Coffee's bad rap

People attempting to kick the coffee habit may now wonder why they should bother. A spate of new studies seems to find nothing but virtue in the popular drink; in some respects, coffee apparently even leaves fruits and vegetables in the dust.

One of the big surprises is that coffee is loaded with antioxidants. These substances help control cell damage and hold promise for fighting cancer and other diseases. Study results from the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, released this month, found that the average adult gets 1,299 milligrams of antioxidants from coffee each day. The nearest food source, bananas, did not even come close: It contributed only 76 milligrams of antioxydants to the typical American diet.

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