Slow-Movin’ Java Jam

Manhattan Transfer: They’re loving dat coffee, but why didn’t they drink some before the performance? They remind me of ME in the mornings. I’m going back to my coffee, dammit.

Guzzling coffee may cut heart disease

22:00 16 June 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Ewen CallawayA strong cup of coffee in the morning can feel like a life saver. Now, one of the largest and longest studies of coffee drinking suggests that coffee may indeed boost your lifespan – providing you drink enough of the stuff, that is.

The study tracked 129,000 men and women over two decades. It found that people who consumed several cups of coffee every day were less likely to die of heart disease than those who shied away from the stuff. Heart disease is an umbrella term for conditions including heart attacks, stroke, and arrhythmia.

The researchers found that women who drank four to five cups per day were 34% less likely to die of heart disease, while men who had more than five cups a day were 44% less likely to die.
Consumption caution

The new report adds heft to the hypothesis that coffee can stem heart disease, perhaps by battling the inflammatory damage associated with early stage illness.

“It looks like coffee has some effect that hasn’t been established before. The general idea is that coffee is not so bad,” says study leader Esther Lopez-Garcia, an epidemiologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Yet Lopez-Garcia and other experts caution that it’s too early for people to act on the study’s findings.

“Before declaring that drinking up to seven cups of coffee per day is beneficial for health, we should wait for some other confirmation,” warns Francesco Sofi, an epidemiologist at the University of Florence, who was not involved in the study.

The new study is not the first to connect coffee drinking with good health. Over the years, other research has linked coffee consumption with lower rates of heart attack, liver cancer and diabetes.