Coffee
from pa^t A!
tion that coffee may have a protec
tive effect against colon cancer. A
possible explanation may lie in the
many antioxidant substances pre
sent in coffee and which are cur
rently subjects of active research.
"In some sensitive individuals,
ingestion of coffee after a period of
abstinence may cause a temporary
rise in blood pressure but there is no
hypertensive effect in the long term.
Coffee made by the Scandinavian
method of boiling or by the
cafetiere method may cause mild
elevation of plasma cholesterol
concentration in some people but
instant and filter coffee have no
such effects. Overall there is no
influence of coffee drinking on
heart disease risk.
"There is no reason for people
who arc prone to ulcers to avoid
coffee. Coffee has a mild diuretic
effect but this does not result in
problems of fluid loss during exer
cise or influence susceptibility to
kidney stones.
"Drinking coffee has been asso
ciated with a reduced risk of gall
stone disease."
CoSIC lists a number of health
benefits from drinking coffee,
including:
? Bronchial asthma - "Caffeine
has long been known to help asth
matics and many have found regu
lar consumption of coffee to assist
in moderating attacks. Scientifically
this has been supported by two
large studies in the United States
and one in Italy where three or
more cups of coffee per day were
associated in a close related manner
with reduced prevalence of asth
ma."
Bridge
from page A 5
tion about a variety of programs
and services available to the com
munity.
Payday
from page AI
stricter rules for the industry to fol
low.
The General Assembly green
lighted the industry in hopes of giv
ing the state's poorest residents an
opportunity to get quick cash for
emergency situations.
Those who use payday lending
services are asked to write a check
for the amount they borrow plus
interest. In most cases, people return
to the lender to pay off the check or
have the lender deposit the check
once they receive their paychecks or
other sources of money.
But opponents of the industry
have concerns about everything
from what they call excess interest
rates to the repeated use of the ser
vices by thousands of North Car
olinians. many of whom are the
poorest of the poor.
"What we found out is when
people use the payday lender one
time, two times, three times, four
times or five times, (the payday
lender doesn't make any
money)....When you use them 10,
12, 13...times, they start making
money." said Octavia Rainey or the
Community Reinvestment Associa
tion of North Carolina.
Rainey's organization helped to
fund the book along with The Cen
ter for Community Capitalism, The
Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of
Private Enterprise and The Univer
sity of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
Rainey has taken her concerns
about the payday lending industry
? Alertness and mood "Caf
feine can increase the speed of rapid
information processing by 10 per
cent. and a cup of regular (caffeine
containing) coffee after lunch helps
to counteract the normal "post
lunch dip' in ability to sustain con
centration. aiding alertness."
? Reduced depression and anxi
ety.
Mindy Nichols from
WFUBMC declined to comment
on studies that she had not read,
took issue with some of the findings
reported by CoSIC and agreed on
some points. She said there is no sci
entific proof that coffee drinking
reduces the risk of colon cancer or
reduces the risk of gallstone forma
tion. "It's just an association," she
said
She said that CoSIC's findings
about blood pressure and hyperten
sion are probably correct, but that
doctors recommend that pregnant
women limit the amount of coffee
they drink.
She said she asked four doctors
and they don't recommend coffee as
a treatment for bronchial asthma.
She said she doesn't believe that
caffeine can increase speed of rapid
information processing by 10 per
cent. She said that a cup of regular
coffee after lunch helps to counter
act the post-lunch dip. but only for
a short while.
She said that caffeine stimulates
the central nervous system. She said
that when people talk about the
effects of coffee, they should broad
en the topic to include otfier things
that include caffeine such as colas,
chocolate, tea. Mountain Dew, even
some over-the-counter medications
such as Excedrin.
"I think moderation is a key
word." she said, defining modera
tion as about 200 mg of caffeine a
Bessie Bowman, a resident of
Easton, said, "I like it. I would like
(St. Peter's) to do this again."
