decaffinated tea and coffee

lola_run

My mother has been diagnosed with osteoperosis. I know that caffeine eats up the calcium in your bones, so I've recommended she drink decaf tea and coffee from now on.

Could anyone please let me know what brands are the best value? Thank you.

Malteaser!

caffeine doesnt eat up the calcium from your bones...where are you getting that from???

lola_run

Malteaser! wrote:

caffeine doesnt eat up the calcium from your bones...where are you getting that from???

Come on, you've never heard about this?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12204390

http://www.mcmaster.ca/health/hwc/Newsletters/march03/building_better_bones.htm

http://www.nutrition.com.sg/atd/atdcaffeine.asp

There has been quite a lot of research done in this area, and there is a link in most cases.

I went for a bone density scan myself not so long ago to detect any risks, and the specialist I saw mentioned that I should limit my caffeine intake to be on the safe side!

Malteaser!

yea i was aware that caffeine caused a person to excrete more urine and that minerals such as calcium could also be excreted at that time. it doesn't eat it out of your bones though and the amount lost doesn't seem to be too substantial.

The amount that is lost can be easily replaced by putting some milk into the tea or coffee, would it not be better to suggest doing that, or just increasing calcium intake overall??

lola_run

Malteaser! wrote:

yea i was aware that caffeine caused a person to excrete more urine and that minerals such as calcium could also be excreted at that time. it doesn't eat it out of your bones though and the amount lost doesn't seem to be too substantial.

The amount that is lost can be easily replaced by putting some milk into the tea or coffee, would it not be better to suggest doing that, or just increasing calcium intake overall??

'eat out of your bones' was just a more colourful expression!

Even if you put milk into caf tea/coffee, I don't think that is the perfect solution.
Of course, calcium intake needs to be increased overall, I never said it shouldn't.

What I was looking for were some brand names of decaf tea/coffee, but noone seems to be able to help...

emeraldstar

brand names?...sure if you just walk into a supermarket heaps of brands of tea and coffee have a decaff version. I buy Barry's decaffeinated tea, it's in a blue box and it's great. Tastes exactly like the regular one and doesn't keep me awake

lola_run

emeraldstar wrote:

brand names?...sure if you just walk into a supermarket heaps of brands of tea and coffee have a decaff version. I buy Barry's decaffeinated tea, it's in a blue box and it's great. Tastes exactly like the regular one and doesn't keep me awake

Sorry, no can do. I'm not actually living in Ireland so I can't do that. Thanks for the recommendation!

brianthebard

Malteaser! wrote:

yea i was aware that caffeine caused a person to excrete more urine and that minerals such as calcium could also be excreted at that time. it doesn't eat it out of your bones though and the amount lost doesn't seem to be too substantial.

The amount that is lost can be easily replaced by putting some milk into the tea or coffee, would it not be better to suggest doing that, or just increasing calcium intake overall??

Its usually not a substantial loss but for someone with osteoporosis they are as well off to drink decaffeinated beverages, to be on the safe side. For anyone else there should be no health risk from caffeine (for your bones at least)

lola_run

brianthebard wrote:

Its usually not a substantial loss but for someone with osteoporosis they are as well off to drink decaffeinated beverages, to be on the safe side. For anyone else there should be no health risk from caffeine (for your bones at least)

Well,women who have a high caffeine intake and low calcium intake are at risk of developing osteoperosis later in life, so prevention is better than cure.

rediguana

I would imagine for a FMCG like tea / coffee, there really won't be huge variation in the prices of differing brands, in run-of-the-mill supermarkets anyway.

Tell your mum to stay off the fizzy drinks too. They're probably a worse culprit than tea / coffee, in terms of leaching nutrients from the bones.

lola_run

rediguana wrote:

I would imagine for a FMCG like tea / coffee, there really won't be huge variation in the prices of differing brands, in run-of-the-mill supermarkets anyway.

Tell your mum to stay off the fizzy drinks too. They're probably a worse culprit than tea / coffee, in terms of leaching nutrients from the bones.

Noone drinks fizzy drinks in our family!!