 2005, but docket entries show the couple fought over money long after the divorce was granted in 1998.
At the preliminary hearing Wednesday, Greenwood police detective Jeff Byars testified that the doctor kept a hidden camera in his office. A video from the camera shows Smith telling an alleged hit man, Keaira Byrd, 23, that he wanted a photo showing Abraham dead.
“Take a picture of him with a bullet between his eyes,” Byars said, describing the video.
The men’s faces were not visible on the video, and some of it was inaudible.
Byrd was carrying a semi-automatic pistol with a 30-round clip when he walked into Abraham’s office April 28, according to Byars. It’s not yet clear if Byrd or the investigators shot first.
Byrd’s associate, Derrick Lacy, 25, was as shot several times in the back and in the leg and has been released on house arrest while he recovers. Lacy is charged with capital murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
County Judge Kevin Adams determined there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury. The judge ordered the doctor held without bond on the capital murder charge and on a conspiracy to commit murder charge. His bond remained $100,000 on a second conspiracy to commit murder charge.
The two conspiracy charges are both related to plots to kill Abraham, but involve different men the doctor approached to help carry out the plan, according to testimony.
Cordarious Robinson, 22, is charged in the second conspiracy count. Authorities said Smith paid Robinson $15,000 for two guns and to “put his ear to the ground to find someone to take out Lee Abraham.”
It’s not clear if Robinson enlisted Byrd, but authorities said the two men met up the day of the shooting.
Smith’s relatives wept when the judge said he would remain in jail. Smith, with graying hair, a white beard and glasses, appeared detached through much of the hearing, often looking down, sitting with his legs crossed with a brown envelope and his hands clasped on his lap. At times, he shook his head from side to side when testimony suggested he hired someone to kill Abraham.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Agent Mark Steed testified that some type of plot against Abraham could go back as far as two years
Abraham was armed and watching the back door of his law office at the time of the shooting, but the suspects came in the front, Byars said.
Byars said a police investigation discovered a list of possible hit men and where they could be found. Some people in the crowd gasped as names were read.
PRAGUE (AP) — A major European Jewish organization is urging European governments to quickly adopt measures to tackle anti-Semitism and far-right extremism, including possibly banning a hardline Greek party that did unusually well in recent elections.
Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, was meeting with Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas on Wednesday to seek his support for “emergency measures” to protect the continent’s Jewish communities from violent hate crimes.
Kantor would not give details of the measures that his organization plans to propose, but they could involve passing legislation, sharing intelligence, and a public awareness campaign about anti-Semitic threats.
In particular, Kantor expressed concern about Golden Dawn, a party that did well during Greece’s May 6 election and whose leader claimed that Nazi concentration camps did not use ovens and gas chambers to kill prisoners during the Holocaust.
The party has rejected a neo-Nazi label but campaigned on an anti-immigration platform. Because the leading parties were unable to form a government in Greece, another election is expected, but the message sent by Golden Dawn’s performance has raised fears among minorities.
Kantor said Golden Dawn’s “political rise should have sent shock-waves through Europe.”
“Before calling on European leaders to act against hate on the street, they must clear their own house and that means banning and ostracizing any politicians and political parties that preach hate and violence,” he said. “While we highly value freedom of speech, we all recognize that there must be restrictions, and the visceral hatred propagated by the Golden Dawn is surely outside the boundaries of appropriate political discourse.”
Kantor plans to meet with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the congress consulted with Francois Hollande a few weeks before he was elected president of France.
“We have to be proactive. Otherwise we’re in a shameful position because we see the problem and we do not do anything,” Kantor told The Associated Press in an interview in Prague. “That’s why we’re here.”
The Czech Republic is one of Israel’s strongest allies in the European Union. The Czech government pushed for closer ties between the EU and Israel when it held the 27-nation bloc’s rotating presidency last year.
Kantor said the current economic crisis creates ripe conditions for anti-Semitism and that radical Muslim communities in Europe are ready to attack Jews because of the tension between Israel and the Palestinians and other Middle East countries.
A recent report on anti-Semitism said the number of attacks in Europe declined in 2011, but they were generally more violent than in previous years.
