It’s getting so water is about the only safe beverage left on the planet — and even that doesn’t come without caveats, as researchers point to the dangers of tap and the need to buy bottled. But the newest studies: Drinking four or more cups of coffee a day could bring early death, and cola causes violence in kids.
The coffee study was released Thursday. It found in a years-long study of thousands of men and women that heavy consumers of the brew — specifically, men younger than age 55 who drank more than 28 cups a week, which computes to four cups a day — were 56 percent more likely to have died from any cause, USA Today reported.
Researchers looked at 43,727 men and women between the ages of 20 and 87 between the years of 1971 and 2002, and concluded that one common denominator among the four-cup-a-day male drinkers was that they died at younger ages.
Women, meanwhile, who were younger than age 55 and drank four or more cups of coffee a day were found to have a twofold greater chance of dying than others who didn’t drink so much coffee, the study said.
To keep it simple, the study would seem to suggest: It’s “safe to drink one to three cups of coffee a day,” a co-author said, in the USA Today report. “Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day may endanger health.”
The cups were between 6 and 8 ounces.
On the heels of that coffee study is this one, on the hazards of soda in young children.
A new study reported by the Daily Mail finds that children as young as age 5 became violent, withdrawn and distracted after drinking four soft drinks a day. Those who had four colas were twice as likely to get into fights, wreck property and possessions belonging to others or outright attack others, compared to children who drink other beverages.
The girls were just as likely to engage in the negative behaviors after drinking four sodas as the boys, the study found. At the very least, kids who drink four colas a day were found to be moodier and less capable of focusing than those who drank something else.
It’s the double-whammy of soda’s sugar and caffeine that’s to blame for bringing on the bad behavior, researchers found.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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