Another challenge to coffee's safety....

Another challenge to coffee's safety . . .

Most Americans drink caffeinated beverages, with coffee and tea among the most popular. But according to a report in the October AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, heavy caffeine consumption may increase the risk of osteoporosis -- a condition involving bone loss and embrittlement, contributing to the high rate of hip fractures among the elderly.

Researchers with Boston University, Brown University in Province, R.I., and the Framingham (Mass.) Study examined data on 3,170 elderly men and women taking part in the long-running Framingham project, in which vlunteers have answered questionnaires and undergone health exams every two years for decades. In analyzing caffeine consumption and hip fractures between 1971 and 1985, the researchers calculated that volunteers with a history of drinking 2.5 to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily, or twice that much tea, experienced a 69 percent greater risk of osteoporosis than did caffeine abstainers. Those drinking more than 3.5 cups of coffee or seven cups of tea appear to have increased their risk by 82 percent compared with those who avoided caffeine. The researchers say these findings square with animal studies showing that caffeine increases urinary calcium excretion and may inhibit gastric absorption of calcium in the elderly.