Well that was another amazing WBC. But while that was going on, coffee news continued to break. The latest comes from the world of health care, and it turns out that coffee consumption can be very beneficial in a couple of previously unknown arenas.
If you drink five cups a day, you can cut down significantly on your risk for certain mouth and throat cancers, at least that’s what researchers at the University of Utah have determined. From the article:
According to research those who enjoy a regular coffee fix are over a third less likely to developcancer of the mouth or throat than those who do not drink coffee.
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Coffee contains more than 1,000 chemicals, including antioxidants. The study found that caffeine was unlikely to be the magic ingredient, as drinking large quantities of tea was found to offer no protection against mouth cancer. Chemicals, cafestol and kahweol, were considered most likely to be the beneficial elements, as they have anti “cancer properties.
But wait! There’s more! The other disease that researchers were determining that coffee could keep at bay last week was Alzheimer’s. But again, there’s a catch: a cup or two a day just won’t cut it. You need, wait for it.. five cups of coffee a day!
From the story:
One recent study comes from Finland where researchers followed about 1,400 coffee drinkers for more than two decades. Researchers found one group seemed to benefit the most: the people who’d been drinking three to five cups of coffee a day in their 40s and 50s.
“They had about a 65-to-70-percent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in their 70s,” says Huntington Potter, a neurobiologist at the University of South Florida. Potters says effects held up even when researchers controlled for things such as cardiovascular disease, which can influence the risk of dementia.
Interestingly in this case, the study concluded that it was the caffeine in the coffee that was primarily responsible for the results, unlike the mouth/throat cancer study. Either way, the important take away is that once again coffee is proving to be a very valuable ally in the fight not only for deliciousness but against disease. Way to go, coffee!
