Coffee has its benefits

By DAN COX / Cox News Service

DAYTON, Ohio -- The British Coffee Association reports that 1.4 billion servings of coffee are consumed every day, and you can bet there's a spoonful of guilt in every cup.

Coffee has long had an image as being unhealthy -- not that it kept people from drinking it.

So, a blurb in the August edition of Better Homes & Gardens proclaiming the health advantages of a daily cup of coffee got our attention. Drinking coffee, it said, could reduce the risk of colon cancer and kidney stones and might help curb the symptoms of asthma.

Could it be true?

Martha Grodrian, the outpatient dietitian with Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, says she often hears people say how unhealthy they believe coffee is.

"People have tried to pin negative things on coffee," Grodrian says. "The truth is it isn't as unhealthy as most people think it is."

Coffee beans, like tea leaves, have natural nutrients that are transferred to the coffee we drink, Grodrian says.

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