I found this on Grandparent.com and thought we might all enjoy seeing why we SHOULD enjoy that must have morning drink - coffee.
Coffee
is much more than a daily pick-me-up — the right amount can protect you from
serious health problems.
The
verdict is in: If you take your coffee daily and often, and abstain from
smoking, you’re likely to live longer than the average adult, says a study of
500,000 men and women that was published in the New
England Journal of Medicine in 2012. “Moderate coffee drinkers live
longer than non coffee-drinkers,” says Kristin Kirkpatrick, M.S., R.D., Manager
of Wellness Nutrition Services at Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. “In
general studies of coffee, the benefits are clearly documented.”
Part of coffee's
health-sustaining power is derived from its caffeine content. Long life isn't
the only proven benefit of this natural, get-up-and-go energy source—read on
for six other ways caffeine improves your health
Protects
you from Parkinson’s Disease
The
promise:
Drinking two or three cups of caffeinated coffee per day may protect you from
Parkinson’s Disease, an incurable, debilitating disorder that attacks your
nervous system and is marked by tremors, stiffness, and difficulty of movement.
The
proof:
Higher coffee and caffeine intake is associated with “significantly lower
incidence” of Parkinson’s Disease, says a study published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association in 2000, which followed
8,000 men aged 45-68 over a 30-year period. Participants who drank at least 28
ounces or more of coffee per day were less likely to get Parkinson’s than
people who drank less.
“When
you take out the other additives [in coffee], it still works—it’s really the
caffeine that’s helpful,” says Miran Salgado, M.D., Chairman of the Department
of Neurosciences at New York Methodist Hospital and Medical Director for the
American Parkinson Disease Association Information and Referral Center at New
York Methodist Hospital. Caffeine crosses the blood-brain barrier and speeds up
brain activity, which can protect brain health, slow the progression of
Parkinson’s, and as some
studies have shown, help improve compromised motor skills and
involuntary movements brought on by Parkinson’s. So should you start drinking
coffee if you don’t already? “I would do it,” says Dr. Salgado. “Do whatever
can protect you. If coffee is one of them, you might as well drink a few cups a
day. It’s probably a good idea.”
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