Do you avoid health negatives related to coffee by drinking decaf?

Coffee and Decaf
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY

Published: October 28, 2003, New York Times

Do you avoid health negatives related to coffee by drinking decaf?

A. "My flip answer would be, 'What negatives?' " said Dr. Stephen Scheidt, director of cardiology training at the New York Weill Cornell Center. "Insomnia? That can be a good thing." While there are controversies about whether caffeine can cause some health problems, "there is absolutely no question that single-car accidents are reduced in coffee drinkers," he said.

Dr. Scheidt said the bad reputation of normal consumption of regular coffee resulted from flawed Scandinavian studies suggesting that higher caffeine consumption was associated with heart disease. More careful studies have not borne out a link, he said, and the very large Health Professionals Study at Harvard found "absolutely no increased risk of heart disease with four cups of regular coffee a day or even more."

More...