In this cohort, 44 percent of men and 49 percent of
women drank at least one cup of decaffeinated coffee per day.
Behavior patterns in those who drank only decaffeinated
coffee were more similar like those of caffeinated coffee
drinkers than non-coffee drinkers. These findings suggest that
decaffeinated coffee consumption should be considered in
studies of the relationship beween coffee drinking and disease
whenever a significant proportion of the study population
drinks decaffeinated coffee.
In this study, coffee drinking was determined at the same
time as all other behaviors, although the period of use for
different behaviors varied from current to usual. Others have
shown that current diet is a strong predictor of past or usual
diet,27 and we have found a strong correlation between usual
and recent alcohol intake in this cohort. It seems unlikely that
differences in the period of use explain the observed associ