Coffee helps brain, liver to function better

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:48:54 GMT

The latest studies by German researchers have shown positive effects of coffee on human health, saying it improves functions of liver and brain.

The studies run by Germany's Green Cross points out that coffee accelerates digestion, and prevents age-related diabetes, chronic liver disease and replacement of liver tissue by fibrous scar tissue.

Drinking at least four cups of coffee a day is also reported to reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis by up to 80 percent.

The report says coffee can help reverse some elements of memory impairment commonly seen in Alzheimer sufferers and improves concentration.

Health promoting ingredients of coffee like chlorogenic acid also play important roles too. Chlorogenic acid is one of the antioxidants found in coffee that can cut nearly in half the risk of Alzheimer's Disease.

Source: Press TV

Coffee may help treat memory loss, a major symptom of Alzheimer's disease - study

By Rosemary Black
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Besides giving you that morning boost, coffee may actually boost your memory as well, helping to keep memory loss at bay.

That mug of morning coffee may do more than keep you from falling asleep at your desk. New research shows it could also help treat or stave off memory loss, a key symptom of Alzheimer's disease.

Studies have found that giving lab mice the equivalent of 500 milligrams of caffeine per day had a positive impact on their memory, according to CBS' The Early Show.

The researchers found that the caffeine had "a very positive effect on their memory and thinking actions over a two-month period," Dr. Jennifer Ashton told The Early Show. "So put another one in the column of a good effect of caffeine."

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/07/06/2009-07-06_coffee_may_help_treat_memory_loss_a_major_symptom_of_al.html#ixzz0KhpJjMMF&D

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Read this over coffee

Go ahead: That cup of joe won't hurt you, the latest research says. It might even help you.
Judy Foreman, Health Sense
May 18, 2009
Coffee drinkers, rejoice! The heavenly brew, once deemed harmful to health, is turning out to be, if not quite a health food, at least a low-risk drink, and in many ways a beneficial one. It could protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease.

What happened? Lots of new research, and the recognition that older, negative studies often failed to tease apart the effects of coffee and those of smoking because so many coffee drinkers were also smokers.

"Coffee was seen as very unhealthy," said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Now we have a more balanced view. We're not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good beverage choice."

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Caffeine Appears To Be Beneficial In Males–But Not Females–With Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Animal model highlights the effect of diet and gender in understanding ALS

NEW ORLEANS—Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease that damages key neurons in the brain and spinal cord. The disease causes progressive paralysis of voluntary muscles and often death within five years of symptoms. Although ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) was discovered over a century ago, neither the cause nor a cure have been found, but several mechanisms seem to play a role in its development, including oxidative stress.

Coffee, Caffeine and ALS

Researchers agree that ALS is a multifactorial disease that involves a complex interplay between a genetic predisposition and environmental factors. One environmental factor is diet. With oxidative stress (which damages the cells) a common concern in ALS pathology, it is worth examining what role antioxidants (which confer benefits to the cells) might play.

Antioxidants (the vitamins and nutrients that protect the cells from damage) are found in commonly consumed beverages and foods. Coffee in particular has received attention as a potent dietary antioxidant. It is worth noting that coffee has significantly more antioxidant capacity than cocoa and green, black or herbal teas. However, coffee contains several components, the largest of which are caffeine and chlorogenic acid, a dietary polyphenol that is beneficial to the immune system.

Previous studies have shown positive effects with coffee, caffeine, or chlorogenic acid supplementation in improving oxidative stress and its associated cell death mechanisms.

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Can coffee ward off skin cancer?

March 2, 2009
Skin cancer affects more than a million people in the United States every year. The risk of developing skin cancer increases with exposure to ultraviolet, or UV, radiation - a form of energy in sunlight that is generally beneficial for health but, at high levels, can damage cells. And with increasing recreational sun activities, tanning-bed use, and the loss of the ozone layer, the incidence of these skin cancers is expected to go up.

New research shows that one promising therapy could be the ingredient found in America's daily indulgence: caffeine.

In 2007, an epidemiological study uncovered an interesting link between consumption of coffee and rates of skin cancer: For every cup of caffeinated coffee consumed by Caucasian women, there was a 5 percent decrease in risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer, the kind in which unpigmented cells on the skin's surface turn cancerous and spread into nearby normal tissue.

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Torrefacto-roasted Coffee Has Higher Antioxidant Properties

ScienceDaily

Torrefacto-roasted coffee has higher antioxidant properties than natural roast, according to the dissertation defended by a biologist of the University of Navarra, Isabel López Galilea. She has emphasized in her study that the addition of sugar during the roasting process increases the development of compounds with high antioxidant activity.

