Health effects of coffee: Where do we stand? [View all]

[marmar]

So raise your cup if you are wrong in all the right ways





(CNN) It's one of the age-old medical flip-flops: First coffee's good for you, then it's not, then it is -- you get the picture.

Today, in 2015, the verdict is thumbs up, with study after study extolling the merits of three to five cups of black coffee a day in reducing risk for everything from melanoma to heart disease, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, prostate cancer, Alzheimer's, computer-related back pain and more.

To stay completely healthy with your coffee consumption, you'll want to avoid packing it with calorie laden creams, sugars and flavors. And be aware that a cup of coffee in these studies is only 8 ounces; the standard "grande" cup at the coffee shop is double that at 16 ounces.

And how you brew it has health consequences. Unlike filter coffee makers, the French press, Turkish coffee or the boiled coffee popular in Scandinavian countries fail to catch a compound called cafestol in the oily part of coffee that can increase your bad cholesterol or LDL.

Finally, people with sleep issues or uncontrolled diabetes should check with a doctor before adding caffeine to their diets, as should pregnant women, as there is some concern about caffeine's effect on fetal growth and miscarriage. And some of the latest research seems to say that our genes may be responsible for how we react to coffee, explaining why some of us need several cups to get a boost while others get the jitters on only one. .....................(more)

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/14/health/coffee-health/