Coffee CAN Be Healthy

By: Jim Konerko
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:18:03
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Most studies you will read about today tell how coffee can be harmful to you. But did you know that no other American liquid drink contains more healthy antioxidants than coffee? And did you also know that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of developing of the common type-2 diabetes? And did you also know that coffee drinkers may be far less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and colon cancer?

These findings are all based on studies performed at such prestigious universities as Harvard and Vanderbilt. Other studies have been done in Japan, Canada, Holland, and other countries. Many schools participate in research of all foods, to discover antioxidants and how certain foods may help combat disease. Tea is one food used to a large degree, so it necessarily follows that coffee can also be studied as well. In fact, close to 20,000 studies have been done world-wide for the last several years, on finding the benefits of coffee.

As you can guess, the most closely scrutinized ingredient of coffee is caffeine. Caffeine is used in many over-the-counter medicines today, to help with headaches, asthma, and other ailments. But it has been discovered that caffeine can also help with Parkinson’s disease, for example. Moreover, caffeine derivatives are being tested as drugs to possibly help control Parkinson’s.

Coffee is extremely rich with caffeine, possibly four more times than that of other beverages such as cola or tea. But coffee itself is also laden with antioxidants, according to studies done at Harvard. These studies have also shown that decaf coffee demonstrated a reduced risk to diabetes among normal adults, even a lower risk than tea offers. And coffee with caffeine showed an even higher reduction of risk, compared to decaf. Studies done at the University of Scranton have also shown that coffee contains more antioxidants than the average fruit or vegetable.

Another study was done in Japan that demonstrated that daily coffee drinkers showed a reduced risk of developing liver cancer, by as much as 50%, over those people who never drank coffee. This and most of the other studies showed that drinking three to four cups a day was more effective against these diseases, than drinking one or two cups a day.

So does that mean you can drink five or six cups of coffee and eliminate fruits and vegetables from your diet and therefore become immune to all disease? Of course not. Fruits and veggies overall contain many more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients than coffee, and so should not be neglected from any diet. Also they contain fiber, which is essential for good nutrition. Eat your fruits and veggies.

Also, coffee has the caveat that it can raise your cholesterol, make you nervous, make you tremble, raise your heart rate, clog your arteries, and other problems. And research is still going on to discover the benefits of antioxidants, and with coffee in general.

But for sure, if you drink coffee and it doesn’t affect your life any, then feel free to continue and enjoy your habit. In the long run, it may prove more beneficial than you think.

Article source: Expert Articles