There is nothing more joyous than a morning cup of coffee. It stimulates the nervous system and relieves mental and physical fatigue. In addition, various statistical studies have shown that coffee prevents or delays the onset of several diseases, writes Dr. Raghavendra Rao. (#Coffee, #RaghavendraRao, #community, @Siliconeer, #Siliconeer, #health, #ProsAndConsofCoffee)

Obesity and Cardiovascular diseases: Nordestgaard and colleagues collected data on 93,179 people and published their findings in the International Journal of Epidemiology. They found a lower risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes in high coffee consumers. Other researchers from Harvard Chan School of Public Health studied data from 208,501 individuals and noted decreased mortality risk for cardiovascular accidents in coffee drinkers (November, 2015).

Liver and Colorectal cancers: Francisca Bravi and others have published a statistical study in Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal on 3,153 patients with liver cancer (November, 2013). Coffee consumers had a 40% reduced risk of a liver-cell cancer compared to non-coffee drinkers. Dr. Stephanie L. Schmit and others from USC explored data from 5,100 individuals with colon cancer and 4,000 normal people (April, 2016) and found that one or two daily cups of coffee reduced the risk of colorectal cancer by 26%. Caffeinated coffee reduced the risk of gallstones as well.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease: MS is a neurological disease that causes partial or total blindness, weakness, sensory problems, speech defect, and other symptoms and signs. Dr. Headstrom and others from Sweden, analyzed 2,779 MS patients and found that the risk for the disease diminished by 33% in coffee drinkers who consumed more than 7.5 cups a day (April, 2016). Other researchers noticed that three to four cups of coffee a day in men diminished the risk of Parkinson’s disease. The benefit was less in women and smokers.

A word of caution. The data was collected from volunteers who gave the details of their coffee consumption from memory. The findings are just statistical. More research is needed to conclusively prove the above-mentioned benefits of coffee.

Coffee has some drawbacks. Excessive consumption in pregnancy can trigger a miscarriage. Caffeine increases stress, raises blood pressure and in some people precipitates irregular heartbeats. It can aggravate acid reflux and stomach ulcers.

The Huffington Post observed that about 52% of coffee drinkers would rather skip a shower in the morning than give up coffee. You too can skip, and enjoy a cup of coffee now. It is good for your health.