This was the first of several
community events that are sched
uled throughout the year. For more
information, call (336) 650-0200 or
across the state and her group is lob
bying legislators to put the nails into
the coffin of the industry.
Rainey said the industry was
able to generate close to $ 100 million
last year by preying on those who
have few options and fewer dollars
in the bank. Rainey also said the
industry has become notorious for
using Gestapo-like tactics to retrieve
borrowed money, such as contacting
friends and co-workers of the bor
rower and taking borrowers to
court.
Those in the payday lending
industry have taken issue with con
cerns raised by Rainey s organiza
tion and with notions that the indus
try is nothing more than a legalized
form of loan sharking.
Theresa Jones, owner of a
Durham-based cash advance busi
ness, is featured in the book. She
traveled here to take part in the
forum to say that those in the indus
try are painted with too wide of a
brush.
Jones claims that she was not
driven by money when she decided
to enter the cash advance profession.
A divorced mother, Jones said
there have been times when she
needed to pay a bill and did not have
enough to do so. The feelings of
despair she felt in those situations
led her to the industry.
"They don't believe me when I
say I opened the business to help
people." Jones said. "There is a great
need out there for this type of ser
vice."
Jones also rejected the accusa
tion that businesspeople like her
encourage people to repeatedly bor
row money. Contrary to that notion.
day, which is about 12 ounces of
brewed coffee.
If you consume large amounts
of caffeine, she suggests that you
talk to your physician. Some peo
ple's health conditions, such as car
diac problems, could be aggravated
by consuming a lot of caffeine, she
said.
In general, she said, "drinking a
moderate amount of caffeine ..is
not associated with increased health
risk."
An article by Amanda Gardner
in the New York Daily News quot
ed Dr. Michael Thun. head of epi
demiological research for the Amer
ican Cancer Society, as saying,
"There's remarkably little evidence
to suggest that caffeinated sub
stances pose any risk of cancer."
The article said there is some
evidence that the diuretic properties
of caffeine may help lower the risk
of bladder cancer, and that certain
teas, especially green tea, may have
a general anti-cancer effect.
Mindy Nichols disagrees that a
cancer-reduction property associat
ed with caffeine comes from its
diuretic (increasing the flow of
urine) property; her interpretation
of studies is that it comes from a
plant chemical.
Nichols said caffeine is a diuret
ic, and since many Americans don't
drink enough liquids, drinking caf
feinated beverages could lead to
more dehydration.
She agreed with a statement in
Gardner's article that caffeine may
apparently contribute to the devel
opment of benign cysts in the
breast and to breast pain, especial
ly around the time of menstruation.
And she agreed with the article that,
according to the National Osteo
porosis Foundation, although caf
feine can interfere somewhat with
send e-mail to genintb@spwoc.com.
St. Peter's World Outreach Cen
ter is pastored by Dr. James C.
Hash Sr. and is one of the fastest
growing, non-denominational, mul
ticultural churches in the Southeast
ern United States.
Jones said, she often counsels her
clients when they borrow repeatedly,
sometimes referring them to Con
sumer Credit Counseling and other
agencies that can serve them better.
"The business is legit, if the peo
ple running it are legit," she said.
Tim Brewer, general manager of
K.Y Check Exchange in Winston
Salem. was also on hand. He lis
tened to Rainey's arguments and
tried to counter by making a few
points of his own before the crowd.
Brewer said those who actually
rely on cash advance services are not
branding the industry unfair and
opportunistic.
"People are not complaining:
they are leaning against the doors,"
he said. "They want us to help
them."
Brewer said he is concerned
about what decision the General
Assembly will make in July concern
ing the future of his industry. With
three branches, his company
employs more than a dozen people
who may lose their jobs if legislators
decide that the industry has run its
course.
State Rep. Oldham has made it
clear that he does not like the payday
lending industry in its current form.
"There is a problem there and we
have to address it," he said. "We
have heard complaints from people
about (the industry) for a while
now."
