History of Healthcare Advertising, Part 2

The Virtue of Coffee Then and Now

In 1657 many products and patent medicines were marketed as cure-alls, even coffee. This early advertisement, a hand bill reprinted by the British Museum, extols the virtues of drinking coffee.

The coffee drink, it claims, “aids digestion, quickens the spirits and makes the heart lightsome. It’s good against the Head-ache and will stop Defluxion of Rheums, helps consumption and cough of the lungs. It is excellent to cure the dropsy, gout and scurvy, excellent remedy against the spleen, hypochondriac winds, and prevents drowsiness, making one fit for business. It will hinder sleep for three or four hours. It is neither laxative nor restringent.“

Today we read and hear research reports on the benefits or pitfalls of many foods that are part of our everyday diet. These reports tend to spark dietary fads or boycotts based on scientific research from the medical community. Advertisers are quick to exploit these findings: touting the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids, whole grain and gluten-free, while warning of the dangers of trans fats, bad cholesterol and preservatives.

For years we’ve been hearing about how coffee (or too much coffee) is not good for you. It damages your stomach, keeps you awake, causes heartburn and hypertension, and should be avoided by pregnant women. But recent reports have us rethinking the benefits of coffee.

Recently new medical research is pointing to evidence that coffee does more good for you than bad. A study published in May in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at hundreds of thousands of men and women and found this bottom line result: people who drank coffee lived longer than those who didn’t. For a more general overview this article in the Atlantic Monthly makes a case for drinking as much coffee as you like.

Maybe this handbill from 1657 was more correct then we would have believed.