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Coffee Strong Enough to Ward Off Dementia?

Moderate Coffee Drinking Reduces Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s by 65% in Study
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Jan. 16, 2009 -- Drinking coffee in moderate amounts during middle age may reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the elderly, according to a new study.

Researchers in Finland and Sweden examined the records of 1,409 people whose coffee drinking habits had been recorded when they were at midlife.

Those who drank three to five cups of coffee per day in midlife were much less likely to have developed dementia or Alzheimer's in follow-up checks two decades or more later, the researchers say in the January issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

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Coffee may protect against oral cancers

By Megan Rauscher Megan Rauscher – Tue Jan 6

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research indicates that drinking coffee lowers the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity or throat, at least in the general population of Japan.

The consumption of coffee in Japan is relatively high, as is the rate of cancer of the esophagus in men. To look into any protective effect of coffee drinking, Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai, and colleagues, analyzed data from the population-based Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan.

The study included information about diet, including coffee consumption. Among more than 38,000 study participants aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.

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For the caffeine-sensitive: D+caf Caffeine Test Strips

CNET.COM
Posted by Brian Krepshaw
  
I've always assumed prankster-loving baristas might substitute decaf coffee for the real thing. I'm sure there are those out there who would not think twice about slipping some caffeine to an unsuspecting customer. Whether accidentally or on purpose, for some, this unexpected addition of caffeine could be a serious health threat--at least serious enough to warrant caution.

Those who have high blood pressure or a heart condition should probably be avoiding caffeine. However, as many people tend to do, the doctor's advice goes out the window when in the real world of cafes, restaurants, and soda pop machines. For people who simply must monitor their caffeine intake, there is help in the form of D+caf Caffeine Test Strips.

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Does caffeine increase weight loss?

Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.

Answer

A few studies indicate that caffeine may slightly enhance weight loss in people who exercise and maintain a low-fat diet. But there's no evidence that increased caffeine intake results in significant or permanent weight loss.

Marketers of fad diets and weight-loss supplements often exaggerate the benefits of caffeine, claiming that caffeine will significantly curb your appetite and help you drop pounds quickly. However, clinical studies on the relationship between caffeine and weight loss don't support these claims.

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Caffeine Not a Breast Cancer Risk for Most Women

MedHeadlines.com

Caffeine is thought to be the most widely consumed drug in the world, its presence felt in foods and beverages such as coffee, tea, and chocolate and in many medications, too. The drug is generally thought to increase the risk of developing breast cancer but an exhaustive 10-year study indicates most women can enjoy their caffeine with no fears of increased risk for breast cancer.

Ken Ishitani, MD, PhD, and his colleagues followed 38,432 women, age 45 years and older, for an average of ten years after their enrollment in the study between 1992 and 1995. During the follow-up period of study, 1,188 women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Ishitani is affiliated with both the Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and with the Tokyo Women’s Medical University in Japan.

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Want coffee -- with benefits? Here's what you'll get

by Janet Cromley
Los Angeles Times

We’re a nation of spoiled coffee drinkers. Whereas our forebears boiled old grounds over camp stoves and our parents percolated Folgers, we’re driving five miles to suck down triple mocha lattes like beer at a NASCAR event.

Now it’s gotten even headier: Coffee with benefits. Cashing in on our insatiable thirst for coffee and our willingness to embark on new frontiers, java makers are adding a dazzling array of extras to coffee, including soy protein, guarana, garcinia cambogia, matcha green tea, white willow, yerba mate and echinacea.

The ingredients are intended to have actual benefits, such as boosting metabolism or energy, improving the immune system or increasing mental focus.

We put four infused, pre-ground coffees to a taste test and were surprised at how much they tasted like regular pre-ground coffee.

That was the good news.

The bad news is that ingredients such as guarana and yerba mate, which contain caffeine, can leave you with enough supplemental energy to take down a tiger in the jungle. We suggest that before snapping up a bag of infused coffee, consider what you want the coffee to do and then do some research on the supplemental ingredients.

Here’s what we found: More >>

Coffee Drinking May Help Protect Against Type 2 Diabetes

October 9, 2008 — Regular consumption of coffee and potentially black tea, but not green tea, is associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Singaporean Chinese men and women, according to the results of a study reported in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Increasing coffee intake was inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes in populations of European descent; however, data from high-risk Asian populations are lacking as are data on tea intake in general," write Andrew O. Odegaard, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues. "We investigated the prospective associations between intakes of coffee, black tea, and green tea with the risk of type 2 diabetes in Singaporean Chinese men and women."

