Benefits of coffee
Often people think of coffee just as a vehicle
for caffeine,” writes Dr. Rob van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health.
“But it’s actually a very complex beverage,” containing hundreds of different
chemical compounds. Grown in more than 70 countries around the world, coffee has
something of a contentious history with health experts, who have long cautioned
that over-consumption may be detrimental to our health. More recent studies,
however, paint a rosier picture for the Coffee plant’s roasted berries (they’re
not actually beans), suggesting that when consumed in moderate amounts — and
without heaping on the sugar and cream — the magical stuff can harbor numerous
potential health benefits. A look at a few of them:
•Coffee may help fight depression.
Start your day with a smile: A joint study from
the National Institutes of Health and the AARP discovered that folks who quaffed
four or more cups of java a day were 10 per cent less likely to be depressed
than someone who didn’t drink coffee at all. Oddly, the same mental-health
benefits didn’t extend to other caffeinated beverages — particularly cola, which
was linked to a higher risk of depression (perhaps because of the high sugar
content). Therefore, researchers suggest coffee’s “mood-lifting effect might be
traced to its antioxidants,” reports Prevention.
• Coffee-drinking adults are less likely to
commit suicide
Along those lines, a massive public study from
the Harvard School of Public Health found an astonishing statistic: Drinking two
to four cups of coffee a day reduces the risk of suicide in both men and women
by a surprising 50 per cent. Researchers combed through the health data of more
than 100,000 men and women, and pegged caffeine as the main mood-enhancer in
coffee.
•Source: theweek.com
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