Curb Maker machine

When I was dating my wife April, I bought her a Keurig coffee maker. The Keurig® K-Cup® K60/K65 Special Edition & Signature Brewers turned into our favorite machine. We were living in different cities at the time- and she didn’t have a reliable coffee maker to make that one cup she wanted in the morning. She thought this was one of the best gifts I ever gave her. For the first few months of her pregnancy we were still commuting and she used this coffee maker every morning. So, when I hear that someone is saying bad things about this type of coffee maker, I had to read the article and dissect it with a skeptical eye.

Microbes in the Coffee Maker
Allegation:
One of the allegations is that you can never dry the coffee maker out, it is a sealed system, and there is concern that bacteria would grow in the water, and form a biofilm.
Facts:
In order for bacteria to grow, and make biofilms, they need to have a source of nutrition. They can’t make it from water, because there is nothing in water for the little bugs to feed from. The microbiologist in me wondered why would someone talk about that who should know better. The bacteria cannot eat plastics (if they would we would have our landfill problem solved and could use plastic bags from the grocery store without feeling bad).

Think of your kitchen tap- all the water that is in there and yet, you don’t worry about bacteria in your water supply unless it has been contaminated with something. Plant material, for example.

Keurig’s water temperature is 192 degrees F. At that temperature it takes less than 1/2 second to kill 99.999999% of the bacteria in the unit. You don’t have to worry about bacteria living or enough of them living to harm you.
FORK U RULING: no worries about bacterial build up in your machine unless you have a contaminated water supply with lots of sediment.

PLASTIC K CUPS

Allegation:
The K-cups will cause estrogen-like activity because that is what plastics do.
Facts:
The K cup is PA-free and there is no evidence that there are any estrogenic activity found in that type of plastic used in any of the plastics.
FORK U RULING: No worry about growing man boobs with K-cups.

Allegation:
The Cups are non-recyclable
Facts:
This is true. They are not recyclable and can pose a problem.
FORK U RULING: If you worry about the environment, use the reusable K-cups if you still want your Keurig

Allegation:
The lid is aluminum foil and we have to avoid aluminum because of the connection to alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, autism, and celiac disease
Facts:
The aluminum has not been related to the diseases like Alzheimer’s – and aluminum is the third most common metal on earth. This notion comes from old folk lore from years ago, never proven. In fact, when brain tissue was examined from patients who had died with Alzheimer’s disease they found no aluminum in the brain. In terms of the other diseases claimed to be associated with aluminum – there has been no evidence of this.

Allegation:
The coffee is not fresh
Facts:
The coffee is ground, packed, nitrogen flushed, then sealed. It won’t oxidize nor is it exposed to sunlight. However, if you want fresh ground coffee- chances are you will be grinding it yourself and not using a K-cup.
FORK U RULING: The coffee isn’t fresh, but like most ground coffee that is vacuum packed and sealed, it will remain in reasonable shape until you use it. For those of us who use to open the large cans of coffee – that delicious fresh smell when you first open the coffee – that is what you get with the Keurig.

FINAL:
I don’t use the Keurig – but the problem with the article about kicking this machine to the curb is that it is filled with inaccuracies of people whose idea of the scientific method come from the dark ages. But my dad now has the machine- and he is 90 years old and going strong. When I am at his house- I use the machine. So Don’t kick your machine to the curb – in fact, if you want to buy one for a gift, know it is one of the nicest gifts you can give to someone who needs that single cup of coffee.

Dr. Terry Simpson received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago where he spent several years in the Kovler Viral Oncology laboratories doing genetic engineering. He found he liked people more than petri dishes, and received his MD. Dr. Simpson, a renowned weight loss surgeon, is a leading advocate of culinary medicine. A frequent contributor to media outlets discussing health related topics and advances in medicine, he is also a proud dad, husband, author, cook, and surgeon “in that order.” For media inquiries, please visit www.terrysimpson.com.