Once, we were advised to cut out caffeine. But the latest research shows a daily cup could be a lifesaver.

Long-term studies have finally showed the health benefits of the roasted bean. So here are some reasons why drinking coffee early and often is good for you:

1. Coffee is as hydrating as plain water.
It’s a complete myth that a normal cup of coffee is a diuretic. So you can count your morning cup of coffee as part of your daily water requirement. It’s only when your drink contains more than 550mg of caffeine that you’ll start to produce dehydrating levels of urine, according to the review

2. It probably cuts your risk of heart disease, and certainly doesn’t raise the chances of a heart attack
People with high blood pressure commonly avoid coffee as a stimulant that might make their condition worse. Yet a series of large clinical trials show that the opposite is true. University of California cardiologists studied the 10 biggest trials of heart disease and recently concluded there was no evidence that coffee increases the risk of heart attack, sudden death or abnormal heart rhythms.

3. It cuts the risk of some cancers and has no adverse effect on others
There’s even a suggestion that coffee-drinking can prevent cancer. Japanese researchers have reported in 2005, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, that regular consumers of two cups of coffee a day had half the risk of developing liver cancer compared with those who never drank it.

4. The cream in your coffee more than offsets the slight reduction in calcium-absorption that caffeine appears to cause
Caffeine does bring about a slight reduction in the absorption of calcium in the bones, and some scientists have claimed that people who drink coffee regularly have a higher risk of bone loss and fractures. This is probably because coffee drinkers are less likely to have milky drinks, according to bone biologist Dr Robert Heaney of Creighton University, Omaha. He says that the small caffeine-related increased risk of osteoporosis is easily offset by adding a couple of tablespoons of milk per cup.

5. It makes you feel good
It’s not imaginary: a decent cup of coffee improves your sense of well-being, happiness, energy, alertness and sociability, according to research at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. You have to drink the stuff regularly, however. Having the odd cup is likely to cause anxiety and a feeling of being unwell.
Those with a coffee habit, however, may even be better protected from potentially lethal depression.

6. It helps sports men and women recover from extreme exercise
New research has shown that adding a few cups of coffee to the carbohydrates eaten by athletes following exercise boosts muscle recovery by up to 60 per cent – apparently solving a problem that has foxed sports physiologists until now. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in July, has found a solution to a problem that has resulted in increasingly complex dietary schemes designed to help athletes recover faster.

7. It appears to offer protection from diseases
There are suggestions that a couple of cups of coffee daily reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s as well as Parkinson’s disease, and possibly diabetes. Caffeine appears to protect the brain from the harmful effects of cholesterol, which is involved in the destruction of the brain cells that leads to Alzheimer’s. Other research has shown that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, and that coffee intake appears to be linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

But don’t overdo it…

*Coffee is no ‘cure’ for a hangover

The water in coffee will help to rehydrate you, and the caffeine will give your brain a jolt, but the overall effect is likely to make you feel worse. A strong coffee will irritate further your already delicate stomach, and the increased blood flow to the brain can increase the pounding in your head. The favourite hangover remedy of a cocktail of black coffee and paracetamol is potentially toxic, scientists reported in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology last year. Caffeine triples the amount of a toxic by-product of paracetamol being broken down, increasing the risk of potentially fatal liver damage.

How much caffeine?
*Cup of tea 47mg
*Cup of filter coffee 95mg
*Can of cola 35mg
*Diet Coke 47mg

Adopted from an article By Jane Feinmann, www.dailymail.co.uk