Coffee Health Benefit - Coffee Can be Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

Have you noticed that medical opinion about coffee is changing? Many doctors who once warned against coffee are having to reverse their opinion in the face of new research. In fact, there are many studies now that tout the health benefits of coffee drinking rather than the health risks associated with the caffeine in it.

Sure, massive intake of caffeine, or any other substance isn't good for you, but moderate intake, the way most people drink coffee, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can even have specific benefits for your health.

Coffee, a drink that could arguably be called the most popular beverage in the world, is no longer considered to be Public Enemy Number One. In fact, as research continues into this substance that's been around more than a thousand years, some surprising information has surfaced.

Coffee, The Devil's Drink

Coffee can be traced to Ethiopia where the bushes grew naturally in the countryside. There are various stories that supposedly tell of the discovery of coffee. Claims abound from the shepherds who supposedly chewed the red "cherries" of the plant to stay awake to an Arabian man sent into the desert to die of starvation but who was saved by eating the fruit of what came to be known as coffee.

Regardless of which story is correct, one thing is certain. Most authorities agree that it did begin in Ethiopia. From there it spread throughout the middle east. In Ethiopia, the Galla ground up the berries and mixed it with animal fat. They used this paste as an easily transportable food source when they raided other villages. The paste supplied nutrition and worked as a stimulant to give them an energy boost.

The Turks of the Ottoman Empire brewed it as a drink, and that method of consumption quickly spread in popularity. Christians called it the "devil's drink" because of this. Moslems deemed it so valuable that they forbade its exportation. In fact, they banned its removal from their lands, but someone smuggled it to India anyway. Coffee continued to conquer land after land with its delectable aroma and taste.

Coffee, Blessed By The Pope

Perhaps it was just too good not to be shared with the world. As coffee spread to other countries so did opinions about it. At the same time coffee's popularity was rising so was its negative reputation. Shortly before Captain John Smith brought coffee to the Virginia colony, advisors to the pope in Italy were campaigning to ban the "devil's drink," the favorite beverage of the Ottoman Empire.

Surprisingly, to his credit, Pope Clement VIII decided to taste if for himself. He liked it so much that he blessed it thereby making it acceptable for all Christians.

Coffee Health Benefits On The Human Body

For nearly four hundred years, coffee has been studied for its effect on the human body. As early as 1661, an English treatise was written stating that it helped the "stomack" and the head as well as helping what apparently seemed to be respiratory problems.

At the same time it was being extolled as healthy, another paper declared it caused men to be impotent. Then, as now, there were certainly differing opinions about it.

This controversy continued into present day. Now, however, there are quantitative ways of measuring the efficacy of health claims as well as the accuracy of negative claims.

Several years ago, California research conducted by Takayuki Shibamoto, a professor of environmental toxicology, found that freshly brewed coffee contains potent antioxidants equal to the amount found in three oranges. And you know how good oranges are for you.

The antioxidant in coffee is called methylpyridinium. Oddly enough, this tongue-twister chemical isn't found in large amounts in other foods. Even odder, it's not in the raw coffee bean. It's created during the roasting process from the trigonelline that is present in raw coffee beans.

Antioxidants are all the rage now because of the research that suggests they may prevent cancers and a host of other diseases. Antioxidants are being added to everything from sports drinks to cosmetics.

How fitting that an ancient fruit like coffee "cherries" or beans, as they are now called, has withstood the test of time.

Recorded Coffee Health Benefit

There's a great deal of recorded research to show that coffee has many benefits. Moderate coffee use is associated with reduced risk of:

• Alzheimer's Disease
• Parkinson's Disease
• Gallstones
• Diabetes mellitus
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• A form of liver cancer
• Gout in men over 40

As if that wasn't enough, coffee has been found to also improve cognitive performance. So your belief that your morning cup of coffee jump starts your brain and your afternoon cup of coffee picks you up may actually have scientific foundation.

Coffee also enhances the performance of simple pain relievers like aspirin. Just about everyone knows that if you drink a cup of coffee after taking an aspirin with, of course, a glass of water, that the caffeine makes the aspirin work "better." That's why so many over the counter pain relievers are actually compounds with caffeine added.

Suddenly, research is being conducted on everything from using coffee as a colon cleanser to prevention of dental caries and plaque.

The most startling research to date was the announcement in July 2007 that researchers have discovered that a combination of exercise and caffeine increased the destruction of precancerous cells created by ultraviolet-B radiation damage, that's skin cancer for us non-scientists. The study, done in mice, will have to be replicated in humans, but this excited the cancer research community greatly. If this pans out, you may see coffee bars moving into gyms!

Of course, overuse of coffee, and its caffeine, may cause "jitters" or sleeplessness. Most doctors advise no caffeine during pregnancy whether that's coffee or colas or tea. Pregnant women don't need stimulants of any kind, not just the mild one found in coffee.

The big health risk some associate with coffee is coronary artery disease, but these studies seem to have conflicting results with some showing beneficial effects and some showing detrimental effects.

More recent studies seem to suggest that the method of brewing the coffee has much to do with whether one gets a benefit or a detriment. Boiling the coffee, which is what percolators do, seems to increase a substance called cafestol. This seems to be the culprit in increasing cholesterol levels, more so in women than men, which rises with heavy coffee use. So the way you brew your coffee is a primary factor in whether it may be good or bad for you.

All in all, as a coffee lover, you can take a cup of comfort by knowing that moderate coffee drinking, properly brewed, does seem to have more benefits than drawbacks.

A cup of comfort and a cup of coffee. What a great combination.


[Reproduced by permission of Fresh-Water-Filters.com, an online facility providing readers with information on the health and economic benefits of home water filters, shower water filters, whole house water filters and many more]