Coffee - As a Health Drink?

It is a pity that coffee does not get the credit and the attention it deserves. Coffee tends to get bad press and focus on negative effects of caffeine and we generally underestimate the importance of coffee in our life. Coffee is seen just as a drink, but it actually provides countless health benefits. Coffee may not be in the prescription by a physician. But nevertheless it plays a significant role in ensuring a healthy life for us.

People love coffee. They start their daily routine with a steaming cup of coffee in the early morning. But it is a question whether they really realize the benefits of coffee as a health drink. Coffee stops headache. It boosts your mood. These are the good things about coffee that all of us know. But there are more than what eyes meet in coffee matters.

• Research has shown that coffee minimizes the risk of diabetes.

• Believe it or not, coffee lowers the risk of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. People who drink coffee regularly are around 80% less likely to be affected by Parkinson's disease than who do not take coffee at all.

• Regular drinking of coffee distances you from colon cancer. Daily two cups of coffee, the risk you may get colon cancer is reduced by 25%.

• Two cups of caffeinated coffee per day, liver cirrhosis risk is decreased by 80%.

• Moderate intake of coffee reduces the risk of developing gallstones.

• Coffee reduces the risk of early stage diabetes. Coffee improves insulin sensitivity and it reduces blood sugar levels. Research has shown that if you drink three cups of caffeinated coffee per day, diabetes risk is reduced by considerable amount. If you drink six cups of caffeinated coffee daily, risk of diabetes is reduced by a whopping 50%.

• Coffee may help ward off asthma. Coffee eases out the nasal passages and improves airflow.

• Coffee contains antioxidants that fight against viral infection. One cup of coffee contains more antioxidants than one cup of grape juice!

• Coffee contains chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and protocatechnic acid. These chemicals show excellent antibacterial effects.

• Caffeine present in coffee is a psychoactive substance. It improves one's mood and enhances performance.

• Coffee reduces fatigue effectively and it is an active stimulant.

• Around 100 ml of coffee every hour you can stay all night awake. Coffee delays sleep and reduces sleep time.

• Coffee makes you more alert. If you drink coffee whole day you will be alert throughout the day.

• Coffee prevents formation of dental cavities.

But coffee has its downside as well. It is an addictive drink. People who drink coffee daily in the long run become an addict, not just to that smell and taste, but to the caffeine content. They can reach a state where seems impossible for them to function in life without a cup of their favorite coffee and its likable bitter taste. If you make drinking coffee a regular habit, it certainly presents you numerous benefits like improved mood, enhanced performance, and reduction of risks of a lot of diseases including cancer. But what if you cannot drink your coffee at the usual time you take it? You may suffer from a headache. Fatigue reaches you. You feel restless. Your mood becomes dull. Your performance gets affected. If you regularly consume a large amount of coffee and stop drinking it suddenly you may suffer the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine addiction. This results in more adverse effects. Your blood sugar level becomes imbalanced. Your blood pressure gets affected. You may become easily impatient and get easily stressed. If you find this happening to you it is advisable to reduce your regular coffee intake and ease yourself out of your strong caffeine addiction. Limiting your daily intake will reduce your dependence on caffeine.

Though coffee has its own list of health benefits, like anything else, it should be taken only in moderation. Too much coffee has its own downside. So drink your cup of coffee, but only in a moderate amount to ensure a healthy you.



Source : http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles

$ 100 for just one cup of coffee..?

LONDON, THURSDAY -
ask the British people, what's most expensive coffee in the world, the nation's of tea drinker will answer - Kopi luwak , the coffee that taken from civet dung. This presumption may be the same as the traditional society of Indonesia.

Why are these coffee so expensive ?
In United kingdom the coffee that has been eaten civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and out again through his pup. Selling price this kind of coffee reach about 50 PoundsSterling , almost 1 million rupiah and if we converted in US its $ 100 per cup, yes per cup , not per box....
what an expensive price ,reported in the Daily Mail's internet site, on Thursday (10 / 4/ 2008).

If you know the the origin of coffee, some coffee lovers will tremble.

But for Peter Jones cafes, that coffee is the most selling coffee in his cafe in Sloane Square that sell espresso, latte and Americano coffee beans. He start to selling to most expensive coffee in april 2008 .

Would you like to know from where Jones get the raw materials that make his cafe famous ?
He purchased 60 packages exclusive mix of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and Kopi luwak from Indonesia. This kind of Coffee beans is rare, because the harvest is less than 200 kg per year.

Believed, mongoose (a wolf in the Javanese language)or in Indonesia they called Luwak can select the best coffee beans based on his instinct. They select seeds and eat the soft, but only the outside that can be digested, while the rest is discarded along with the dirt. Liquid stool that is believed to enrich the taste of coffee mongoose.

Now, customers can feel Jones sensation Kopi luwak.
Meanwhile, all profits from sales will be donated to cancer.

One customer Jones, Hannah Silver (23) said, "I was quite worried before trying, but it turns out that Kopi Luwak was one of the best coffee I ever taste.

Coffee make you addicted...?

Almost all relevant authorities believe that caffeine is not a genuinely addictive product. There are several criteria given as to why caffeine is not considered an addictive substance compared to other beverages, such as alcohol, and many recreational drug substances that are considered to be addictive.

With coffee consumption, there is little or no increased tolerance to dose, so a coffee lover does not need to increase amounts of coffee or caffeine to achieve the effects they enjoy. This means the consumer who likes three cups of coffee today to enjoy the sensations will not need five or six cups to feel the same way in a few years . This is very different from genuinely addictive products such as alcohol and many forms of illegal drugs where regular users will be inclined to increase intake to achieve the same feeling.

Secondly, withdrawal is not genuinely a challenge. Someone who wished to stop drinking coffee could just moderate their consumption downward for several days to stop drinking completely with no effects. Caffeine withdrawal usually only appears amongst a small percentage of regular coffee consumers who abruptly stop their caffeine consumption. They may experience mild headaches, irritability and nervousness from sudden deprivation.

Thirdly, as much fun as can be made of a coffee lover's craving for a cup of coffee, there are no anti-social behaviours linked to caffeine consumption.

If for any reason you are advised to stop or reduce your caffeine intake, just reduce consumption gradually to the desired level, or to no intake at all

http://www.coffeeandhealth.ca/caffeine.htm