Effects of Coffee & Methamphetamine

• From 1980 to 2008 farms worldwide produced 3.8 percent less corn and 5.5 percent less wheat, in spite of advances in farm technology. A new study by a team of American researchers attributes this to rising temperatures. Analysis of the data indicate that more corn and wheat could have been produced if global weather had been cooler. According to the authors, “Climate-induced losses could have driven up prices of corn by 6.4 percent and wheat by 18.9 percent since 1980.” The bottom line is that such losses might be offset by developing crops that can withstand higher temperatures. (Science online, May 5, 2011)

• Can drinking coffee help prevent strokes in women? A large study conducted over a 10-year period found that women who drank at least one cup of coffee a day were 23 percent less likely to have a stroke than women who drank less. Unfortunately, no distinction was made between regular and decaf coffee. Caffeine, of course, is the chemical in coffee that has the greatest effect on the body and brain. Drinking coffee may slightly lessen the risk of acquiring Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, and dementia. There is also evidence that coffee may protect against some kinds of cancers (e.g., melanoma). On the other hand, caffeine is a stimulant that increases blood flow and pressure, increases the level of sugar in the blood, and is a mild diuretic. And caffeine is known to aggravate the effects of stress. It appears that each individual must evaluate the effects of caffeine on their mood, behavior, physiology, then determine how much and when to enjoy a cup of coffee. (In the medical journal, Stroke, March 10, 2011; various other studies)

• Methamphetamine, or meth, is an extraordinarily dangerous drug. About 1.5 million Americans now use it for recreational purposes or to lift mood, and its use is rapidly growing. Meth is now the third most widely used recreational drug in America, behind alcohol and marijuana. An ad on television compared the brain on drugs to a frying egg, but there is growing evidence that meth can scramble both brain and body. Studies in mice and rats, and now in fruit flies, indicate that meth causes muscle degradation, diminishes sperm production in males, and even speeds up the aging process in body cells (e.g., the heart).

It has long been known that meth users have a sweet tooth and crave sugar. Recent research indicates that meth causes cells to behave as if their oxygen supply is cut off, and when cells are oxygen deficient, they have an insatiable appetite for sugar. Thus the meth addict has a craving for sugar to try to compensate for diminished availability of oxygen at the cellular level. This craving is associated with the gradual breakdown of the addict’s brain and body cells. (Science News, May 21, 2011; PLoSONE, April 20, 2011; other sources)

• Which country is the world’s largest exporter of pork? It’s Denmark. And if you like pork and can find Danish pork on the market, buy as much as your freezer will hold. Here’s why. Denmark is one of the few countries in the world that has a regulation prohibiting the use of subtherapeutic (low level) dosing with antibiotics of pigs, chickens, and other farm animals. This is in contrast to the U.S., where lobbyists have prevented similar regulations. As a result, we are exposed to ever-increasing numbers of drug-resistant strains of bacteria that often cannot be controlled by even the most potent of our antibiotics. The reason is that the low levels of antibiotics fed to chickens and livestock select for antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that may infect humans (e.g., MRSA infections). (“Our Big Pig Problem,” in Scientific American, April 2011)