Is Coffee Good For You?
In the shadow of all those experiments made by researchers to prove the damaging effects of coffee upon the general well-being of the individual, scientists have been doing thorough research to show the opposite; and, thankfully, they have managed to do a very good job. It seems coffee is not a horrid enemy; on the contrary, it can lengthen the life span (of women mostly because they drink far more coffee than men do) and reduce the incidence of certain ailments.
The conclusion that a group of American researchers have come to is this: Coffee, whether decaffeinated or not and consumed in moderate amounts of up to four or five cups a day, may provide a series of health benefits, irrespective of the age and sex of the individual.
One of the amazing discoveries made is the fact that coffee consumption – and implicitly the intake of caffeine, the frightening component of our much beloved ‘morning cup’ – is associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. It appears that caffeine has protective properties on the nerves. The study, initiated over 15 years ago, was made on heavy coffee-drinkers of all ages over 50. Almost 95% of the subjects have not yet developed the above-mentioned diseases.
Another recent study shows that drinking up to six or seven cups of coffee during the day does not necessarily keep us awake at night, unless there are some seriously bothering problems in our lives. Many people who drank that tremendous amount of coffee showed no sleep disturbance at night or any problems falling asleep.
Some doctors also claim that acid indigestion (as well as gastric and duodenal ulcers) has nothing to do with coffee drinking. An unhealthy diet is responsible for the development of these diseases and, of course, alcohol consumption.
Another stunning discovery is connected to pregnancy. The risk of miscarriage in women who drink at least three cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee a day is smaller than it is with those who haven’t taken a sip of coffee since the day they heard they were going to have a baby.
Cancer is another terrible disease we still have to face at the beginning of this millennium. Researchers have concluded that the outburst of several types of cancer is not related with coffee consumption. On the contrary, various components of coffee (caffeine, coffee oil and antioxidant substances) have a positive effect on regular consumers of coffee and reduce the risk of developing liver, pancreatic and bladder cancer. Coffee is also known to inhibit the output of bile acids which are most responsible for colon cancer.
A serious and widely-spread condition which researchers have shown to be highly improved by regular coffee consumption is asthma. In a study made on twenty thousand subjects it has been shown that the incidence of asthma and that of wheeze can be reduced by 29% by simply drinking coffee.
The list of the positive effects that coffee drinking provides may go on with protection against type 2 diabetes, an improved mental performance or memory boost, and a reduction in the sensation of fatigue.