The Traveler

Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Veronica Pucci Claudine Reith (right), a senior accounting major from Fayetteville, and Adrienne Pittman from Springdale, study and chat over coffee at Arsaga's on Crossover Road.

Coffee drinkers can relax, and for those who don't drink coffee they might want to think about picking up a cup.

Recent research shows that coffee is not as bad to drink as people have thought, and it might actually be beneficial for one's health.

The caffeine in three cups of coffee or tea a day might help maintain mental sharpness in older women, but caffeine consumption appears to have no effect in men, according to an article in The New York Times published last year.

Scientists concluded that women at age 65 who drank three or more cups of coffee or tea a day were about one-third less likely to have a significant decline in verbal skills than those who drank a cup or less. By age 85, they were 70 percent less likely to suffer those deficits compared with women who drank less than a cup of coffee or tea, wrote Nicholas Bakalar in a New York Times article.

It was unclear why caffeine had no effect on men, said Karen Ritchie in the New York Times article, the lead author and a research director with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. She suggested that perhaps different sexes metabolize caffeine differently or that there is a hormonal interaction.

Researchers have also found strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments, including diabetes, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver.

Taylor Moreau, a UA freshman from Elmwood, Neb., doesn't like black coffee "but mixed coffee is a good tasting drink."

Moreau also said that she doesn't think coffee is bad nor does it keep her awake when she consumes it.

Habitual coffee consumption was consistently associated with a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, but the reason is unknown.

Authors of the study, who have published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, offer several possible explanations.

Coffee contains antioxidants that help control cell damage that can contribute to the development of the disease. It is also a source of chlorogenic acid, which has been shown in animal experiments to reduce glucose concentrations, according to a New York Times article published in 2006.

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