COFFEE FOR BRAIN 10

There are very few calories in coffee...if you drink it black. When it comes to the calories in coffee, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that if you drink your coffee black, there are very few calories indeed. So you can feel pretty good about yourself. Coffee is a mild stimulant, is packed with antioxidants and can stand head to head with most other “health” beverages in your local health food store. The problem with the calories in your coffee is not about the coffee at all. It’s about what you add to your coffee. The sugar, milk, cream, soy and syrups can all add a lot of extra calories. Here is a rough breakdown of the calories you can expect to consume, according to how you like to take your coffee. The figures listed below are for 12-ounce servings.  10 calories - Regular cup of coffee, no cream or sugar 110 calories - Regular cup of coffee, plus cream and sugar 120 calories - Cappuccino 200 calories - Latte 310 calories - Mocha with whipped cream 370 calories - Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino As you can see, the fancier the coffee concoction, the higher the number of calories. So, while there are very few calories in coffee itself, the calories in a coffee beverage can be quite high. http://www.coffeedetective.com/calories-in-coffee.html

Antioxidants in coffee – the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet. Antioxidants in coffee? Yes, indeed. And plenty of them according to researcher Joe Vinson, PhD, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton. Fruits like dates, cranberries and grapes are high in antioxidants, and pack plenty of other benefits in terms of vitamins and minerals. But when it comes to getting antioxidants from natural sources, Americans get more from coffee than they do from any fruits, vegetables or other beverages. So what makes coffee number one? It’s not that antioxidants in coffee come in the highest concentrations when compared with other natural sources. The key is that we simple consume more coffee than any other source of antioxidants. It’s the volume of coffee the average American drinks that tips the balance. Make coffee part of a broader, healthy diet... This is good news for coffee lovers, but also worth knowing about if you take a lot of care over your diet, and have considered coffee to be one of the “bad guys”. Coffee has numerous health benefits, and the amount of antioxidants it delivers can make a significant contribution to your fight against the damaging effects of free radicals in your body. Better news still...there are just as many antioxidants in coffee that has been decaffeinated. So whether you like to wake up with a jolt, or prefer a nice decaf, your morning coffee will still be your number one ally in the fight against free radicals. http://www.coffeedetective.com/antioxidants-in-coffee.html

Coffee and Diabetes – studies confirm that coffee drinking reduces the risk of the onset of type 2 diabetes. Medical researchers have been aware of the beneficial connection between coffee and diabetes for many years now. If you feel that your family medical history or lifestyle put you at risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes, then drinking coffee can significantly reduce that risk. Diabetes affects an estimated 18.2 million Americans, and the number rises each year. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, and prevents the body from producing enough insulin. Here are a couple of excerpts from recent press releases, just to give you an idea of the amount of study that has gone into the topic of coffee and diabetes. Long-Term Coffee Consumption Linked to Reduced Risk for Type 2 Diabetes   Boston, MA— A study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has found that participants who regularly drank coffee significantly reduced the risk of onset of type 2 diabetes, compared to non-coffee drinking participants. The findings appear in the January 6, 2004 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. More than 125,000 study participants who were free of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease at the start of the study were selected from the on-going Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses Health Study. Some 41,934 men were tracked from 1986 to 1998 and 84,276 women from 1980 to 1998 via food frequency questionnaires every two to four years to assess their intake of both regular and decaffeinated coffee. During the span of the study, 1,333 new cases of type 2 diabetes were diagnosed in men and 4,085 among the women participants. The researchers also found that for men, those who drank more than six cups of caffeinated coffee per day reduced their risk for type 2 diabetes by more than 50 percent compared to men in the study who didn’t drink coffee. Among the women, those who drank six or more cups per day reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by nearly 30 percent. These effects were not accounted for by lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise, or obesity. Decaffeinated coffee was also beneficial, but its effects were weaker than regular coffee. Source: Harvard School of Public Health Coffee May Fight Diabetes   Previous studies have linked drinking coffee to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes as well as other health benefits. But researchers aren't sure how coffee lowers these risks. In this study, researchers looked at the relationship between women's coffee-drinking habits and the level of C-peptide in the blood. Using the records of more than 2,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study, researchers compared how much regular or decaffeinated coffee the women said they drank from 1984-1990 and the level of C-peptide in blood samples taken in 1990. They found that the more coffee the women drank, the lower the level of C-peptide. Women who drank more than four cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee had C-peptide levels that were 13% and 14% lower, respectively, than women who never drank coffee. This relationship between caffeinated coffee and C-peptide levels was even stronger in obese and overweight women, who had 22% and 18% lower levels of this hormone component, respectively, compared to non-coffee drinkers. Researchers say the results suggest that caffeine as well as other elements in coffee may work separately as well as together in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes by preventing insulin resistance. They say long-term studies are needed to investigate the effects of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee on insulin resistance and other risk factors for diabetes. Source: WebMD.com Coffee and Diabetes – a risk reduction of between 30% and 50% When studies show that drinking several cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of the onset of type 2 diabetes in men by up to 50%, it makes you question all that media talk about coffee being bad for you. The story of coffee and diabetes is just one example of how drinking coffee can prevent serious, life-threatening diseases. Coffee has numerous health benefits. In addition to which, discovering the world of coffee and the myriad flavors you will enjoy can become a lifelong pleasure and adventure. http://www.coffeedetective.com/coffee-and-diabetes.html

Increase your brain power with coffee – a natural and effective stimulant.   This is something we all know anyway. You increase your brain power with coffee every morning when you first get up. And when our concentration and focus begin to flag at work, we take a coffee break and perk ourselves up again with another cup. We all know that coffee is a mild and natural neural stimulant, and don’t need scientists to tell us this. That said, it’s reassuring to know that there are studies confirming what we already to know to be true. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics by Dr. J. Murdoch Ritchieh, he reports.... On the positive side, caffeine produces "a more rapid and clearer flow of thought," and allays "drowsiness and fatigue. After taking caffeine one is capable of greater sustained intellectual effort and a more perfect association of ideas. There is also a keener appreciation of sensory stimuli, and motor activity is increased; typists, for example, work faster and with fewer errors." How coffee appears to increase your brain power... The caffeine in coffee blocks a brain chemical called adenosine, which prompts feelings of drowsiness. Ordinarily, brain cells release adenosine when they're overworked. Brain cells need to take a break sometimes, just like any other cell in our bodies. Adenosine is released to calm the activity of your brain cells, and give them some down time. This is fine, except when you are about to write an exam, do a presentation at work or feel drowsy after a fine dinner. By blocking the release of adenosine, coffee gives the impression that is can increase your brainpower just when you need it. However, as research continues, adenosine-blocking doesn’t appear to be the only mechanism by which coffee works on the brain. Consider this excerpt on caffeine and short-term memory: "We still need to learn more about caffeine's effect on mental resources," says Florian Koppelstaetter, MD, in a news release. Koppelstaetter is a radiology fellow at Austria's Medical University Innsbruck. Koppelstaetter and colleagues studied about a dozen healthy adults. Caffeine boosted activity in brain regions related to attention and short-term memory, the researchers report. They presented their findings in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Relax...coffee does increase your brainpower... In a world filled with expensive supplements claiming to boost memory and intelligence, we find it reassuring to know that you can save some money and increase your brainpower naturally, by drinking our favorite beverage...coffee. http://www.coffeedetective.com/increase-your-brain-power.html