If it feels good it can't be good for you, right? So years ago, when I heard that drinking lots of coffee raised the risk for pancreatic cancer, I figured it was just that law of puritanical karma kicking in. As the joke goes, you may lengthen your life by giving up your favorite pleasures . . . or you may just make it feel really, really long.
Then that turned out not to be true, at least not in any significant way. It's cigarettes that are the problem.
Since then, the good news just keeps coming:
- Coffee doesn't cause high blood pressure, either, after all. In women, at least (heh), it may even lower it a bit. It's sugared and diet sodas that are the problem.
- Coffee is an excellent source of antioxidants that protect against cancer and heart disease. Recent studies suggest that drinking coffee offers some "protection against liver and colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson's disease."
- And today's Washington Post breaks the news that coffee can protect against non-viral liver disease.
Of course, all of this only makes me suspicious: it's too good to be true, right? I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. While I wait, I'm having another cup of coffee.
Glug, glug, glug ... with relish! I'm with you, sistah!
Posted by: Tamar | December 05, 2005 at 07:55 AM
Just when I'd cut down my coffee consumption from 12 cups to 6...
darn.
Posted by: Donna B. | December 05, 2005 at 02:11 PM
In September, Cox News Service reported that 42% in their sample reported that coffee was more important to them sex in the average week. I keep this one posted on my office door.
Posted by: gruntled | December 06, 2005 at 10:36 AM
Well, I certainly get more of it!
Posted by: amba | December 06, 2005 at 10:44 AM
Heh. Well, now I feel better about that cup of coffee I just finished on my morning break!
Posted by: Asher - Dreams Into Lightning | December 06, 2005 at 01:21 PM
I don't drink coffee. It keeps me awake.
Posted by: triticale | December 06, 2005 at 02:41 PM