Drinking large amounts of coffee, even up to six cups a day doesn’t increase the risk of an early death, instead it appears to protect women from fatal heart attacks and stroke, new study suggests.
Harvard School of Public Health researchers looked at coffee drinking and the risk of dying from heart disease, cancer or any other cause. They found that people who drank more coffee were less likely to die during 18 years of follow-up in men, and 24 years of follow-up in women.
Women who drank two to five cups of coffee a day were up to 26 per cent less likely to die than abstainers mainly because of a lower risk of death from heart disease. While, women who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily were 25 per cent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than “non-consumers.”
Those who drank more four to five daily cups of coffee saw their odds fare even better, to 34 per cent reduced risk.
Researchers found similar patterns for men, but the numbers didn’t reach statistical significance, meaning they may be due to chance.
We know the benefits of coffee and according to Dr Jonathan Geiger of University of North Dakota, “Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilize the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”
Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.
A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.
UK experts said it was the “best evidence yet” of coffee’s benefits.
The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.
The spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Society said, “This is the best evidence yet that caffeine equivalent to one cup of coffee a day can help protect the brain against cholesterol.
“In addition to its effect on the vascular system, elevated cholesterol levels also cause problems with the blood brain barrier.”
Daily Mail reported that scientists have claimed drinking wine damages the brain more than beer or spirits.
They say it particularly affects the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory and spatial awareness, and one of the first areas to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
It could explain why millions forget what they are doing mid-task, or arrive in a room only to forget why they went there in the first place.
Good news! Drinking coffee is very unlikely to cause cancer, according to the five-point system created by University of New South Wales Professor Bernard Stewart, devised by an Australian cancer specialist
He also listed using mobile phones or having breast implants is unlikely to cause cancer to debunk popular myths.
The cancer risk assessment reaffirms smoking, alcohol and exposure to sunlight as leading risk factors, but allays concerns about coffee, mobile phones, deodorants, breast implants and water with added fluoride.
Bad news for coffee addicts, especially for the pregnant women, the latest study shows women who drank two or more cups of coffee daily during pregnancy had double the rate of miscarriages.
Expectant mothers have been confused for years about whether drinking that morning cup of joe could do harm to their unborn child.
Some previous studies have shown that consuming caffeine during pregnancy increases a woman’s risk for miscarriage, while others have found that drinking just a couple cups of coffee a day doesn’t pose much of a threat.
The latest research to examine the risk of caffeine consumption during pregnancy reveals that women who said they drank more than two cups of coffee per day had nearly double the risk of miscarriage compared with women who consumed no caffeine.
“I am not at all surprised by this study,” said Dr. Sherman Silber, director of the Infertility Center at St. Lukes Hospital in St. Louis. “Coffee is toxic stuff.”
Good news, coffee junkie! Another reason to drink coffee. Read on.
Drinking a double espresso a day and taking regular exercise may help to prevent skin cancer, researchers say.
Low to moderate amounts of caffeine in combination with exercise can be good for health and prevent damage caused by the Sun’s ultraviolet rays, a study on mice suggests.
Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in Britain and is becoming more widespread — the number of cases has doubled in the past 20 years.
The study, at Rutgers University in New Jersey, showed that a combination of exercise and some caffeine — equivalent to one or two cups of coffee a day — protected against the effects of the Sun’s ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation, which can lead to cancer. The caffeine and exercise seemingly conspire to kill off precancerous cells whose DNA has been damaged by UVB-rays, the authors say.
What’s more can I say? Coffee is a drink that has so many benefits, start drinking today!
People who drink coffee are less likely to develop primary late onset blepharospasm, according to results of a multicenter case control study conducted in Italy and published online ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
One to two cups per day were needed for the protective effect to be seen, and the effect was proportional to the amount of coffee consumed. Also, the age of onset of the eye spasm was found to be later in patients who drank more coffee: 1.7 years for each additional cup per day.
Previous studies have suggested that smoking protects against development of blepharospasm, but this study did not show a significant protective effect.
The study included 166 patients with primary late onset blepharospasm. Serving as controls were 228 patients with hemifacial spasm and 187 people who were relatives of patients.
“The most obvious candidate for the protective effect is caffeine, but the low frequency of decaffeinated coffee intake in Italy prevented us from examining the effects of caffeine on blepharospasm,” the authors wrote.
Caffeine may block adenosine receptors, they proposed.
“Considering that the caffeine content of a cup of Italian coffee (60 to 120 mg) is similar to the average content of a cup of American coffee (95 to 125 mg), the protective effect on the development of blepharospasm might be exerted at caffeine doses greater than 120 to 240 mg, comparable with the caffeine doses suggested to be protective in Parkinson’s disease,” according to the authors.
Have you tried “Wong Lo Kat” Herbal Drink in can? I have tried it numerous times and found it quite soothing. Unlike the traditional herbal drink, “Wong Lo Kat” is sweetened even though it says no preservatives on the can.
Wong Lo Kat Herbal Drink
The writings on the can says:
The origin of Chinese Herbal Drink dating from the Qing Dynasty, made from selected herbal ingredients using advanced scientific technique based on traditional recipe.
Currently retailing at MYR 2.20 at most supermarkets, mini markets and groceries stores in Malaysia.
May 3rd, 2007 — Coffee, Health
No tag for this post.
Drinking coffee can help ward off type 2 diabetes and may even help prevent certain cancers, according to panelists discussing the benefits — and risks — of the beverage at a scientific meeting.
“We’re coming from a situation where coffee had a very negative health image,” Dr. Rob van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health, who has conducted studies on coffee consumption and diabetes, told Reuters Health. Nevertheless, he added, “it’s not like we’re promoting coffee as the new health food and asking people who don’t like coffee to drink coffee for their health.”
Van Dam participated in a “controversy session” on coffee at the Experimental Biology 2007 meeting underway in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Lenore Arab of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA also took part, presenting results of a review of nearly 400 studies investigating coffee consumption and cancer risk.
There’s evidence, Arab noted, that the beverage may protect against certain types of colon cancer, as well as rectal and liver cancer, possibly by reducing the amount of cholesterol, bile acid and natural sterol secretion in the colon, speeding up the passage of stool through the colon (and thus cutting exposure of the lining of the intestine to potential carcinogens in food), and via other mechanisms as well.
However, Arab did find evidence that coffee may increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer, with the case for leukemia being strongest.
The findings suggest that people who may be vulnerable to these risks — for example pregnant women and children — should limit coffee consumption, van Dam noted in an interview.
He and his colleagues are now conducting a clinical trial to get a clearer picture of the diabetes-preventing effects of coffee, which were first reported in 2002. Since then, he noted, there have been more than 20 studies on the topic.
Van Dam and his team are also looking for which of the “hundreds to thousands” of components of coffee might be responsible for these effects. It’s probably not caffeine, he noted, given that decaf and caffeinated coffee have similar effects on reducing diabetes risk.
His top candidate, van Dam says, is chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant that slows the absorption of glucose in the intestines.
We know the 
