CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 11, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Drinking coffee may be good
for your health, U.S. researchers say.
Researchers say a cup of java might protect against diabetes, liver cancer,
cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
"Coffee was seen as very unhealthy," said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and
epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Now we have a more
balanced view. We're not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good
beverage choice."
Terry Graham, chair of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University
of Guelph in Canada noted that coffee and caffeine are not the same thing.
"Coffee is a complex beverage with hundreds, if not thousands, of bioactive
ingredients," he said. "A cup of coffee is 2 percent caffeine, 98 percent other
stuff."
The newspaper said 20 studies worldwide show that coffee, both regular and
decaf, lowers the risk for Type 2 diabetes by as much as 50 percent. Researchers
say that is probably because chlorogenic acid, one of the many ingredients in
coffee, slows uptake of sugar from the intestines.
As for heart disease and stroke, a study published in March in the journal
Circulation looked at data on more than 83,000 women over age 24. The research
showed that those who drank two to three cups of coffee a day had a 19 percent
lower risk of stroke than those who drank almost no coffee.
A Finish study said the same about men drinking coffee.
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