The same hot beverage you depend on to wake you up in the morning could also help you live longer – that's according to a new study and a growing body of evidence that suggests that coffee may decrease your risk of developing prostate cancer, among other health benefits you might not have been aware of.

From DailyMail.co.uk:

New research based on more than 550,000 men worldwide shows that the likelihood of developing the disease decreases by 2.5 per cent for every two additional cups of coffee consumed a day.

Researchers at the Tongji University Hospital in Shanghai analysed the results of 13 studies that had investigated this link and concluded that as well as facing an overall lower risk, coffee drinkers were 24 per cent less likely to die from the disease if diagnosed with it, reports the journal Nutrition And Cancer.

A number of compounds in coffee are thought to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, including cafestol and kahweol, which have been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth.

Coffee and liver cancer

Other studies have found that drinking coffee also helps lower the risk of liver cancer. Coffee is rich in antioxidant compounds, which help destroy the free radicals that cause cell damage and can lead to cancer cell growth.

From the Manila Bulletin:

An unpublished long-term prospective study, presented at an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, involved 180,000 subjects. It suggested that coffee may reduce a person's risk of developing liver cancer and that the higher the coffee intake, the lower the risk. Drinking one to three cups of coffee a day can result in a 29 percent drop in liver cancer risk. Four or more cups can result in a 42 percent drop.

Not only does coffee help prevent liver cancer, but it has also been shown to dramatically lower the risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver, too. As reported by the Manila Bulletin:

Evidently, adding two more cups of coffee to the daily diet of regular alcohol drinkers lowers their chances of developing cirrhosis of the liver by a whopping 43 to 44 percent. Liver cirrhosis is a dreadful adverse effect of too much alcohol consumption.

Other health benefits of drinking coffee

Coffee's health benefits extend beyond simply preventing cancer. Other research projects have shown that coffee may also be useful in fighting common neurodegenerative diseases, as well. The Manila Bulletin continues:

Studies show that coffee drinkers—compared to non-drinkers—have up to a 65 percent lower risk for Alzheimer's disease and 32 to 60 percent lower risk for Parkinson's disease.

Coffee is even believed to play a role in fighting type 2 diabetes. In fact, the more coffee you drink, the less the risk of developing the disease. By drinking seven or more cups of coffee per day, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes drops by half. In comparison, drinking one cup a day only cuts the risk by 11 percent.

Is all that coffee really good for you?

To drink seven cups of coffee per day may sound a bit extreme by almost anyone's standards. And, not surprisingly, there are some health drawbacks to drinking more than two or three cups a day.

Some of coffee's less desirable side effects include increased stress levels, insomnia and heartburn. As always, moderation is the key – four cups should be the maximum daily intake. For example, a few cups a day in combination with a good diet and an exercise routine is obviously far better than simply drinking seven cups or more in an attempt to develop better health.

It is interesting, however, that coffee consumption appears to be a healthier habit than most of us had previously imagined.

Source:
courtesy of NATURALNEWS

by Daniel Barker

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