For many years, coffee was considered a vice, linked with sleepless nights and cigarettes.
But
scientists have discovered that coffee contains potent antioxidants
that can fight numerous ailments, includingheart disease and
diabetes.According to the American
Coffee Association, 54% of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, and
they drink, on average, over three cups each.
The diseases coffee can benefit include:
Dementia.
Drinking moderate amounts of coffee during middle age -classified as
three to five cups daily - can decrease the risk of dementia by 65%,
according to a 2009
study by Swedish and Finnish researchers.
Liver disease.
In
those who drink too much alcohol, those who drank the most coffee -
more than four cups every day - reduced their risk of developing
alcoholic cirrhosis by 80%.
Heart disease.
Research
associated with The Nurses' Health Study found that women who drank two
to three cups of coffeedaily had a 25% lower risk of dying from heart
disease. Along
the same line, a Spanish study found that men who drank more than five
cups of coffee each day lowered their risk of dying from heart disease
by 44%, and that women who drank four to five cups each day reduced
their risk by 34%.
Prostate cancer.
A
recent study from
Harvard
Medical School found that men who drank the most coffee slashed their
risk of developing the fastest growing and most difficult to treat
prostate cancers by more than half when compared to
men who drank no coffee.
Gout.
Drinking
four or more cups of coffee each day dramatically reduces the incidence
of gout, say
U.S. and Canadian researchers. Men who drank four to five cups daily
lowered their risk by 40 percent, and those who drank six or more cups
daily reduced their risk of developing
gout by 59% when compared to men who didn't drink coffee.
Breast cancer.
Coffee
can either reduce the risk of developing breast cancer or delay its
onset, according to Swedish studies. They found that coffee alters a
woman's metabolism and
produces a safer balance of estrogens. Women who drank two to three
cups of coffee a day reduced their cancer risk by as much as two-thirds,
depending on the specific type of breast cancer.
Diabetes.D
Enjoying
six or more cups of coffee daily can cut chances of Type 2 diabetes by
54% in men and 30% in women over those who don't drink coffee.
Parkinson's disease.
Several
studies show that drinking coffee lowers a man's risk of developing
Parkinson's up to 80 percent - and the more the better.
Colon
cancer
A
Japanese report found that women who drank three or more cups of coffee
every day slashed their risk of developing colon cancer in half.
What's responsible for coffee's healthy benefits? Most researchers believe it's the
antioxidants (polyphenols or flavonoids) in coffee, but there are hundreds of compounds in coffee that may be partially responsible.
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