Products that consumers usually approach with caution—coffee and granola bars—got "good ink" recently thanks no doubt to PR efforts by the industries involved.

coffeeAn article on page three of the May 14 New York Times sang the praises of coffee consumption, saying "data vindicates a sometimes maligned beverage."

While "most of us are worrying that it (coffee drinking) might be hurting us" there is "almost no evidence for that at all," says the article by Aaron Carroll, MD and professor of pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine.

Most of the article had appeared May 11 in The Upshot on New Health Care titled "More Consensus on Coffee's Benefits Than You Might Think." In NYT, the head became, "A Surprising Consensus on Coffee's Health Benefits."

Left out of the NYT version was this paragraph toward the end:

"But it's way past time that we stopped viewing coffee as something we all need to cut back on. It's a completely reasonable addition to a healthy diet, with more potential benefits seen in research than almost any other beverage we're consuming. It's time we started treating it as such."

The graph, excised by NYT editors, typifies the rah-rah tone of the article.

Health Sites Rip Article

Health News Review called the article "unbalanced," saying "the exploration of harms was not nearly as thorough as the coverage of benefits" and showed "coffee confirmation bias."

"We have to wade 18 paragraphs into this story through a mug full of studies showing benefits of coffee on every health condition imaginable, before we receive a weak restraining comment about the lack of randomized trials in this area, That's too little, too late."

HNR suspects that "Big Coffee" is somehow involved, perhaps in funding some of the studies.

"Big Coffee" is the National Coffee Assn. whose CEO is William Murray, former CEO of PR Society of America. Joe DeRupo, who was a PR staffer under Murray at the Society, is director of member relations and communications.

If NCA is involved in this story, Murray and DeRupo deserve a lot of credit since its upbeat tone matches that of any press release we have ever seen.

Statistical Examples Challenged

Carroll
Carroll

Drinking lots of coffee—even six or seven black cups a day—might reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, the article says.

"Increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a lower relative risk of liver cancer by more than 40%," says the article.

ANH pounced on this by asking: "Really? 40% of what? My lifetime risk of liver cancer to start with, according to the American Cancer Society, is one in 81, while an average woman's risk is about one in 196. This equates to 1.23% for men and 0.51% in women. Reducing a man's relative risk of liver cancer then goes from 1.2% down to 0.72%, a difference of about 0.48. Is that worth an extra two cups of coffee per day?"

65% Use Milk & Sugar

A flaw in the article is failure to mention that 65% of Americans add milk and sugar to their coffee, according to Statistics Brain. All the results cited by Carroll apply only to the 35% who drink coffee black. Fifty-four percent of Americans drink coffee every day.

Why is milk and sugar so popular with coffee? Because it "makes the coffee taste wonderful," says the Alliance for National Health.

Negatives left out include the fact that caffeine is addictive and cutting down or stopping coffee consumption can be difficult and even on a par with trying to stop smoking.

Coffee is used by some for its laxative effect. But this means that nutrients are expelled by the body before they can be absorbed, say scientists. The caffeine in coffee may cause "jitteriness" and pregnant women should avoid that substance, says the Carroll article. Caffeine should not be consumed after 2 p.m. to avoid interference with sleep, say some doctors.

"The fact that coffee contains good stuff does not necessarily mean that it's good for us," says James D. Lane, Phd., professor of medical psychology and behavioral medicine at Duke.

Daily News Lists "Good" Granola Bars

Granola bars, another product that has been hit with negative news recently such as the FDA ordering Kind Healthy Snacks to take the word "healthy" off at least four of its products, got some "good ink" in the May 12 New York News.

Settembre
Settembre

The article by Jeanette Settembre names "five good bars": Chocolate Peanut Butter Quest Bar; Think Thin Cinnamon Bun White Chocolate; That's It Apple + Coconut; NuGo Slim Espresso Bar, and Mango Health Warrior Chia Bar.

Among the five "bad bars" was Kind Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants with 180 calories (equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar), 9g fat, 4g protein and 14g sugar.

Dietician Tanya Zuckerbrot says it is "A bar with little or no fiber and protein digests quickly, so it won't satisfy hunger for very long. A ‘health' bar should not exceed five grams of fat per serving."

Joseph Cohen, SVP of communications for Kind and 2014 chair of PR Society of America, said, when the company was hit with the order in April, that Kind is fully committed to working with the FDA and is "moving quickly to comply with its request."

He said nuts were to blame for the labeling problem. The nuts in the bars "contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under FDA's standards," he said. "There is an overwhelming body of scientific evidence supporting that nuts are wholesome and nutritious."

Bars "Nothing More Than Candy"

Settembre says "Energy bars marketed as healthy alternatives to full meals are often nothing more than candy wrapped in a protein or fiber skin." She calls it a "billion-dollar boondoggle" that is "making America fat."

Nutritionist Kim Carolan told her, "Most bars are a dead food, meaning they lack nutritional vaue and are high in sugar, causing our body to still feel hungry."

Kind bars are "not the only villain," wrote Settembre.

NBC News and other media have noted that granola bars can contribute to cavities since the sticky material in them stays on the teeth long after the bars have been digested. The bars are often consumed "on the run" when rinsing out the mouth with water or brushing the teeth are not readily available options.

The Washington Post, in an article May 15 by Aseem Malhota on diet, exercise and weight, said "too much junk food" and other poor eating habits "contribute more to disease and death than smoking, alcohol and physical inactivity combined."