Everyday Fitness

Whether coffee is just a part of your everyday morning, or a cultural and artistic experience to you, it's good name needs to be cleared! You see a lot of news bits every now and again saying that coffee is good, then saying coffee is bad. Coffee is primarily a great thing to drink, especially over sodas and energy drinks. Taken in moderation, negative effects of coffee don't usually appear; agitation of the GI tract and heart. From what I'm reading, keeping it below 4 cups a day is about the ideal amount where you can reap all the benefits without worry. Note, the traditional coffee "cup" is 6 oz; your tall Starbucks or large Tim Hortons are around 14 oz. So you'd actually be getting just over 2 "cups" from these. Anyhow, I did a quick edit of this list from Wikipedia on the benefits of coffee.

• Reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease and Dementia: Several studies comparing moderate coffee drinkers (defined as 3-5 cups per day) with light coffee drinkers (defined as 0-2 cups per day) found that those who drank more coffee were significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life. A study in 2009 found that moderate coffee drinkers had reduced risk of developing dementia in addition to Alzheimer's disease.
  
• Reduced risk of gallstone disease: Drinking caffeinated coffee has been correlated with a lower incidence of gallstones and gallbladder disease in both men and women in two studies performed by the Harvard School of Public Health. A lessened risk was not seen in those who drank decaffeinated coffee.
  
• Reduced risk of Parkinson's disease: A study comparing heavy coffee drinkers (3.5 cups a day) with non-drinkers found that the coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to contract Parkinson's disease later in life. Likewise, a second study found an inverse relationship between the amount of coffee regularly drunk and the likelihood of developing Parkinson's disease.
  
• Cognitive performance: In tests of simple reaction time, choice reaction time, incidental verbal memory, and visuospatial reasoning, participants who regularly drank coffee were found to perform better on all tests, with a positive relationship between test scores and the amount of coffee regularly drunk. Elderly participants were found to have the largest effect associated with regular coffee drinking. Another study found that women over the age of 80 performed significantly better on cognitive tests if they had regularly drunk coffee over their lifetimes.
  
• Analgesic enhancement: Coffee contains caffeine, which increases the effectiveness of pain killers, especially migraine and headache medications. For this reason, many over-the-counter headache drugs include caffeine in their formula.
  
• Antidiabetic: Coffee intake may reduce one's risk of diabetes mellitus type 2 by up to half. While this was originally noticed in patients who consumed high amounts (7 cups a day), the relationship was later shown to be linear.

• Liver protection: Coffee can also reduce the incidence of cirrhosis of the liver, which in turn has been linked to a reduced risk of cancers arising from preexisting cirrhosis. The exact mechanism and the amount of coffee needed to achieve a beneficial effect are as yet unclear.
  
• Cancer: Coffee consumption is also correlated to a reduced risk of oral, esophageal, and pharyngeal cancer. In the Nurses' Health Study, a modest reduction in breast cancer was observed in postmenopausal women only, which was not confirmed in decaffeinated coffee. Another preliminary study found a correlation between coffee consumption and a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
• Cardioprotective: According to the study from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, coffee reduces the incidence of dying from heart disease.
  
• Laxative/diuretic: Coffee is also a powerful stimulant for peristalsis and is sometimes considered to prevent constipation. However, coffee can also cause excessively loose bowel movements. The stimulative effect of coffee consumption on the colon is found in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.
  
• Antioxidant: Coffee contains the anticancer compound methylpyridinium. This compound is not present in significant amounts in other food materials. Methylpyridinium is not present in raw coffee beans but is formed during the roasting process. It is present in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, and even in instant coffee.
  
• Prevention of dental caries: The tannins in coffee may reduce the cariogenic potential of foods. Experiments have shown that these tannins may interfere with activity of certain bacteria, which may reduce plaque formation.
  
• Gout: Coffee consumption decreased risk of gout in men over age 40. In a large study of over 45,000 men over a 12-year period, the risk for developing gout in men over 40 was inversely proportional with the amount of coffee consumed.