Coffee – Is It Really Good For Us?

The previous article needs to be addressed by other theories. Until I find the exact study to learn the details I can’t help but wonder about a few concepts that coffee has been known to contain.

“Lower mortality was present regardless of whether people drank regular or decaffeinated coffee, suggesting the association is not tied to caffeine”, said Veronica W. Setiawan, lead author of the study and an associate professor of preventative medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

“This study is the largest of its kind and includes minorities who have very different lifestyles.” Seitiawan said. “seeing a similar pattern across different populations gives stronger biological backing to the argument that coffee is good for you whether you are white, African-American, Latino or Asian.”

Previous research b USC and others have indicated that drinking coffee is associated with reduced risk of several types of cancer, diabetes, liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

“Coffee contains a lot of antioxidants and phenolic compounds that play an important role in cancer prevention.” Setiawan said. “Although this study does not show causation or point to what chemicals in coffee may have this ‘elixir effect,’ it is clear that coffee can be incorporated into a healthy diet and lifestyle.”

Researchers from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that drinking coffee lowers the risk of colorectal cancer. But drinking piping hot coffee or beverages probably causes cancer in the esophagus, according to the World Health Organization panel of scientists that included Mariana Stern from the Keck School of Medicine.

After 25 years of labeling coffee a carcinogen linked to bladder cancer, the WHO last year announced that drinking coffee reduces the risk for liver and uterine cancer.

All of these various studies didn’t always control the many other lifestyle factors that could account for poor health, such as smoking, drinking, and a lack of physical activity. I would hope that a large study such as those mentioned in the past article would have controlled other lifestyle behaviors.

Coffee and other caffeine containing beverages and foods, caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, which can contribute to the exercise response. It may also help the muscles burn more fat. Then muscles don’t fatigue as fast. Caffeine can shift muscles to burn fat more quickly, which can preserve glycogen stores and give muscles more time before they wear out. This leads to a longer and less painful workout. Some researchers also believe that caffeine may work directly on muscle by improving its efficiency in generating power. However it isn’t conclusive as to how long you have to exercise for caffeine to trigger the shift to fat-burning, but most studies have tested caffeine’s effect on muscle after about two hours and can last from three to six hours. How much coffee is required to receive the results, is also unclear.

Caffeine comes with some downsides, including headaches, a spike in blood pressure and potential stomach irritation.

Coffee is a complex mixture of chemicals that provides significant amounts of chlorogenic acid and caffeine. Unfiltered coffee is a significant source of cafestol and kahweol, which are diterpenes that have been implicated in the cholesterol-raising effects of coffee.

I would suspect that if people continue to consume a diet full of saturated fat and other bad fats, the benefits of coffee would be cancelled out.

When we have our routine blood work done twice a year we are told to stop drinking coffee as part of our 12 hour fasting prior to having blood drawn.

I would say that due to the fact that every individual is different and can’t be included in all studies, we all can react differently to whatever the studies say about the results on coffee.

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