Why I Drink Coffee Every Day

Coffee every day? You bet. There are some things we hate to love. And some we love to hate. Coffee is both. People talk about the evils of coffee in the same way they talk about addictions to meth or cocaine (or the so-called evils of sugar). Whether you drink it or not, you've likely been told over and over about the detriment of coffee consumption from one health guru or another.

I once believed that myth and quit drinking coffee completely for a couple of years. Now I drink coffee every day. Because I'm a hopeless addict? No. Because I sifted through the hype and learned about the health benefits of coffee.

Health benefits of coffee? Yes, they really do exist. And some are pretty cool. So here's why I drink coffee every day:

• Coffee is nutritious! It contains a lot of magnesium and B vitamins essential to our health and well being. I firmly believe it's best to get nutrients from food sources if possible (supplements can be problematic for a variety of reasons), so coffee fits right into that equation.

• I don't like cancer. Drinking coffee every day is linked to a 25 percent lower endometrial cancer risk in women. Plus women who drink coffee daily are far less at risk for certain types of breast cancer (like up to 57 percent less!). More studies have shown coffee's protective effects against skin cancer and colon cancer.

• I do like my liver, and coffee may protect your liver. Studies show people who drink caffeinated coffee have lower markers of liver disease.

• Thyroid health is paramount if you want to be healthy and feel well, and some research suggests coffee may play a key role in protecting you from thyroid disease.

• Coffee can inhibit iron absorption, which can protect against various health problems associated with high iron.

• Coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, and coffee can help reduce symptoms in current Parkinson's patients. 

• Coffee can help lower serotonin levels. (Think that's a bad thing? Check out my posts here.) This may explain why coffee lowers suicide risk.

But the health benefits of coffee aren't the only reason I indulge my java habit. Here are even more reasons I love drinking coffee every day...

• Coffee is an excellent medium for other nutritious foods. I drink my coffee with a full serving of real milk and a healthy dose of gelatin protein. Getting plenty of protein is a must for me, so it's a great way to start my morning. I sometimes also throw in a spoonful of coconut oil, which can help with managing weight, clearing up acne and a whole lot more.

• It smells fantastic! Very few people I've met have told me they don't love the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee. Forget air freshener. Just brew me a cup of joe.

Of course, there are two sides to every story, even this one. As always, I recommend doing your own research and listening to your body when it comes to coffee--or food, exercise, and pretty much everything else in life!

Do you drink coffee? Do you think it's a bad habit or a good one? Let me know what you think in the comments below!


References:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/health/story/2011-11-22/Study-links-coffee-to-lower-cancer-risk-in-women/51352352/1

http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/758338

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2816215

http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20110513

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120801165353.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7815087/Coffee-can-cut-chances-of-developing-Parkinsons-disease-according-to-new-research.html

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/really-drinking-coffee-lowers-colon-cancer-risk/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/coffee-skin-cancer-caffeine-basal-cell-carcinoma_n_1644262.html

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml


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Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 3

This is Part 3 in a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 here.

Questions are one of the only things in life that come in unlimited quantities. Ask any four-year-old. I certainly found no shortage of questions when I started looking into the problems of high serotonin. Yes, I said high serotonin. While serotonin deficiency seems to be the blanket diagnosis these days, there's evidence that too much serotonin may be causing more problems than too little.

So, questions? Yep, there are plenty. Here are some of my own questions about serotonin, and what I've drummed up through a little out-of-the-box research.

High Serotonin Q and A

• If serotonin deficiency doesn't cause depression, then what does?

There are a number of possible answers, but some of the top contenders are low thyroid function, dopamine deficiency, and hormonal imbalance (such as low progesterone/high estrogen in women). All of these can be interrelated and are largely affected by diet and lifestyle.

• How do we treat mood disorders outside of increasing serotonin? 

Looking at some of the possible root causes above, some of the best ways to approach mood disorders and depression would be improving metabolic health and balancing hormones. Granted, that's easier said than done. But again, lifestyle and diet play an enormous role in these areas. (More on that in the future.)

• Why do tryptophan, 5-HTP and St. John's Wort make some people feel terrible (like me), but make others feel better?

Believe me, this is a big question of mine. It obviously depends a lot on a person's specific metabolic state. But one interesting possibility is that high serotonin stimulates the release of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Both of these chemicals can boost your mood and energy in the short term, but can have negative side effects if levels remain chronically high.

• What about light therapy, getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating well? Don't all these make you feel better because they raise serotonin levels?

