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A Cup of Coffee Every Day May Lower the Risk of Liver Cancer

Finally, some respite for caffeine lovers! Your daily cup of coffee may not be as bad as you have been told.

A new study, published in the journal BMJ Open, suggests that a your daily dose of coffee can help prevent the risk of liver cancer by nearly 50 per cent. For the longest time, coffee has been regarded as a villain primarily because of its high caffeine content. Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is responsible for perking you up and giving you an instant boost of energy on drinking coffee. It is also present in other beverages like energy drinks.

A lot of previous studies have indicated that too much consumption of caffeine may cause an upset stomach, indigestion, high blood pressure, increased heart rate and anxiety. However, this new study suggests that one cup of coffee daily may actually be good for you. 

For the study, researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Edinburgh universities examined data from 26 previous studies that involved more than 2.25 million participants. The results showed that people who drank one cup of coffee daily had a 20 per cent lower risk of developing the most common type of liver cancer known as hepatocellular carcinoma. Further, they found that those who drank two cups of coffee daily had a 35 per cent reduced risk of suffering the disease while drinking five cups cut their risk by half. Decaffeinated coffee may also be able to lend similar benefits but its effect was very small in comparison to regular coffee.

The researchers are not suggesting that everyone should start consuming lots of coffee every day but they found a link and more study is required to strengthen the evidence that shows positive effects of moderate consumption of coffee. When consumed in moderation, coffee may act as a ‘wonderful natural medicines’, they say. They are still working on trying to find why coffee has a liver cancer-protective effect. Drinking coffee has also been linked to better heart health and increased mental alertness. 

We know that moderation is the key but how much is too much? According to the US FDA, 400 to 500 milligrams of coffee consumption per day is considered to be ‘safe’ (that’s almost 4 cups). However, the effects may vary from person to person. Excess coffee consumption can have side effects like stomach pain, diarrhea, acid reflux, insomnia and restlessness. If you’ve been experiencing any of these frequently for a long time, it’s time to cap your coffee intake.  Bangalore-based Nutritionist, Dr. Anju Sood does caution us and suggests,”Drinking one or two cups of coffee may be fine but if you exceed that it may cause dehydration in your body. In that case, the essential water soluble minerals and vitamins are also flushed out of the body. Therefore, you must stick to your daily dose and combine it with other fluids like warm herbal teas, fresh juices or buttermilk to keep yourself hydrated all day,”

Source: http://food.ndtv.com/health/a-cup-of-coffee-every-day-can-lower-the-risk-of-liver-cancer-1703890

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Is coffee Healthy?

Yes, go ahead and grab that cup of joe, or two, or more. Doing so may improve your health and help you live longer, suggests new research.

In an observational study involving close to 20,000 individuals, people who consumed at least four cups of coffee daily had a 64% lower risk of early death compared to those never or rarely consumed coffee.
The reduction in risk was more significant once people reached the age of 45, suggesting that it may be even more beneficial to consume coffee as we get older.

These findings echo the recent results of another large observational study, which found that coffee drinkers appear to live longer, regardless of whether they consume regular or decaf coffee.
Coffee has also been shown to reduce the risk of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, liver disease, colorectal cancer, Alzheimer’s and skin cancer, too.

“Coffee is loaded with antioxidants,” said Joe DeRupo, a spokesman for the National Coffee Association. “Many are naturally occurring antioxidants found in the coffee bean, while others are created during the roasting process. It’s these compounds that science links with positive effects in reducing the risk of several diseases.”

Some of the compounds commonly found in coffee “have been related to better insulin sensitivity, liver function and reduced chronic inflammation,” said V. Wendy Setiawan, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and the lead author of one of the recent studies on coffee consumption and longevity.

