Tag: coffee

Reading of the Week: Oral Semaglutide for Alcohol Use Disorder – the New AJP Study; Also, Coffee & Cats, and Routledge on Pathologizing Life

August 6, 2026 /

From the Editor

Only three modestly effective medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment [of alcohol use disorder]. Novel pharmacological targets are desperately needed.

A new paper begins with an old truth: for some, alcohol misuse is devastating, yet effective medications remain few. What then should we make of oral semaglutide? 

In a new study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry – quoted above – Joseph P. Schacht (of the University of Colorado) and his co-authors attempt to answer that question. They report on a phase 2, double-blind, randomized, parallel-arm trial involving 50 participants with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who received oral semaglutide or placebo. “Oral semaglutide significantly reduced alcohol consumption, naturalistic alcohol craving, alcohol-related problems, and cannabis use.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, Dr. Jeffrey S. Woods (of the University of Texas at Houston) and his co-authors describe the history of coffee. In a clever paper for Biological Psychiatry, they review the literature, ultimately concluding that coffee may be healthful. “Despite millennia of enmeshment in human culture, over the past 50 years the medical community has treated coffee with caution.”

Finally, in the third selection, Clay Routledge (of the Archbridge Institute) writes about the growing awareness of mental health problems and, ironically, our deteriorating collective mental health. In an essay for The New York Times, he sees a connection. “We should try to spend less time stuck in our heads and more time out in the world, pursuing the kinds of activities that support mental health without making us so obsessed with it.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Coffee & Dementia Risk – the New JAMA Paper; Also, Mental Healthcare and Till on Her Son & His Illness

February 19, 2026 /

From the Editor

Many of us enjoy drinking coffee before a busy afternoon clinic. Is that cup of java actually healthy? Do caffeinated beverages like coffee and tea reduce the risk of dementia?

Smaller studies have suggested that they do reduce risk; a meta-analysis of coffee drinkers had a similar finding. In an impressive, new JAMA paper, Yu Zhang (of Harvard University) and his co-authors attempt to answer these questions. They report on a prospective cohort study involving almost 132 000 people, looking at dementia risk with a follow-up period up to 43 years. They found a reduction of about 18%. “Greater consumption of caffeinated coffee and tea was associated with lower risk of dementia and modestly better cognitive function, with the most pronounced association at moderate intake levels.” We consider the paper and its implications.

A cup (or two) a day keeps the doctor away?

It’s the paradox of modern psychiatry. Our medications and therapies have never been better, yet access remains poor and quality is uneven, in part because there is no mental health “system.” So, what can be done? In the second selection, from the podcast series Quick Takes, I sit down with Dr. Paul Kurdyak. In addition to being the longest serving ED psychiatrist at CAMH, he is the Vice-President, Medical, of Ontario Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence. “Good systems just work. They don’t need to be navigated.”

And in the third selection, Madeline Till, a psychotherapist, writes about the struggles of her son, who has schizophrenia. In a New York Times essay, she wonders whether it would be easier if he had cancer. “More than anything else I have ever wanted, I want to stop this revolving door. I want schizophrenia to be treated with the same urgency, seriousness and continuity as any other life-threatening illness.”

DG

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