“It is a very dangerous trend,” Kantor said.
NEW YORK (AP) — A threat that’s been hanging over the economy is starting to look a lot less menacing.
Oil and gasoline prices are sinking, giving relief to businesses and consumers who a few weeks ago seemed about to face the highest fuel prices ever.
President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects could also benefit, especially if prices keep falling as some analysts expect. A majority of Americans disapproved of Obama’s handling of gas prices in an AP-GfK poll early this month. But that was before the full effect of the recent drop had reached drivers.
The average U.S. retail gasoline price has dropped 21 cents a gallon to $3.73 since hitting a 2012 peak of $3.94 on April 6.
The economy could gain, too. Consumers who spend less on fuel have more to spend on other purchases, from autos and furniture to appliances and vacations, that could help drive economic output and job growth.
The price drop will likely boost consumer confidence. It also comes at a timely moment: Ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, a busy one for travel and entertainment spending.
“It’s extra money in the wallets of most American consumers, and that’s going to help,” said James Hamilton, an economist at the University of California, San Diego who studies oil prices.
Lower oil prices also mean cheaper diesel and jet fuel for shippers and airlines.
Crude oil, which is used to make gasoline, is at a seven-month low of $92.81 a barrel. It’s down nearly 13 percent since May 1. Behind the steady drop are larger fuel stockpiles, easing fears about Iran and expectations of lower demand as the global economy slows.
The average national gasoline price is expected to fall as low as $3.50 a gallon this summer. It could even dip near $3 in some states. The national average is being propped up by refinery problems in California that have lifted prices well above the national average there, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
A 50-cent drop in the gasoline price would save consumers roughly $70 billion over a year.
Earlier this year, oil and gasoline prices were jumping from already high levels. Global demand was rising. And production outages were reducing supplies. Tensions between Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear ambitions raised fears that output from the world’s third-biggest exporter would plunge.
The price of U.S. benchmark oil rose to about $110 a barrel from $96 in the first three weeks of February. The price for international oil, used to make most of the gasoline in the United States, spiked even higher: to $126 per barrel from $110 over roughly the same period.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. appeared on track to soar past $4 a gallon nationwide. Confidence among U.S. consumers, already suffering from high unemployment and scant wage growth, would have likely worsened.
“People were prepared emotionally for $4.50 or $5 gasoline, so there’s a sense of relief,” Kloza says.
No one is yet overflowing with glee over current prices. So far this year, gasoline has averaged $3.67 a gallon nationwide. If sustained all year, that would be the highest annual average ever.
John Heimlich, chief economist at Airlines for America, a trade group, is among those who aren’t ready to cheer. Jet fuel prices dipped below $3 per gallon for the first time in months Tuesday, he said.
“I need more than one day below $3,” Heimlich said. “I need weeks and weeks and weeks.”
John Tillman, who runs Certified Carpet Care in Wesley Chapel, Fla., spends $4,000 a month on fuel for his vans that crisscross the state, visiting restaurants and other clients. He says gasoline prices are still way too high and he thinks the government should do more to protect small businesses from high fuel prices. But he’ll take any drop he can get.
“It’s helped some,” he said.
Hamilton and other economists say high unemployment and a weak job market are more important to the health of the U.S. economy than gasoline prices. Still, voters tend to blame presidents for high fuel prices, even if there’s little a president can do to influence them.
It’s less clear that voters give a president credit when gasoline prices fall.
Michael Dimock, associate director at the Pew Research Center, suspects that voters won’t exactly thank Obama for $3.75 a gallon gasoline. Still, it dulls a weapon that his presumptive Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, would like to use to unseat the president.
And Obama can look forward to further help this fall. After Labor Day, refiners can begin using cheaper ingredients to make gasoline because wintertime clean air rules are less stringent. That should push gasoline prices lower between Labor Day and Election Day, barring hurricanes that can disrupt supplies or other global events, says Kloza.
“History will be working on behalf of the Democrats,” he said.
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Wiseman contributed from Washington. AP Staff writer Charles Babington contributed to this report from Washington.
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey .
