| |
Date: 06 Mar 2007 20:55:15
From:
Subject: Re: What can you expect from scientists from a nation of tea-drinkers? Bah!
|
On 6, 9:20 am, Rogue Ja wrote:
> This just in from the BBC: Coffee doesn't make you more alert in the
> morning! Right.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6422279.stm
Meta-analyses (guessing that that's what this "review of previous
studies" is) can be useful, but open to all sorts of methodological
error.
However, this is quite a sensible finding, if a little ho hum. I
don't know of any claims that non-coffee drinkers as a group are less
"alert" than coffee drinkers. "Getting back to normal" is a persuasive
argument, though most of us here are so far from normal that we
probably can't remember and therefore are not much good as a sample.
And even if the finding doesn't explain all of the alertness effect,
it could be substantial.
Kind of embarrassing is the defensive nonsequitur of the coffee
representative who says that x cups a day is perfectly healthy--"and
does have a beneficial effect on alertness and performance even in
regular coffee drinkers." a point that the researchers not only
conceded but was central to their argument.
tin (and don't call me a lert)
|
