Coffee- A Healthy Elixir

Coffee has a conflicting reputation—is it a guilty pleasure or a life saving elixir? Many studies over the past 35 years support it as a healthy addiction. Scientific findings in support of coffee's nutritional attributes have been published since the 1980s, when Norwegian researchers reported that coffee seemed to fend off liver disease. Since then, the dark brown beverage has shown value against liver cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Coffee even appears to protect against depression, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, reports Nathan Seppa. (1)

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Coffee shows a stunning effect against liver cancer. Earlier this year, a European team reported that women who drank two and a half or more cups and men who drank three and a half or more daily were 72 percent less likely to develop liver cancer, than people who drank less than about one-third cup a day. The study included roughly half a million healthy people monitored for 11 years. (1) In terms of cardiovascular health, one large meta-analysis of over a million participants, found that moderate drinkers (3-5 cups a day) appeared to have significantly less risk of cardiovascular disease compared to other participants. Evidence also backs up a similar study for strokes. (2) Here's and added kicker—two separate meta-analyses—both consisting of a million participants—found that coffee intake was associated with reduced all-cause mortality. (2)

Some Final Facts

• The annual world coffee production is about 8 million tons, worth about $16 billion to producers.
• Coffee is the second most valuable legally traded commodity after oil and 25 million people worldwide gain their living from coffee. A remarkable 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. (3)
• According to Harvard research, Americans spend $40 billion on coffee each year. (4)

References

1. Nathan Seppa, “The beneficial bean,” Science News, October 3, 2015
2. “Coffee is bad for you, unless you look at the science,” American Council on Science and Health, May 12, 2015
3. Richard Firn, “Nature's Chemicals, (Oxford University Press, 2010)
4. Rebecca Coffey, “20 things you didn't know about coffee,” Discover, April 2013

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