A case in which a newspaper company spread the statement that '25 cups of coffee a day is OK' and experts criticized it.
Coffee is one of the most widely consumed leisure products in the world, and while many studies have shown its health benefits, excessive caffeine intake also has its drawbacks, such as gastrointestinal disorders and insomnia. In the past, research results that included data from a person who consumed as many as 25 cups of coffee a day were misrepresented, and expert organizations stepped in to correct the newspaper reports.
Coffee not as bad for heart and circulatory system as previously thought - Queen Mary University of London
Is it really safe to drink 25 cups of coffee a day? - BHF
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/behind-the-headlines/25-cups-of-coffee
The claim that '25 cups of coffee a day is fine' was widely covered by foreign media in 2019, and the source of this claim is a study presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) by researchers at a British university.
In the study, Stephen Petersen and his team from the William Harvey Institute at Queen Mary University of Health and Human Services divided 8,412 participants into three groups: those who consumed less than one cup of coffee a day (3,892 people), those who consumed one to three cups (2,978 people), and those who consumed four or more cups (1,542 people). They then underwent heart scans and pulse tests.
The average intake of the highest coffee drinking group was 5 cups per day, with the maximum being 25 cups. Some people drank more than 26 cups, but their data was excluded from the analysis.
When the research team compared the participants' test results, they found that there were no significant differences in blood pressure, heart rate, or degree of arterial stiffness between the three groups.
Kenneth Fan of Queen Mary, University of London, who led the data analysis, said: 'While this study does not prove causation, it suggests that coffee is not as bad for your arteries as previous research has suggested. Our study included people who drank up to 25 cups a day, but the highest coffee consumer had an average of five cups a day. Future research would like to study these people in more detail so we can advise safe limits on intake.'
The study was focused on arterial health, and only two participants drank the maximum amount of coffee, 25 cups, but when the study was published, several newspapers ran it as if it proved that drinking 25 cups of coffee a day was okay.
For example, The Times, the world's oldest daily newspaper,
In response to these reports, the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which funds the BCS, said: 'The newspapers were keen to report that coffee has no adverse effects on the heart, but this study failed to reflect the fact that it measured only one aspect of cardiovascular health - the level of arterial stiffness.' It also called the report that drinking 25 cups of coffee a day was safe 'misleading'.
The newspapers' coverage gradually toned down, and The Times, in
According to a report by The Sun, 25 cups of coffee contain 2.375g of caffeine, and Dr Carol Cooper, a doctor at the paper, commented that excessive caffeine intake is harmful.
Some journalists have also taken it a step further. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian was ordered by his editor to try to drink 25 cups of coffee, but after seven cups he gave up after feeling nauseous, trembling and suffering from the stench of coffee.
Commenting on the coffee research, which has involved several UK high-quality and tabloid newspapers, Metin Avkiran, deputy medical director at the BHF, said: 'There are a number of conflicting studies reporting different results on coffee, making it difficult to sift through what to believe. This study published in BCS helps rule out one concern - the potential negative effects of moderate amounts of coffee on your arteries - and we hope it puts the media coverage in perspective.'
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