Is coffee good? or bad? - justify...?!
Is coffee good? or bad? - justify...?
There are many controversies related to coffee, some say it is good, some say it is bad, some say it has prevention properties agains some kind of diseases, what is the truth?
Answers:
One or two cups a day can actually be healthy. It can help alot with depression. But like with anything, too much is really bad.
Latest findings, it is good for your heart. ~
So is unprocessed cocoa.
Here's an article from today's paper that discusses this & found lots of studies showing benefits of coffee: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...
IT ONLY TOOK ME 3 seconds to get this off GOOGLE next time google it first
Studies indicate coffee reduces the risk for diabetes and Parkinson's
Some studies have shown that coffee may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. After analyzing data on 120,000 people over an 18-year period (1), researchers at Harvard have concluded that drinking 1 to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee each day can reduce diabetes risk by several percentage points, compared with not drinking coffee at all.
Even more significant, is the fact that in this study, having 6 cups or more per day slashed men's risk by 54% and women's risk by 30% over those who avoided coffee. This study is the latest of hundreds of studies which suggest that coffee may be something of a health food - especially in higher amounts.
Over the past 20 years, over 19,000 studies have been conducted to examine the impact of coffee on one's health. Overall, the results are good news for the 110 million Americans who routinely enjoy this traditional morning ritual.
"By and large, the studies (2) show that coffee is far more beneficial than it is harmful," says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, researcher at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts its own research and tracks coffee studies around the globe. For most individuals, studies show that very little bad comes from drinking coffee, but a lot of good.
At least 6 studies (3) indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis have up to 80% lower risks of developing Parkinson's disease, with 3 of those studies indicating that the more coffee they drink, the lower the risk. Other studies indicate that, compared to not drinking coffee, drinking at least 2 cups per day can lead to a 25% lower risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in the risk of liver cirrhosis, and nearly 50% the risk of gallstones.
Is it the caffeine that is responsible for those benefits? Is it the antioxidants in coffee beans, some of which become especially potent during the roasting process?
Studies indicate that it might be both those factors.
"The evidence is very strong that regular coffee consumption reduces the risk for Parkinson's disease and that in the case of Parkinson's disease, the benefits are directly related to caffeine," according to Dr. DePaulis (2).
Researchers believe that some of coffee's reported beneficial effects are a direct result of its higher caffeine content: An 8-ounce cup of coffee contains about 85 mg of caffeine - about 3 times more than the same serving of tea or soda.
In another study (4), researchers looked at the coffee consumption and caffeine intake in 8,000 Japanese-American men. During the course of the study which lasted nearly 30 years, about 100 men developed Parkinson's disease. The risk of developing Parkinson's decreased gradually as the daily consumption of coffee rose from 4 ounces to more than 24 ounces per day.
In addition, the researchers found the same decrease in risk regardless of the source of caffeine. The men whose intake was less than 2.8 milligrams of caffeine per day were nearly 3 times more likely to develop Parkinson's than those whose caffeine intake was more than 107 milligrams from non-coffee sources.
Coffee and reduced diabetes risks
But other benefits can be derived from coffee which have nothing to do with caffeine. Coffee is loaded with antioxidants, including a group of compounds called "quinines" which when administered to rats in a laboratory, increases their insulin sensitivity. The increased sensitivity improves the body's response to insulin.
Researchers don't know exactly why coffee is beneficial for diabetes. Coffee also contains large quantities of the antioxidants tocopherols and chlorogenic acid, as well as minerals such as magnesium. All of those components have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
This may explain why in the Harvard study (1), those drinking decaffeinated coffee also showed a reduced diabetes risk, although the reduction in risk was 50% that of those drinking caffeinated coffee.
Coffee and cavities
Some researchers believe another compound called "trigonelline" - which gives coffee its bitter taste and its aroma - may be responsible for giving coffee both anti-adhesive and antibacterial properties which help prevent dental cavities from forming.
Coffee consumption and moderation
On the other hand, it is clear that coffee is not for everyone. In excessive amounts - meaning more than whatever an individual's body can tolerate - coffee can cause nervousness, jitters, and rapid heartbeat.
Although studies investigating any relationship between higher cholesterol levels and coffee have yielded conflicting results, it is believed that in some people, drinking excessive amounts of coffee might cause elevated cholesterol levels (5).
However, coffee drinkers who consume filtered coffee should not worry themselves with respect to cholesterol levels, because research indicates that it is the coffee oils which are mainly responsible for the rise in cholesterol in people who drink nonfiltered or boiled coffee.
Most recent large studies show no significant adverse affects on most healthy people, although pregnant women, heart patients, and those at risk for osteoporosis may still be advised to limit or avoid coffee.
All in all, I certainly believe that coffee and caffeine are far less dangerous than soda. especially the "diet" kind.
One thing is certain: coffee is usually one of the most heavily sprayed crops, and is often contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Therefore if you do drink coffee, you would be well advised to drink organic coffee only.
It is also a good idea to avoid putting milk and sugar in your coffee. The milk and sugar in your coffee are in fact much worse for you than the coffee itself.
Finally, use only non-bleached filters. White coffee filters, which most coffee drinkers use, are bleached with chlorine and some of this chlorine will end up in your coffee during the brewing process.
