Food Lie #6, Coffee is Bad for You

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Coffee has gotten a bad reputation in the past.
It is true that coffee can mildly elevate blood pressure in the short term (49).
However, long term studies show that coffee may actually reduce your risk of some serious diseases.
Coffee drinkers:

• Have up to a 67% lower risk of Type II diabetes (50, 51).
• Are at a much lower risk of getting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (52, 53).
• Have up to an 80% lower risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis (54, 55).

Caffeine also helps to mobilize fatty acids from the fat tissues, boost metabolism and increase exercise performance by an average of 11-12% (56, 57, 58).
Many studies have examined the effects of caffeine on the brain, showing that it can improve mood, memory, reaction time, vigilance and overall brain function (59).
You may be surprised to hear that coffee is also loaded with antioxidants. In fact, it is the biggest source of antioxidants in the modern diet, outranking both fruits and vegetables, combined (60, 61).
If you’re sensitive to caffeine or it tends to disrupt your sleep, then green tea has many of the same health benefits but a smaller amount of caffeine.

Bottom Line: Coffee contains very large amounts of antioxidants. Studies show that coffee drinkers are at a much lower risk of developing many serious diseases.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-nutrition-lies-that-made-the-world-sick-and-fat-2013-10?op=1#ixzz3NhY5BRWJ