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Coffee may lower cancer risk

From correspondents in Tokyo | September 01, 2008

WOMEN who drink a lot of coffee may have less risk of developing cancer of the uterus, a Japanese study said today.

The study led by Japan's health ministry monitored some 54,000 women aged 40 to 69 over about 15 years, during which time 117 women developed cancer in the womb, according to the medical team.

The researchers at Japan's National Cancer Center divided the women into four groups by the amount of coffee they drank.

They found the group of women who drank more than three cups of coffee every day were more than 60 per cent less likely to develop uterine cancer than those who had coffee fewer than two times a week, the study said.

"Coffee may have effects in lowering insulin levels, possibly curbing the risks of developing womb cancer," the study said.

The medical team also studied the effects of drinking green tea, but did not find any link to uterine cancer.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control, uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women.

Source

The final verdict on coffee

TORONTO (Reuters) -- If contradicting research has you wondering if coffee is healthy or harmful, the answer is simple: it depends.

A recent study showed a benefit from drinking java on a population level. But it's difficult to make individual recommendations for safe coffee consumption, said Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, a University of Toronto associate professor funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research who has studied caffeine and health.

El-Sohemy’s research has showed that coffee could either lower or raise a person's risk of heart attack. That's because safe daily coffee intake is going to vary with the ability to process caffeine, and that changes from person to person. There's no easy way to tell how effectively your body deals with caffeine, and therefore how much of it is safe for you to drink, he said.

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Coffee Health Risks

Coffee Health Risks: For the moderate drinker, coffee is safe says Harvard Women’s Health Watch

( Boston , MA ) Despite 20 years of reassuring research, many people still avoid caffeinated coffee because they worry about its health effects. However, current research reveals that in moderation—a few cups a day—coffee is a safe beverage that may even offer some health benefits. The September issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch weighs the pros and cons of this popular beverage and eases the concerns of moderate coffee drinkers.

The latest research has not only confirmed that moderate coffee consumption doesn't cause harm, it's also uncovered possible benefits. Studies show that the risk for type 2 diabetes is lower among regular coffee drinkers than among those who don't drink it. Also, coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease, and reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease. Coffee has also been shown to improve endurance performance in long-duration physical activities.

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Coffee and breast cancer

Coffee, tea and caffeine don't increase risk of breast cancer
generic health

Apparently, women can drink all the coffee or tea they want and not increase their risk for breast cancer.

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Coffee May Protect Against Breast Cancer, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2008) — Depending on which variant of a certain gene a woman has, a coffee consumption rate of at least two-three cups a day can either reduce the total risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer. This is shown in new research from Lund University and Malmö University in Sweden.

The effect of coffee is related to estrogens, female sex hormones. Certain metabolic products of these hormones are known to be carcinogenic, and various components of coffee can alter the metabolism so that a woman acquires a better configuration of various estrogens. What’s more, coffee contains caffeine, which also hampers the growth of cancer cells.

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Caffeine protects mice from UV-induced skin cancer

Reuters | Thursday, 17 April 2008

Caffeine acts as a sort of "sun screen" when given to mice before their skin is exposed to and damaged by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, and this ultimately prevents the development of skin cancer, according to researchers.

In the current issue of Cancer Research, the investigators also describe the mechanism that may be responsible for this protection. Specifically, caffeine triggers a process by which skin cells containing irradiation-damaged DNA are removed. Thus, these defective skin cells can not reproduce and become cancerous.

"The results of the present study," senior investigator, Dr Allan H Conney said Health, "provide a possible mechanism for earlier observations indicating that oral administration of caffeine inhibits ultraviolet light-induced skin cancer in mice."

Conney of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in Piscataway and colleagues supplied animals with caffeine in their drinking water for 1 to 2 weeks before UVB exposure.

The caffeine concentration led to blood levels comparable to that achieved in humans after 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day.

The team also determined that caffeine applied in a cream or gel directly to the skin immediately after UVB radiation exposure caused the death of DNA-damaged skin cells as well.

"We believe that these results will extrapolate to humans," continued Conney, "but clinical studies need to be done." He pointed out that previous "studies indicate that coffee or tea drinkers have a lower risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer."

Caffeine May Block High Cholesterol Linked to Alzheimer's

WEDNESDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) -- A little caffeine every day could offer some protection from Alzheimer's disease for people with high cholesterol.

Rabbits given the daily caffeine equivalent of one cup of coffee and fed a cholesterol-rich diet for 12 weeks suffered relatively little damage in their blood-brain barrier (BBB), which protects the central nervous system from the rest of the body's circulation, new research found.

The findings were published in the open-access publication Journal of Neuroinflammation.

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