COFFEE FOR BRAIN 8

Prevent Alzheimer's disease by drinking five cups of coffee a day. As remarkable as it may seem, scientists have conducted a study which suggests you can go a long way towards preventing Alzheimer's disease simply by drinking five cups of coffee a day. Gary Arendash, a researcher at the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute in Tampa, Florida, says giving mice with Alzheimer's the human equivalent of five cups of coffee, or 500 grams of caffeine, a day has plaque-busting effects and reverses symptoms of impaired memory in aging Alzheimer's mice. According to his study, the caffeine in coffee can reduce levels of two enzymes that play a role in the complex process of amyloid plaque formation. "I don't know of any drug under development that can address and suppress both of these enzymes," Arendash said. The remarkable thing is that a simple cup of coffee appears to have more effect on preventing Alzheimer's than the expensive pharmaceuticals currently being used to treat the disease. Maybe we shouldn't be entirely surprised by these findings, as coffee has long been known to enhance people's cognitive abilities. That's why we drink coffee to sharpen our concentration or "wake up" quickly in the morning. Can coffee really prevent Alzheimer's? More studies will need to be done. But this early research is very promising. http://www.coffeedetective.com/prevent-alzheimers-disease.html

If you drink coffee every day, you almost certainly have a coffee addiction. Or, to be more accurate, you have a caffeine addiction. Which means that your addiction could just as well be to tea or cola. But for the purpose of this article, we'll talk about coffee. Recent research suggests that drinking even a small amount of coffee each day can result in addiction. How can you tell? One way is to monitor how you feel when your regular coffee routine is interrupted. For instance, when you stay over with friends, or spend the night at a hotel, how do you feel in the morning when you can't automatically reach for your coffee brewer? Or how about when you're running late for work and can't stop off and pick up your usual brew? When you have a coffee addiction, the effects of withdrawal can be quite noticeable. Here are just some of the symptoms people feel when suddenly deprived of their caffeine fix: - Headache - Fatigue or drowsiness - Depression or irritability - Difficulty in concentrating - Flulike symptoms including nausea, muscle pain, and stiffness According to one researcher, "With regard to severity, 13 percent of people had clinically significant distress or functional impairment. At its worst, caffeine withdrawal involved missing work, canceling social functions, and going to bed with the belief that they had the flu." For most of us, the symptoms manifest themselves as a sense of irritability and a loss of focus and concentration when at work. But here is the good news. If you decide to quite caffeine and kick your coffee addiction for good, then the withdrawal symptoms generally last only between seven and nine days. http://www.coffeedetective.com/coffee-addiction.html

Fiber in Coffee – there’s more soluble fiber in coffee than there is in orange juice. At first sight, the notion of fiber in coffee may seem like nonsense. But the fiber found in coffee is soluble fiber. You can’t see it, but it plays a very important function in our health. In fact, it’s dietary fiber of the soluble kind that helps prevent cholesterol from being absorbed by the intestines. Recent findings by researchers in Spain suggest that levels of soluble fiber in coffee are higher than anyone expected - higher than the levels found in either wine or in orange juice. Interestingly, the highest levels are found in instant coffee, not in fresh ground coffee. The Spanish study found the following levels of dietary soluble fiber in a single cup of coffee: Instant coffee - 1.8 grams Espresso - 1.5 grams Filtered coffee - 1.1 grams Based on our daily intake requirements, you’d have to drink 17 cups of coffee or more each day if coffee were your only source of soluble fiber. However, it’s reassuring to note that once again scientists are finding more ways in which coffee has a beneficial effect on our health. The fact that coffee contains soluble fiber simply adds one more reason why we should feel comfortable enjoying our favorite hot beverage, guilt-free. And no, we’re not switching to instant coffee simply because of the higher fiber content. We’ll settle for the lower levels found in fresh-ground gourmet coffee.  http://www.coffeedetective.com/fiber-in-coffee.html

Your risk of developing liver cancer is reduced by 43% with ever two cups of coffee you drink.  Drinking coffee appears to lower the risk of developing liver cancer, according to findings published in the medical journal Gastroenterology. "Data on potential beneficial effects of coffee on liver function and liver diseases have accrued over the last two decades," Drs. Susanna C. Larsson and Alicja Wolk, from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, write. Several studies have found an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and liver enzymes levels that indicate a risk of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. In layman’s terms, for every 2 cups of coffee consumed per day, the investigators observed a 43-percent reduced risk of liver cancer. This is welcome news, coming fast on the heels of other studies which have showed how drinking two or three cups of coffee daily may reduce the risk of mortality from liver cirrhosis. Add this to the growing list of other benefits of drinking coffee, including protection against gout and diabetes, and suddenly coffee is becoming quite the healthy brew. But as you rush to increase your consumption of coffee, keep in mind that most of us don’t drink our coffee black. This means that as well as the health benefits of the coffee itself, we are also consuming sugar and quite a bit of fat from the milk or cream we add to each serving. Anyway, I don’t think anyone is trying to suggest that coffee is the miracle herb of the century. But it is reassuring to know that our favorite brew can reduce the risk of developing liver cancer and some other life-threatening conditions as well. http://www.coffeedetective.com/developing-liver-cancer.html