Coffee Health - New Antioxidant On The Block

An extract of green coffee beans has been found to have a stronger antioxidant effect than established antioxidants like green tea and grape seed extract. Green coffee beans have supplied a new player in the antioxidant arena.

Compared to green tea and grape seed extract, green coffee bean extract is twice as effective in absorbing oxygen free radicals. Chlorogenic acid also helps regulate metabolism. It neutralizes free radicals, and addresses the problem of hydroxyl radicals, both of which can lead to cellular degeneration if left unchecked. The active constituent in coffee that is responsible for its many health benefits is a compound called chlorogenic acid.

Along with its diterpene relative kahweol, cafestol increases concentrations of the 'bad' cholesterol, LDL, to levels that over a lifetime might increase the risk of coronary heart disease by as much as 20% These diterpenes also had an effect on the levels of liver enzymes were much lower than those with liver disease. One of the advantages of using the green coffee bean extract contains no cafestol, which is a diterpene.

And levels of these diterpenes in instant coffee are low. The coffee filter removed the offending diterpenes. As a side note on the health effect of the diterpenes found in regular coffee, it was found that by simply drinking filter coffee, none of these effects on cholesterol levels or the liver took place.

Other benefits of green coffee bean extract include an increase in the effectiveness of pain killers, especially for migraine medications; a reduction in the risk of diabetes; and assisting the body burn a higher proportion of lipids (fats) compared to carbohydrates, which could help with muscle fatigue for athletes and bodybuilders.

Interestingly, on the subject of caffeine and liver disease, further studies have indicated it may in fact support liver health for some people. Those who were at high risk of developing liver disease due to drinking too much alcohol were found less likely to suffer liver damage if they drank more than two cups of coffee or tea a day. This was a population based study, not a clinical trial, and so is not conclusive on the subject. But it does offer some promising information. Those drinking in excess of two cups or more a day were half as likely to develop liver disease compared to those drinking less than one cup a day. Researchers do not know what caused this protective effect.

One of the criticisms of coffee in regards to health is that it leaches calcium from the bones. But this effect has been found to be overemphasized, at least in children. And adults who consume a diet with sufficient levels of calcium will be protected from the small amount of calcium that is lost due to coffee consumption.

So the old axiom that caffeine can stunt a child's growth is a myth. It was based on the fact that in older studies, caffeine was associated with low bone mass because those studies were done on elderly people who both drank a lot of coffee and had diets that were low in calcium. Recent studies in the US followed 80 teenagers over 6 years, and found no difference in the bone density of those with a high level of caffeine in their diet, compared to those teenagers who had little caffeine. Other studies determined that the amount of calcium lost from bones is small and can be balanced by having sufficient calcium in your diet.

http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=643516&m;=1FSND06&idP;=2&c;=qgtqmovbyiaxdub http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arch/11_30_96/food.htm References: Australian Healthy Food Magazine, January.

gourmet coffee the anti cancer drink maybe

When the Ink Spots sang "I love the java jive and it loves me" in 1940, they could not have known how right they were.
Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.

Of course, too much coffee can make people jittery and even raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation.

"The point is, people are getting the most antioxidants from beverages, as opposed to what you might think," Vinson said in a telephone interview.

Antioxidants, which are thought to help battle cancer and provide other health benefits, are abundant in grains, tomatoes and many other fruits and vegetables.

Vinson said he was researching tea and cocoa and other foods and decided to study coffee, too.

His team analyzed the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and common beverages. They then used Agriculture Department data on typical food consumption patterns to calculate how much antioxidant each food contributes to a person's diet.

They concluded that the average adult consumes 1,299 milligrams of antioxidants daily from coffee. The closest competitor was tea at 294 milligrams. Rounding out the top five sources were bananas, 76 milligrams; dry beans, 72 milligrams; and corn, 48 milligrams. According to the Agriculture Department, the typical adult American drinks 1.64 cups of coffee daily.

That does not mean coffee is a substitute for fruit and vegetables.

"Unfortunately, consumers are still not eating enough fruits and vegetables, which are better for you from an overall nutritional point of view due to their higher content of vitamins, minerals and fiber," Vinson said.

Dates, cranberries, red grapes Dates, cranberries and red grapes are among the leading fruit sources of antioxidants, he said.

The antioxidants in coffee are known as polyphenols. Sometimes they are bound to a sugar molecule, which covers up the antioxidant group, Vinson said.

The first step in measuring them was to break that sugar link. He noted that chemicals in the stomach do the same thing, freeing the polyphenols.

"We think that antioxidants can be good for you in a number of ways," including affecting enzymes and genes, though more research is needed, Vinson said.

"If I say more coffee is better, then I would have to tell you to spread it out to keep the levels of antioxidants up," Vinson said. "We always talk about moderation in anything."

His findings were released in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Chemical Society in Washington.

In February, a team of Japanese researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that people who drank coffee daily, or nearly every day, had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank it. The protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups a day and increased at three to four cups.

Diabetes risk Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes.

Men who drank more than six 8-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee per day lowered their risk of type 2 diabetes by about half, and women reduced their risk by nearly 30 percent, compared with people who did not drink coffee, according to the study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said she was not surprised by Vinson's finding, because tea has been known to contain antioxidants.

But Liebman, who was not part of Vinson's research team, cautioned that while many people have faith that antioxidants will reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and more, the evidence has not always panned out. Most experts are looking beyond antioxidants to the combination of vitamins, minerals other nutrition in specific foods, she said.

I am sure you've heard all about this before. I wouldn't be surprised if coffee companies start producing TV commercials promoting the health benefits of coffee because of antioxidants -- they probably have! In any case, how true is this? Is coffee really good for our health because of the amount of antioxidants it contains? There have been different studies about this matter but here is one done by Joe A. Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania. According to his study: "The average adult consumes 1,299 milligrams of antioxidants daily from coffee. The closest competitor was tea at 294 milligrams. Rounding out the top five sources were bananas, 76 milligrams; dry beans, 72 milligrams; and corn, 48 milligrams. According to the Agriculture Department, the typical adult American drinks 1.64 cups of coffee daily." What's this again -- in English, please? Coffee does contain a high amount of antioxidants. The question that remains is whether the antioxidants are enough to offset some of the possible negative effects of coffee. Don't get me wrong -- I can't survive without coffee. But I also know that too much coffee (I don't want to admit that there is something such as too much coffee, really) can induce hyperacidity, among other things. Some people feel jittery. Others (naturally) have a hard time falling asleep. The effects are different with different people. I am no scientist but at this point, if they say coffee has antioxidants and that it can be good for you, I take it as a good thing. Whether or not it has antioxidants, I still love this drink, don't you?

Boake Moore founded Mission Grounds Coffee to help impoveished children around the world. Its a non profit which has used 100% of its profits to build schools and orphanages in China; Russia; Venezuela and Africa.