‘FINALLY! WE CAN STOP ALL THIS CAFFEINE NONSENSE’ HEALTH BOOSTER

New research has found that drinking three or more coffees a day reduces your risk of early death by two-thirds – caffeine lover Dr Christian raises a mug to the new findings! KIND Organic® tampons, liners and pads (Boots, £2.99) are a great option if you

Coffee has been C in the headlines a lot recently. In fact, a 10-year study of 20,000 people has just found that regular coffee drinkers were almost two-thirds less likely to die early than those who avoided coffee altogether. Another study, which took into account age, smoking, activity and education, showed that drinking three or more cups a day reduced the risk of early death in women by 8 per cent. It’s a real turnaround, and as a tea and coffee fan, I applaud it.

For years, I’ve been annoyed by advice to cut out caffeine for health reasons, because there’s no logic behind it. But there is a huge amount of research that proves caffeine in coffee and tea is healthy, and caffeine is a well-researched substance.

CANCER REDUCTION

People say caffeine is addictive, which implies harm, but coffee and tea won’t hurt you. We can be dependent on it, though – thinking we can’t start the day without coffee – but that’s OK, because it’s not damaging to your health. The evidence is so strong that the World Health Organisation no longer lists coffee as a carcinogen (a substance linked to cancer). It now says that it could in fact reduce the risk of liver and uterine cancer. And that’s not something they could do lightly.

HEALTH BENEFITS

The argument against tea and coffee seems to be that it overwhelms your adrenal glands, pumping out stress hormones and putting your body into the “fight or flight” mode. But that’s rubbish. It is a stimulant, but you can use that to your advantage. Coffee first thing isn’t necessary, because your stress hormones – cortisol – are high in the morning, which gives you energy. You get a dip of cortisol around mid-morning, so an 11am coffee is perfect for a boost. Then you get a mid-afternoon lag.

Coffee is full of antioxidants, which reduce inflammation. That’s good because chronic inflammation leads to heart disease and cancers. There’s also strong evidence that supports coffee for liver health, and to cut risk of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s certain cancers and diabetes.

You’ll always have some who question the findings, saying that wealthier people tend to drink coffee, and affluent people tend to look after their health better because they can afford to, but research accounts for those kinds of factors.

Remember that the caffeine in the study does not include energy drinks or coffee loaded with syrups and cream. So enjoy your brew and know it’s safe!