While large consumptions of coffee may leave you jittery, the drink is a healthy drink – provided you know your limits. That is good to know, as coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks. About 400 billion cups are consumed annually.
How Coffee Safeguards Your Health
Some of the health benefits associated with coffee include protection against the following conditions:
- Heart disease*
- Liver cancer
- Liver disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Type 2 diabetes
Heart disease is one of the most prevalent diseases of our time, as it can lead to complications such as sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). SCA, which is brought on by arrhythmia, or an abnormally beating heart, is a medical emergency that requires the application of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
What One Harvard Study Noted
According to three studies that were conducted by the HSPH (Harvard School of Public Health), participants who drank more coffee, or over a cup per day (around 1.70 cups daily) over four years lowered their type 2 diabetic risk over the period. This was compared with participants who did not alter their intake.
Coffee Drinking and Parkinson’s
Another study found that a direct connection exists between coffee drinking and the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. Authors of the research determined that a higher intake of coffee was directly related to a reduced incidences of Parkinson’s disease.
Moreover, the caffeine in coffee can assist in controlling the movements made by Parkinson’s patients. The study, which was performed at McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), was featured in the publication, Neurology.
Reduced Liver Cancer Risk
In Italy, it was found that the regular consumption of coffee reduces liver cancer risk by as much as 40%. If you drink more than three cups daily, the risk is reduced even further, or by over 50%. One of the authors of the study commented that the research verified prior claims that coffee is beneficial to one’s health, especially the liver.
Protection against Cirrhosis
Indeed, the liver benefits by the consumption of coffee, as is evidenced by one study that was performed in California at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program.
Researchers discovered that consuming coffee lowered the occurrence of cirrhosis by 22% among people who drank alcohol. Authors of the research said that results back the idea that an ingredient in java safeguards people against cirrhosis, particularly cirrhosis that results from drinking alcoholic beverages.
A Lower Fatality Rate
Data published in the April 2014 publication Hepatology alsorevealed that consuming coffee decreases the death risk of cirrhosis. Consuming two or more cups of coffee daily can lower the risk by just over 65%.
Another study featured in Hepatology indicated that the consumption of decaffeinated coffee lowered enzyme levels in the liver. This information supports the belief that the health benefits provided by coffee are not connected with the consumption of caffeine.
In addition, regularly consuming coffee is associated with the reduction in the development of primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC, an autoimmune disease that affects the liver’s bile ducts.
How Coffee Benefits the Health – 13 Recent Findings
The most recent studies support the following health findings:
1 –Coffee reduces the chance of contracting liver cancer. To support prior studies, recent research shows that people who drink up to three cups of coffee daily have about a 30% lower risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer.
2 – Gout risk is reduced when people drink coffee. The risk for developing gout is reduced in men when coffee is regularly consumed. The findings from this study was relatively large as over 50,000 men participated in the research.
3 – Drinking coffee lengthens people’s lives. Another study that was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (June 17, 2008) revealed that women who drank coffee regularly have a reduced risk of death from heart disease and cancer, thereby promoting longevity.*
*(Other findings show that coffees drinkers were at a reduced risk for dying prematurely from cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. Research from Harvard University confirms that people who drink up to five cups of coffee each day avoided many of the health issues that lead to premature death.)
4 – Drinking coffee is good for the vision. One study from Cornell University showed that the consumption of caffeine prevented retinal damage brought on by oxidative stress. Caffeine is not the protectant here. Rather, CLA, or the chlorogenic acid that is found in the coffee bean, prevents retinal tears or deformities.
5 – The consumption of coffee is safeguards people from melanoma. One study that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicated that the risk of contracting melanoma decreases with each cup of coffee drank.
6 –The US Department of Agriculture or USDA supports drinking coffee. According to the guidelines set forth by the USDA, having three to five cups of coffee daily is beneficial for good health. However, research also reveals that you should drink the coffee black. Adding flavored creamers, sugar, or cream negates the health benefits.
7 – Drinking coffee is good after surviving a heart attack. Yet other finding reveals that people who have had heart attacks, who drink two or more cups of coffee daily, possess the least risk of succumbing to a heart attack or a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which requires CPR intervention.
8 – Coffee provides protection against Parkinson’s. As noted, coffee also protects against Parkinson’s disease. Research out of Sweden showed that the consumption of coffee lowered Parkinson’s risk. Even if your genetic factors show a high potential for getting the disease, the risk is reduced.
9 – Coffee drinkers feel less depressed. Coffee consumption also enables people, suffering from depression, to overcome the condition. One study at the Harvard School of Public Health found that women participants, who consumed four or more cups of coffee each day, were 20% less likely to feel depressed.
Another study, conducted over a decade, showed that 86,000 participants who drank coffee were at a reduced risk for committing suicide. This study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
10 – Coffee is a good beverage to consume for diabetics. Yet other research study revealed that people who drank six or more cups of coffee each day lowered their diabetes risk by about 22%.
Other research, which supports this evidence, shows that the risk of getting type 2 diabetes decreased by almost 10% for each cup of coffee drank. Even decaf coffee lowered the risk of contracting the disease by 6% for each cup.
11 – Coffee increases the daily intake of fiber. One cup of hot coffee contributes as much as 1.8 grams to a person’s recommended daily intake for fiber, which starts at 20 grams and goes up to 38 grams daily. Therefore, drinking four cups of coffee allows a person to meet a good portion of his or her daily fiber intake.
12 – Pain is reduced when coffee is consumed. If you have post-workout pain, the consumption of two cups of coffee can slash any joint discomfort by as much as 48%. Therefore, drinking coffee is helpful in ameliorating the effects of chronic pain.
13 – Coffee lowers the risk of MS or multiple sclerosis. Research also shows that the consumption of four cups of coffee each day protects against the recurrence or development of MS. Scientists believe that coffee prevents neural inflammation. The inflammation is believed to trigger the disease.
Author: Donna Ryan is a writer and owner of InkyPublishing.com. You can contact her for writing and editing work. Just hit the blue Drop A Line button in the right-hand corner of the website.