No! That's a mainstream myth. Pretending that those things only affect serotonin levels is a great example of one-dimensional thinking. For example, being in the sunlight boosts thyroid function, exercising can raise dopamine levels, and eating enough protein can improve liver health. All of those directly impact your moods. And that's just a couple quick examples. The body is an incredible cascade of hormones, chemicals, energy and cells. Reducing it all to serotonin levels is ignoring the larger picture of mental (and physical) health.

• How did our ideas about serotonin get turned so upside down? 

Short answer? Follow the money. Around the mid-20th century, there were some concerns about the possible side effects of large doses of LSD (which is a serotonin antagonist). Because LSD is essentially anti-serotonin, some took the idea and ran with it. Suddenly increasing serotonin levels became the shiny new treatment for mood disorders and depression. Pretty soon the pharmaceutical industry was up to its elbows in drugs for increasing serotonin, and pretty much stayed that way for the next several decades. It would be financial suicide for them to backpedal and suddenly question the entire mainstream concept of serotonin.

If you're anything like me, these brief answers may have triggered even more questions! In that case, you might want to read some interesting articles on serotonin from Dr. Ray Peat (with ample references) here and here.


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Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 1 and Part 3 if you want to learn more.

After my disturbing experience with 5-HTP and tryptophan supplements (read about that here), I started thinking it was time to question my ideas about serotonin. Although it's known as the "happy" neurotransmitter, I quickly discovered other people have had experiences similar to mine. I started researching high serotonin symptoms and the effects of too much serotonin.

And that's when I found out a very disturbing side effect of high serotonin: increased risk of suicide. 

What?!?!

Talk about a huge light bulb moment. Is this why pharmaceutical antidepressants can cause suicidal thoughts? Obviously, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are supposed to be what antidepressants are treating. Then why are they causing the very problems they are supposed to solve?

The answer is simple: our ideas about serotonin are wrong. Dead wrong.

Serotonin Is Not So "Happy" After All

Although I did find that others had experienced the same 5-HTP side effects as I did, I quickly found out how few professionals acknowledged the problem. Books, articles, websites... they all said the same old thing. Serotonin makes you happy. Serotonin is the depression antidote. We all need some more of that good ole serotonin. 

Everyone seemed to know about the potentially life-threatening risks of anti-depressant drugs, but no one dared to implicate serotonin. I was asking a question that no one wanted to answer.

Well, not exactly no one. Dr. Ray Peat was one researcher in the field of biology that publicly questioned mainstream medicine's ideas about serotonin. He even proposed that serotonin could cause the very problems it's supposed to solve: depression, apathy, anxiety, etc.

I had heard of Ray Peat, but some of his ideas sounded kooky to me, so up until that point I had largely ignored all of his work. But now I was listening. And boy did I get an earful.

Here are a few interesting quotes about serotonin from Dr. Peat:

- In hibernating animals, the stress of a declining food supply causes increased serotonin production. In humans and animals that don’t hibernate, the stress of winter causes very similar changes. Serotonin lowers temperature by decreasing the metabolic rate. Tryptophan and melatonin are also hypothermic. In the winter, more thyroid is needed to maintain a normal rate of metabolism.

- Overdose with the serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or with 5-hydroxytryptophan [or 5-HTP], which has effects similar to serotonin, can cause the sometimes fatal "serotonin syndrome." Symptoms can include tremors, altered consciousness, poor coordination, cardiovascular disturbances, and seizures. Treatment with anti-serotonin drugs can alleviate the symptoms and usually can prevent death. [Note to self: super glad I stopped taking 5-HTP.]

- The serotonin syndrome has been reported in users of St. John’s wort as an antidepressant.

- Although several amino acids can be acutely or chronically toxic, even lethal, when too much is eaten, tryptophan is the only amino acid that is also carcinogenic. (It can also produce a variety of toxic metabolites, and it is very susceptible to damage by radiation.) Since tryptophan is the precursor of serotonin, the amount of tryptophan in the diet can have important effects on the way the organism responds to stress, and the way it develops, adapts, and ages.

- Decreasing tryptophan or decreasing serotonin improves learning and alertness, while increased serotonin impairs learning.

- Serotonin's contribution to high blood pressure is well established. It activates the adrenal cortex both directly and through activation of the pituitary. It stimulates the production of both cortisol and aldosterone.

(You can read Dr. Peat's articles on serotonin and check out his references here and here.)

Reading Dr. Peat's ideas on serotonin provided some answers, but it also led to even more questions. 

• If serotonin deficiency doesn't cause depression, then what does?

