To say I was excited when I first flicked through a newly released eBook by Dr. Sanjiv Chropra, Liver specialist and writer whose credibility precedes him, was to say the least an understatement. I have been fighting my cancer doctors for years over the possible health hazards of drinking coffee and wine. So to be presented in black and white with actual research data that suggested health benefits, rather than hazards, simply MADE MY DAY!

While the news on both wine and coffee is good, the later is pretty amazing so I want to start with that.

We all have heard the rumours about how coffee drinking is responsible for just about everything from heart attacks to insomnia. However, the latest research does not bare this out, in fact it pain and simply knocks all that out the ball park.

Doctors Chropra and Latvin’s book cites many different research projects and observational studies which I am not going to list here, the ebook on Amazon is only $3.53 http://amzn.to/pAvtrO should you wish all the details. These studies were however done by very well respected institutes and doctors from many countries.

So here is what they are concluding:-

Coffee, if drank in sufficient quantities (over 4 cups a day) protects against many, many ailments and diseases.

Firstly, one that surprised many including the good doctors, is that it protects the Liver from cirrhosis, especially alcohol induced cirrhosis and not by a small amount, up to a 20% reduction per cup.

So drinking 4 cups per day = 80% reduction, which is huge.

Liver Cancer is also significantly reduced in coffee drinkers up to 23% for each daily cup and for Gout sufferers the news is even better with incidents of painful bouts, being halved.

Coffee is also insulin sensitizing so helps people whose cells do not absorb enough insulin. For coffee drinking men, the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes reduces by 50% and women 30%.

Men who drink 6 or more cups a day also reduce their chances of developing prostate cancer by a whopping 60%. Even up to 3 cups per day has a 20% reduction in risk.
I could go on and on.

One of the most persistent anti coffee beliefs surrounds coffee’s ability to stimulate the heart, possibly causing high blood pressure, heart and stroke problems. The studies however do not back this up and in fact show that women who drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day, reduced their risk of Stroke by 19% which increases with each additional cup. None smoking women drinking 4 or more cups per day, have an incredible 43% reduction in Strokes.

NOTE :Women generally do not seem to get quite so much benefit as men and this is believed to be connected to female hormones, which mitigate the effectiveness (guess this is an upside to menopause) but never the less the facts still indicate significant reductions in risk over most diseases.

One fact I found quite interesting is that while there is much talk about the bad effects of caffeine, this does not stack up in the results. There appears to be no difference between caffeine or decaf, although the best results are seen in the people who drink a lot of coffee daily and this group tends towards the caffeine variety.

What we also have to consider, is that coffee is not just caffeine. It contains many components including potassium, magnesium, anti-oxidants and Vitamin E to mention a few and it appears to be the combination of all this in the coffee bean, that makes the magic that is a coffee.

There are still some negatives for some people but if you are not pregnant, and do not suffer from very high blood pressure or serious cardiac arrhythmias, it would seem that if you can tolerate drinking more coffee……GO FOR IT!

So what about the wine?

Well again this is good news for some, although with a few reservations. It seems that there is significant evidence to suggest that people who drink alcohol moderately, 1-2 glasses a day, do in fact survive longer.

If that is red wine, the figures improve more.

In particular the health benefit associated with heart problems, where many studies conclude risk can be reduced by about half in the wine drinking population. Lung cancer risk also seems to be reduced by red wine consumption, by about 2% per glass, per month.
In Toronto a more recent study which combined data from 51 different studies, indicates that 2 alcoholic drinks per day in fact decreases hearth disease by 20 %.

So it seems that moderate, daily drinking does in fact have benefits to heart health, reduces incidents of blood clotting and diabetes and will increase bone density along with HDH (good) cholesterol. However, and here is the real kicker for some……… these benefits are mostly seen in the over 50’s yrs.

Sorry to all you youngsters out there, especially women as there is still evidence linking regular drinking (3 glasses or more daily), to increased risk of breast cancer, along with a slight increase in many other cancers, whatever your choice of alcohol.

So, am I personally going to continue to drink a glass or two with my dinner?

Absolutely!

Because there is certainly one fact that stands out from all the different studies – AND that is – in terms of health and survival –

People who drink moderately, do a lot better than people who don’t!

Cheers.

Advertisement