Oldham added that educating
the public about the industry may be
the ultimate solution because some
payday lenders operated before the
General Assembly bill in 1997 and
can still operate, in some form, if the
bill is not renewed.
the absorption of calcium, this is
offset by raising your calcium
intake. Nichols said, "Caffeine does
have the ability to (excrete calcium)
through urine. It is a small amount.
Meeting recommended intake of
calcium each day will help protect
bones."
She agreed with the article's
statement that an additional prob
lem with adolescents is that so
many of them drink caffeinated
soda instead of milk that they don't
get enough calcium in the first
place.
Nichols also said that people
who suffer from insomnia will sleep
better if they stay away from caf
feine.
Gardner's article also said that
the Journal of the American Med
ical Association (JAMA) reported
in its May 2000 issue that
researchers found that higher coffee
and caffeine intake (three large
cups of coffee a day) was associated
with a significantly lower incidence
of Parkinson's disease among a
group of Japanese American men;
and that a study published in May
2000 in the American Journal of
Hypertension concluded that peo
ple with high blood pressure should
avoid caffeine during high-stress
situations at work, because it could
Technology
from page AI
and upgrades in computer labs are
issues that have been identified and
addressed, the chancellor said.
Another component of Rams
Online gives faculty members and
advisers a secure site on which they
can manage course information
push up their blood pressure even
more."
According to the article that
appeared in JAMA, researchers
found that for non-drinkers of cof
fee. after adjusting for age and ciga
rette smoking, the risk of Parkin
son's disease was two to three times
greater than for coffee drinkers.
Based on data collected at the time
of the study, non-drinkers of coffee
had a risk of Parkinson's disease
more than five times that of those
who consumed 28 ounces or more
of coffee per day.
Researchers in the study that
appeared in JAMA don't know
whether the benefit comes from the
caffeine or something else.
A summary of the study that
appeared in the American Journal
of Hypertension says, "The effects
of caffeine on blood pressure (BP)
and Cortisol secretion were exam
ined during work stress in medical
students at high versus low risk for
hypertenson. Among 31 male med
ical students who were regular con
sumers of caffeine, 20 were consid
ered at low risk for hyperten
sion....This combined effect of
stress and caffeine on BP suggests
that it may be beneficial for individ
uals at high risk for hypertension to
refrain from the use of caffeinated
and advise students.
The university hopes the new
technology will reduce traffic at the
financial aid and registrar's offices,
giving staffers in those depart
ments more free time to do other
work.
Martin said he wants the stu
dents and faculty to get acclimated
to the new system because the uni
versity may decide to follow the
beverages, particularly at times
when work demands and attendant
stressors are high. For the same rea
sons, recent intake of caffeine
should be controlled in patients
undergoing BP measurement for
the diagnosis of hypertension."
Caffeine is also associated with
increased beating of the heart and
nervousness.
Here's what the American
Dietetic Association Web site says
about caffeine: "Caffeine boosts
energy, fights fatigue and steps up
your heart rate? Which statements
are true and which are hype? All
may be true. Caffeine is a stimulant
which can temporarily speed heart
rate, wake you up and give you a
burst of energy, but the effects are
short-term, which may be why you
keep drinking.
"Caffeine acts as a diuretic, ajid
(if you consume a lot of caffeine),
you may notice you're always
thirsty. Caffeine can also upiet
some people's stomachs.
"If you enjoy caffeine, keep
(your intake) in balance and try to
include plenty of more nutritiqus
beverages, like milk or juice. To cut
back on caffeine, start gradually to
avoid withdrawal headaches. Mix
half decaf and half regular or Jry
every other cup decaf."
path of other schools by requirihg
entering freshmen to have a laptop.
"At some point very soon we
will make that decision," he saict
Campus Pipeline - a technolo
gy venture that integrates thiijgs
such as campus communications,
academic resources and distance
learning on a single secure com
puter system was also unveiled
by the university last week.
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