Cup of caution
While coffee consumption may appear to be healthful for many, others should proceed with caution. Pregnant women, for example, should cautiously limit their intake of caffeinated coffee.
If you have any heart conditions, you should also limit your coffee and caffeine consumption. “Caffeine is an aggravator and accelerator of one’s heart rate,” said Dr. Vince Bufalino, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and senior vice president and senior medical director of Cardiology-AMG, Advocate Health Care, in Naperville, Illinois. “Those with atrial fibrillation (commonly known as irregular heartbeat) or hypertension should limit their caffeine intake. One to two cups daily is probably fine, but if you are sensitive, you should restrict all caffeine.”
Keep in mind that decaffeinated coffee still contains caffeine. An 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee can contain anywhere from 75 to 165 milligrams of caffeine, whereas decaffeinated coffee contains an average of 2 to 7 milligrams per cup, depending on which study you read.

Add low-fat milk and skip the cream. Cream contributes about 50 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. Low-fat milk has fewer calories and will help to offset calcium losses (a tablespoon has only 6 calories, but 19 milligrams of calcium).
Avoid sugar in your coffee. A teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories. It may not sound like much, but if you add two teaspoons to your brew and drink a few cups per day, the calories add up.
Choose filtered coffee if you have high cholesterol. Unfiltered coffee, like the kind made from a French press, retains compounds known as cafestol and kahweol, which may contribute to increased cholesterol levels in some people.
If you have trouble falling asleep, it’s best to avoid coffee and all sources of caffeine in the evening or close to bedtime.


Instant coffee – not so good
Caffeine causes a short but sudden increase in blood pressure. Research has not shown that drinking 3-4 cups of coffee a day increases the risk of kidney disease or increases rate of decline of kidney function. However, moderating how much coffee you drink is a good idea.
Other researchers found that five cups of instant coffee daily could result in a small but significant increase in cholesterol (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 1995). Drinking a few cups of instant coffee is not likely to change your cholesterol dramatically.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/29/health/coffee-healthy-food-drayer/index.html

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An extra cup of coffee could up the odds of a migraine

Drinking an extra cup of coffee — or other caffeinated beverage — could up the odds of a migraine among those prone to getting them, a new study suggests.

Harvard researchers found that having a third cup of coffee, for example, if you regularly drink one to two, might trigger an extreme headache, according to the study published Thursday in The American Journal of Medicine.

“In patients with episodic migraine, one to two caffeinated drinks were not associated with getting a migraine on the same day,” said the study’s lead author, Elizabeth Mostofsky, a postdoctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an instructor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Three drinks, however, were linked to a greater risk of having a migraine that day, she said.

“These findings would suggest that you limit yourself to no more than two servings a day of caffeinated beverages,” Mostofsky told NBC News.

To look at the impact of caffeine on migraines, Mostofsky and her colleagues recruited 98 volunteers, the majority of whom were women, who experienced two to 15 headaches per month. The volunteers were asked to keep diaries that tracked lifestyle factors, such as caffeine and alcohol consumption, physical activity and stress levels, for at least six weeks.

The majority of the participants — 66 percent — reported consuming one to two caffeinated beverages a day, while 20 percent said they typically did not drink any caffeinated beverages. Twelve percent reported drinking three to four servings a day. In all, participants reported 825 migraines during the 4,467 days of the study.

For most, there didn’t seem to be an association between one or two caffeinated drinks and migraines, but among those who rarely consumed caffeine, just one or two servings could increase headache risk.

For those who normally had one or two servings a day, three or more caffeinated drinks were linked to an increased risk of headaches. And the risk rose as the number of servings increased: The people who consumed three or more servings had 1.4 times higher odds of a migraine on the same day, while those who consumed five or more servings had 2.61 times higher odds of headache on the same day.

The new findings back up what migraine experts have long suspected, said Dr. Laurie Knepper, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Headache Center.

“We certainly counsel our patients to limit their intake of coffee to 8 to 12 ounces a day,” Knepper said. “It’s a good study and I’m not surprised to see that three or more servings set off migraines.”


In other coffee news, another study published this week found that caffeinated drinks consumed within four hours of bedtime were not associated with shorter or disrupted sleep.

That study, published Monday in the journal Sleep, followed 785 African Americans who wore motion sensors while asleep and kept diaries detailing consumption of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. Unlike caffeine, alcohol and nicotine within four hours of bedtime did affect how well people slept.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/extra-cup-coffee-could-odds-migraine-n1040576

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