People love coffee but some of us worry about the health risks associated with our beloved brown beverage. Previous research had led us to believe coffee was bad for our health. New research says we had it all wrong and that coffee is actually beneficial to our health. Read the reasoning for coffee’s historically bad reputation, according to new research below.
A National Institute of Health (NIH) study followed about 350,000 members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) from 1995-2008, analyzing their diet and health patterns.
Over the course of the study, researchers discovered that coffee drinking was correlated with other lifestyle traits. Coffee drinkers were likely to be smokers, eat more red meat, eat fewer fruits and vegetables, exercise less and drink more alcohol. But once the lifestyle risks were controlled for, researchers discovered that the overall risk of death for those who drank about two to six or more cups of coffee a day was 10 percent lower for men and 15 percent lower for women.
However, findings in past studies frequently cast coffee as a beverage that posed entirely negative health effects. Previous research claimed that coffee increased the risk of developing certain cancers and heart disease. Other ill-supported myths developed tying coffee drinking to bone-density loss and calcium absorption impairment with claims of stunted growth and osteoporosis. Coffee has also often been lumped into the same category as addictive drugs of abuse, a classification scientists refute for the comparably minor risk of addiction and lack of severe side-effects.
SRC: Read more findings regarding the health risk associated with consuming coffee at: www.pittnews.com/opinions/article_8efc80dc-148f-11e5-8eb3-6f11d1010373.html