HIV and ID Observations

I follow the medical literature on coffee very closely.

Why?  Because I’m completely addicted — and, judging from the lines at the Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc at the airports before early morning flights, I am not alone.

(It’s just one cup a day. Any more and say hello to palpitations, jitters, sweats, and long sleepless nights. Is there ever such a thing as a short sleepless night?)

So I thank a former ID fellow for pointing out this key paper:

We performed a secondary analysis of data from the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate the relationship between the consumption of coffee, hot tea, cold tea, and soft drinks, and MRSA nasal carriage …Individuals who reported consuming coffee had about a one-half reduction in the risk of MRSA nasal carriage relative to individuals who drank no coffee (odds ratio = 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.24–0.93).

(Brits will take solace that drinking tea was similarly effective.)

And let the record show that despite various researchers trying to blame coffee for  ulcers, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, gout, birth defects, anxiety, and several cancers — most notoriously pancreatic cancer — the evidence that it causes any of these things is weak at best. In fact, the coffee/pancreatic cancer paper is taught in some statistics classes as an example of how poorly designed case-control studies can give misleading results.

So in defense of this one cup a day addiction, let’s bring on more articles on the health benefits of coffee.