Coffee break may be good for your health
Coffee has been blamed for contributing to all kinds of health problems, from high blood pressure to pancreatic cancer, fibrocystic breast disease and osteoporosis.
The main focus has been on caffeine, one of the most extensively studied substances in food. New research has looked at coffee's other chemicals and suggest that coffee may actually have health benefits.
Like all plant foods, coffee, which is derived from a bean, contains many naturally occurring chemicals. Some of these are potentially harmful, but others are potentially healthful. As in tea, many of the beneficial substances are antioxidants, which protect against cell-damaging free radicals, and may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
A study from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania crowned coffee as "America's No. 1 source of antioxidants." Coffee may be the No. 1 source largely because Americans drink so much of it. The fruits and vegetables that are a high source of antioxidants are often neglected in a typical daily meal plan.
Another concern with the findings that ranked coffee as our top source of antioxidants is the type of study that was completed. It measured "antioxidant capacity" in test tubes. No data is available to translate how well the body staves off oxidation compared to test tube studies.
Although coffee contains antioxidants that may be helpful, one test-tube study does not give a person permission to drink unlimited amounts of coffee guilt-free. If the coffee is flavored with sugar and cream or artificial creamers, the calories increase. Depending on the quantity of additives and the amount of coffee consumed, coffee could contribute to weight gain.
With the news of coffee as a potential benefit to heart health, a few studies have also linked coffee or caffeine to a reduced risk of several diseases.
- Type 2 diabetes. Researchers looking at 88,000 women in the Nurses' Health Study at Harvard found that those who drank at least two cups of coffee a day - regular or decaf - have a lower risk of diabetes. Several previous studies of men and women have had similar findings.
- Parkinson's disease. In a well-designed study from Honolulu, men who drank no coffee were two to three times more likely to develop the disease than those who drank one to four cups a day. Decaf was not included in the study.
- Symptomatic gallstone disease. In 2002, another part of the Nurses' Health Study suggested there's a protective effect with four cups. Caffeine is thought to be the primary protective ingredient. Three years earlier the same researchers found a reduced risk in men.
- Liver damage. Regular coffee and tea may help prevent liver disease in people at high risk (due to alcoholism, obesity, or diabetes), according to a recent study in Gastroenterology.
Headlines taunting the health benefits of foods can be misleading. Drinking a few cups of coffee is not the answer to preventing diseases. A healthy lifestyle that includes daily physical activity and a balanced diet is always a part of disease prevention.
Overall, people who drink lots of coffee are more likely to smoke, eat poorly and drink too much alcohol. Researchers take such factors into consideration, but they can't adjust for all of them.
There's no health reasons to avoid coffee unless you suffer adverse effects. Caffeine is a stimulant and boosts heart rate and raises blood pressure temporarily. Coffee increase stomach acid and can cause stomach upset and heartburn. Coffee drinkers often neglect consumption of milk, thus missing calcium and vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis.
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