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Re:Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know (2018) by Tenoke on Monday September 06, 2021 @05:36AM (#28431973)
Caffeine is not just harmless, every meta-analysis suggests it's beneficial for the majority and actively reduces all-cause mortality. I've quit it for months at a time but it hasn't made me feel less tired when I do, the opposite in fact.

Of course, there's people like you for which it helps less than hurts but all large studies I can find suggest you are in the minority, not majority.

Re:Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know (2018) by playcache on Monday September 06, 2021 @07:02AM (#28432490)
> Caffeine is not just harmless, every meta-analysis suggests it's beneficial for the majority and actively reduces all-cause mortality.

You're conflating caffeine with coffee, specifically coffees non-caffeine properties.

If you're referring to the Harvard study, that is coffee and its antioxidant properties, they even state [0] "and it doesn’t appear to matter if the coffee is caffeinated or decaf, brewed or instant."

The same antioxidants are widely available in many plant based foods and beyond, something lacking in an American diet, so coffee in that context is beneficial I guess.

However, the caffeine in itself does nothing to reduce mortality, its primary role in plants is an insecticide. In humans its classed as a neurotoxin.

caffeine has no health benefits, beyond cognitive, so sure it might stop you crashing your car if driving tired, but that's about the extent of it.

[0] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/coffee-lo...

Re:Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know (2018) by Tenoke on Monday September 06, 2021 @07:35AM (#28432693)
Yes, I meant coffee though other common methods of ingesting caffeine like tea don't seem to be far off. And no, there's other studies (not sure which one this is from the article you linked).

This recent meta-analysis reviews 40 studies.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31055709/

Re:Melatonin: Much More Than You Wanted to Know (2018) by playcache on Monday September 06, 2021 @08:30AM (#28433026)
The linked meta-study also out rules caffeine

> An inverse association between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality was maintained irrespective of age, overweight status, alcohol drinking, smoking status, and caffeine content of coffee.