My favorite source for organic coffee can be found here. I find they have the best quality/price ratio online.
I used to work at an under employed ice skating rink and some nights i wouldn't get off until 12am and have to be back at work at 5:30 am I don't think i would have been able to do it without coffee.
Coffee gets two thumbs up from me for that!
it's good because it's got cocoa in there which is good for you. i heard it also helps lowering the risk of parkinson's disease and diabetes.
Good question about coffee....and yet Ive tried learning to drink coffee in different ways, with sugar, all black, just cream etc... and I STILL DONT like it.....makes me wonder how people started to drink coffee!
There is peace to know that coffee offers some benefits to our health. However, these results should not be interpreted as an incentive to increase your daily coffee intake. Too much coffee may actually increase the risk of heart disease for some people. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 2005, researchers from the University of Athens found that coffee drinkers had more stiffness of the major blood vessel in the body than non-coffee drinkers. They suggested for people with high blood pressure or other risk factors for heart disease who drink more than 3 cups of coffee a day to cut down.
Researchers from the University of Scranton released on August 29, 2005 that coffee is the No. 1 source of antioxidants in the American diet. Black tea is the second. Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in foods that can prevent or slow oxidative damage to our body. When our cells utilize oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage to other cells. Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage inflicted by these free radicals. Fruits and vegetables are hailed as the richest sources of antioxidants, but this study shows that coffee is the main source from which most Americans get their antioxidants. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee appear to provide similar amounts of antioxidants.
"It's the optimum I see that has a benefit for the heart," he said.
Advice for coffee drinkers.
"Spread your coffee drinking throughout the day."
"Caffeine raises your blood pressure, so if you are going to drink a lot of coffee, choose decaf."
Decaf has the same antioxidant benefits as regular coffee.
Caffeine can also be dehydrating so make sure if you take it first thing in the morning you also have water or juice to start your day off right!
I would purpose that you type in "health effect from coffee". See what you get.
Anything is good in moderation, caffine is in just about all drinks unless stated otherwise, it is a stimulant, which helps some function, some go nuts, it really depends upon the individual and their habits & taste.
I like coffee because of the taste and nothing more. I feel safer drinking the decaf more since they stopped using embalming fluids to strip the caffine from the coffee beans.
The Dietary recommendation for coffee is no more than two cups per day.
coffee is like almost everything else, it is good for some and not good for others, depends on what illness you already have, coffee has been known to increase your heart rate, so if you have heart disease stay away from coffee, check with your dr, if you likke coffee and it works for you drink up, i drink it everyday, i also drink plenty of water to.
The most clear-cut findings about its benefits come from a 20-year study that followed some 84,000 women and 44,000 men. Published in the May 2, 2006, issue of Circulation, the study concluded that drinking coffee isn't harmful to cardiovascular health and may even be somewhat beneficial.
An even more recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August, 2006 followed 676 healthy, older men from Finland, the Netherlands, and Italy for 10 years and measured their cognitive function. Those who drank coffee had lower rates of age-related cognitive decline than those who didn't, with maximum protection seen in men who drank three cups of coffee a day.
But few other studies of coffee's effects have been so unambiguously positive. For example, both coffee and decaf can raise your blood pressure temporarily, but we still don't know whether this can lead to hypertension, a heart disease risk factor. Drinking three to six cups of decaf daily (but not regular coffee) can increase levels of blood fats that affect your LDL ("bad") cholesterol.
Coffee may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, another heart disease risk factor. This finding emerged from a review of nine studies published in the July 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, but it conflicts with earlier evidence suggesting that coffee can reduce insulin sensitivity, which would increase the risk of diabetes. To confuse matters further, a study published in the February 2006 issue of Diabetes Care found that decaf lowers the risk of diabetes, suggesting that something other than caffeine may be responsible for any protection coffee affords.
As far as cancer is concerned, coffee might offer some protection, but no one knows how much. A study published in the February 16, 2005, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found a 52 percent lower incidence of rectal cancer among people who regularly drank two or more cups of decaf a day. Coffee contains some antioxidants, which can protect against cancer but not enough of them to make up for risks posed by a poor diet.
Other studies have suggested that coffee may protect against Parkinson's disease, but the evidence isn't strong enough to be certain. In the largest study, among Japanese-American men in Honolulu, the more coffee the men drank, the lower their risk. But no one can say whether those findings would hold true among women or even among men of other ethnic backgrounds. Some studies have suggested that coffee also may protect against Alzheimer's disease, but more research is needed before we can be certain.
On the down side are coffee's well-documented side effects: anxiety, insomnia, tremor and irregular heartbeat. It can also irritate the digestive system, bladder and prostate. If you experience any of these effects, you're better off avoiding coffee (and decaf, which contains substances that may contribute to the symptoms) no matter what potential health benefits it may have. The way coffee affects you is your surest guide to whether or not you should be drinking it at all and, if so, how much.
if its decaf, then its ok. but still can cause bad breath.
It is good in moderation. The problem is, like many other good things, some people don't know the meaning of the word moderate.
it depends on the study.
I enjoy coffee and drink a cup or two in the morning.
I have found no ill side effects from it and have been drinking it since I was very young.