IP, Green Mountain revolutionize coffee cup

Memphis Business Journal

International Paper and partner Green Mountain Coffee Roasters have create an eco-friendly coffee cup made of corn, natural paper and water, the two companies announced Wednesday.

Memphis-based International Paper (NYSE: IP) will manufacture the all-natural paper hot beverage cup, which will be available at Green Mountain (NASDAQ: GMCR) outlets nationwide.

In a traditional paper cup, the inner surface is lined with a petroleum-based plastic to prevent leaking. The cup unveiled Thursday by IP is lined with a bio-plastic made from a renewable resource -- corn. After use, and under the proper conditions, it will break down into water, carbon dioxide and organic matter, the company stated in a release.

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Caffeine gives athletes a leg up

Caffeine gives athletes a leg up, numerous exercise studies show
But it can limit blood flow to heart in high-altitude workouts

By Jack Cox
Denver Post Staff Writer

Coffee lovers, hoist your cups. Stopping at Starbucks before going out for a long run or bike ride is no longer a no-no, exercise researchers say.

Contrary to what many trainers and coaches have maintained over the years, caffeine won't leave you dehydrated and can actually improve your endurance.

"There may be a temporary diuretic effect, but it seems the body deals with this quite well," says Lawrence E. Armstrong, a physiologist with the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Connecticut.

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Coffee may hold key to jolting memory in old age

JOHN VON RADOWITZ

COFFEE may help to prevent memory loss in old age, claim scientists, who have discovered that caffeine alters electrical activity in the brain.

Boosting gamma rhythms, produced by the synchronised firing of nerve cells 40 times a second, aids memory and learning. It involves a brain chemical called adenosine - present in especially high levels in the elderly.

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The coffee buzz

By Susan Morse

Drinking coffee is good for you, according to study after study, the most recent released last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Archives of Internal Medicine.

Coffee reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes, it said, the result explained not by caffeine, but minerals and antioxidants in both decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee.

ABC News ran with the story in a recent "Good Morning America" segment, and previously reported on its Web site, abc.news.go.com, that daily cups of coffee have been linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease, liver cancer and gallstones.

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