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Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Death from Heart Disease 6/16/08
A new study suggests that drinking coffee might lower your risk of dying from heart disease.

There has been little or no consensus among the scientific community as to whether drinking coffee is beneficial to your health or detrimental. Some studies say coffee is beneficial due to its antioxident properties. Others warn that too much consumption could be deadly.

The most recent study, however, basd on research from two large and well-regarded health research projects suggests there is no risk of mortality from consumption of coffee.

Study team leader Esther Lopez-Garcia, of Spain's Universidad Autonoma de Madrid says "Coffee consumption has been linked to various beneficial and detrimental health effects, but data on its relation with death were lacking."

The research conducted by Lopez-Garcia and her colleagues analyzed data from over 84,000 women who had participated in the Nurses' Health Study and almost 42,000 men who had participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Every two to four years, participants answered questions about how frequently they drank coffee, other diet habits, smoking habits, and their overall health. At the beginning of the studies, all participants had to be free of cancer and heart disease.

The results showed that women who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease during the follow-up period (from 1980 to 2004) than women who did not. The women also had an 18 percent lower risk of death from a cause other than cancer or heart disease than non-coffee drinkers.

The men in the study who drank the same amount of coffee had neither a higher nor lower risk of death during the same follow-up period.

No association was found between coffee drinking and cancer deaths.

The relationship discovered in the study, which was detailed in the June 17, 2008 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests no relationship to the caffeine in the coffee since those who drank decaf coffee also had lower death rates than people who didn't drink coffee, according to the authors.

"Coffee consumption was not associated with a higher risk of mortality in middle-aged men and women," said Lopez-Garcia. "The possibility of a modest benefit of coffee consumption on heart disease, cancer, and other causes of death needs to be further investigated."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Pertinent Facts About Caffeine 10/01/07
Caffeine, which is a natural substance found in coffee, tea, chocolate, and other foods and beverages can cause a wide range of symptoms when taken internally. These symptoms vary greatly from person to person, depending on the individual's so-called "caffeine sensitivity." This might be likened to such other physiological variables as the "pain threshold" or alcohol tolerance. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, caffeine-related symptoms include increased or rapid heart rate, nausea and vomiting, frequent urination, restlessness and difficulty sleeping, depression, anxiety, shaking or tremors. If you experience any of these symptoms regularly, you should check with your doctor. Your individual "caffeine sensitivity" may be the culprit!
Coffee May reduce Hair Loss! 1/24/07
If you are worried about going bald (prematurely, or otherwise), you MAY just want to have another cup of Joe! German researchers claim that caffeine not only blocks the chemical known to cause hair loss by damaging the all-important follicles, but actually stimulates hair growth.

There is a possible down side to this discovery, however: You'd have to drink about 60 cups of coffee per day to gain the desired effect! As an alternative to this dosage of java, researchers are looking into developing a solution that can be applied externally. After all, there might just be such a thing as too much caffeine!
Coffee Reduces Risk of Liver Damage 12/5/05
A study of nearly 10,000 coffee drinkers has demonstrated that people who drank two cups or more of coffee per day developed liver disease at about half the rate of those individuals who drank less than one cup per day.

The study, which was conducted by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., showed this dramatic reduction in liver disease among overweight individuals, those who drink too much alcohol, and those with too much iron in their blood, but not among chronic liver disease sufferers where liver damage was caused by viral infections and other causes.

Dr. Constance Ruhl, who helped lead the study, offered the following statement: "While it is too soon to encourage patients to increase their coffee and tea intake, the findings of our study potentially offer people at high-risk for developing chronic liver disease a practical way to decrease that risk. In addition, we hope the findings will offer guidance to researchers who are studying liver disease progression."

Ruhl and her colleagues said caffeine seemed to hold the key, according to their report in the American Gastroenterological Association Journal of Gastroenterology.

The study followed 9,849 participants for a period of 19 years.
Coffee Perks! 11/30/05
Breaking news! According to research doctors in Innsbrook, Austria, coffee perks you up! Brain scans showed that caffeine stimulates the areas of the brain controlling short-term memory and attention.

Functional MRI scans, performed on the brains of 15 subjects who had just consumed caffeine equal to that found in two cups of coffee, showed increased frontal lobe activity where the working memory is located and in the anterior cingulum, the area which controls attention.

After consuming 100 milligrams of caffeine, after 12 hours without caffeine and four hours sans nicotene (another known stimulant), participants in the study were able to better recall sequences of letters. Reaction times were also shown to have improved.

According to recent studies, caffeine is the most widely-used stimulant in the world. Globally, the average person consumes 76 miligrams of caffeine daily (equal to roughly 1 1/2 cups of coffee). The average American tips the bean scale at 238 milligrams daily, the equal of 4 1/2 mugs of steaming brew.
Coffee is Good For You! 8/29/05
A recent study demonstrates that coffee is the main source of antioxidants for the average American. Antioxidants, long touted as chemicals which prevent cell damage, are also found in a variety of fruits and vegetables such as bananas, dry beans, corn, cranberries, blueberries, and red grapes. Because Americans daily consume far greater quantities of coffee than these foods, coffee tops their list of antioxidant sources. The number two source is black tea.

Oxidation is a natural biological process, which breaks down chemicals in the human body. The process also creates what are known as "free radicals," however, which can cause permanent cell damage. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and can help prevent cancer and heart disease.
Resources include: HealthDay News, Reuters, & LiveScience.com.
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