Is “Coffee” good for your health? Good question. For myself, anything in moderation is acceptable. Too much of even a good thing is never the ideal way to go. So, in spite of what the health experts have to say, I’ve always held on to my own beliefs. After all, who knows my body better than myself, right?

And I’ve not come to this conclusion based on being a cynic when it comes to listening to those who are in the know, medically-speaking that is. I read the occasional updates on what’s good for the human body, whether we’re talking food, drink or exercise. But again, I have to see what my own body can take, its preferences, its needs, its limits and from there I try to balance everything and create a sort of “yin and yang” health situation.

Lately, it has been highlighted that “coffee” contains plenty of antioxidants which is a good thing. But then again, we can always acquire our antioxidants elsewhere – in fruits for example which obviously draw less negative comments.

But then I love “coffee” and have depended on it for a whole 3 decades beginning at a time when no one believed me when I proclaimed that “2 cups of coffee a day actually keeps the headache away” short of saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Nowadays, I’ve cut it down to only 1 cup a day and it works just as well.

When I first realised that my intake of “coffee” actually stops a headache in its path, I experimented with different brands of the beverage and came to the conclusion that some brands work much better than others. So I stuck to the one that works best and fastest, anything to get rid of an impending migraine attack which I first attributed to a withdrawal symptom from my early years of coke-addiction/abuse. We’re talking “Coca-Cola” here, not cocaine!!

As everyone knows, the popular “Coca-Cola” drink contains caffeine. So after my obsession with it died a natural death after a good many years, withdrawal symptoms from the caffeine I was so accustomed to must have started to kick in thus triggering the headaches. Anyway, that was my layman “theory” at the time. Even while I researched the reason behind my “medical cure”, I could not find a reasonable explanation
until lately when I came across numerous articles attesting to the fact that “coffee” does indeed cure headaches.

Studies have shown that the caffeine in “coffee” boosts the brain cells’ activity thereby causing surrounding blood vessels to constrict which in turn helps to relieve the pressure that causes the headache pain in the first place.

And not only does it help with the headache problem, it also protects your heart, so it seems. Experts say that moderate coffee drinkers of 1 to 3 cups per day have a lower rate of stroke than say a non-coffee drinker. And that had something to do with the antioxidants found in “coffee” which apparently suppresses any damaging effects of inflammation on one’s arteries. Immediately after consuming coffee, one’s blood pressure and heart rate is raised but at the same time it must be noted that in the long run, it would result in one’s blood pressure being lowered instead. Reason given was that the antioxidants may activate nitric oxide thus widening the blood vessels within our body.

Research reports also indicated that “coffee” diverts diabetes due to the antioxidants chlorogenic acid and quinides which is capable of boosting one’s cells’ sensitivity to insulin which helps regulate blood sugar.

Additional research also showed that coffee-intake reduces the risk of liver diseases due to the antioxidants chlorogenic and caffeic acids and caffeine which could prevent liver inflammation and inhibit cancer cells.

Another positive point as everybody knows is that it’s known to boost one’s brain power. For the elderly especially, the idea that it may help to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s as well as Parkinson’s disease is indeed good news. Studies suggested that antioxidants in “coffee” may ward off brain cell damage and help the neurotransmitters involved in cognitive function to work better.

In conclusion, this is what I think. On the one hand, “coffee” does have its benefits. But on the other hand, it also has its drawbacks which I need not go into since I’m such a coffee-addict.

So… I repeat the question: Is “Coffee” good for you? Well, I’d like to tell you to go figure it out yourself. Don’t listen to the experts. Listen to your body. What does it tell you?? There, you have your answer, don’t you?? Or would you prefer to listen to the health experts. Ah… your call!!