• How do we treat mood disorders outside of increasing serotonin?

• Why do tryptophan, 5-HTP and St. John's Wort make some people feel terrible (like me), but make others feel better?

• How did our ideas about serotonin get turned so upside down?

I plan to answer these questions (to the best of my ability) in Part 3 of this series. Stay tuned.

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Serotonin Myths: High Serotonin Blues, Part 1

This is Part 1 in a series on high serotonin. Check out Part 2 and Part 3 to learn even more.

A vast majority of anti-depressant drugs, natural treatments for depression, and much of how the mainstream medical institution views mental health is hinged on one theory: serotonin is the "happy" neurotransmitter. There are thousands of books, blogs, articles and podcasts about increasing serotonin levels to combat depression. But what if our ideas about serotonin are fundamentally wrong?

Questioning mainstream medicine is never fun or easy. It also doesn't tend to make you many friends. But I still managed to find myself in the mess of detangling the serotonin web, trying to sift fact from fiction, reality from hyperbole. And with good reason. I had my own personal experience to reckon with.

Tryptophan, 5-HTP and Serotonin: My Path to Happy?

Mood issues were one of the main reasons I started researching health and nutrition a few years ago. I found right away that most natural health gurus gushed about serotonin's "happy" and "feel-good" benefits. There was a general consensus that serotonin deficiency is a rampant condition that causes everything from depression to insomnia. The conclusion? Most folks need more serotonin. And, hey, I must be one of those folks.

Tryptophan and 5-HTP supplements are all the rage in the natural health community, since these are used by the body to make serotonin. It makes sense: they increase serotonin, and serotonin makes you happy. And who doesn't want to be happy?

It all sounded well and good to me. So off I went to procure my first bottle of 5-HTP. I followed the dosage instructions of a popular mood therapy book, and went about my life, waiting for the happiness to set in.

Unfortunately, that's not quite what happened.

Nightmare on Serotonin Street

It was subtle at first. Just a general brain fog, a touch of apathy. My sleep wasn't improving as much I wanted, so I referred back to my mood book and upped my 5-HTP dosage to the next recommended level.

That's when a stronger sense of apathy set in. I felt unnaturally listless and helpless. Almost like my real self was suddenly trapped in a thick fog in my mind, unable to reach the surface.

And for the first time in my life, I was exhibiting definite signs of depression. I had gone from occasional mood swings and low moods to checking off all the boxes in a depression questionnaire!

Something wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on it yet. After all, I was following recommendations for raising my serotonin, which was supposed to stop depression. There was only one theory about serotonin and therefore only one answer: I must need more serotonin.

Following that line of logic, I raised my dosage of 5-HTP again (though still within recommended levels). It seemed so harmless at the time, but it wasn't.

Within 15 minutes of my first dose, a feeling of intense panic set in. Not a thing in my life had changed in those 15 minutes, and yet suddenly it felt like my entire world was falling apart. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweating, my mind was racing. I genuinely felt I must be losing my mind.

After an hour or so, as the feeling slowly began to fade, as my heart rate returned to normal, a very small but important thought popped into my head: "This started when I took the 5-HTP."

To test this budding theory, I stopped taking 5-HTP completely (to be honest, I was so freaked out I chucked my bottle right into the trash can). I felt much better within hours and completely normal within a few days. And in finding this one answer, I had opened a whole new jar of questions about serotonin.

Getting Some Answers... and Even More Questions

It's funny to think that only by blindly following mainstream ideas about serotonin could I come to a place where I dared to question them.

One of the drawbacks of taking your health into your own hands is that sometimes you don't find out you're wrong until you've pushed the limits and fallen flat on your face. I've done it a few times. It's never fun, but it's always a learning experience.

A few months after the 5-HTP incident, I dared to experiment with tryptophan and endured a similar reaction (though I caught on earlier so it didn't escalate into crazy scary). That's when I started seriously questioning what I'd read about 5-HTP and tryptophan, which led to questioning modern ideas about serotonin and antidepressants as well.

I've learned a lot, but I definitely don't have all the answers... in fact, I've found just as many questions as answers along the way. But even without all the answers, this is too important of a subject to sit on the back burner. After all, our mental health is at stake.



Stay Tuned...

There is a lot more to say on the subject, and I've barely scratched the surface today. So it seems I'm destined to do a series of serotonin posts, and I will be posting more on the topics of tryptophan, serotonin syndrome and high serotonin symptoms in the weeks to come.

Update: I've written more in my series on serotonin! Check out Part 2 and Part 3 if you want to know more.

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