It’s amazing how the world begins to change through the eyes of a cup of coffee. Donna A. Favors
When I was six, my mother gave me milk with a few drops of coffee and a little sugar in one of my tea set cups. I drank it down in one gulp. She was astonished. She shouldn’t have been. Since I was four, my dad had let me sip coffee from his cup almost every day. By the ripe old age of six, I had developed a fondness for the beverage. I’ve been savoring the fragrance, taste, and rejuvenating juices of coffee almost my entire life.
By the time I was an adult, I had abandoned adding cream or sugar to my cup. I do not like flavored coffees nor Louisiana chicory coffee. And while I usually want my coffee hot, I must admit that I thoroughly enjoy the coffee punch that a friend used to concoct and the coffee candies that one of my grandsons treats me with.
Over the years, I’ve followed the good and bad news about drinking coffee. And while the pros have far outweighed any cons, I’ve paid little attention to any disparaging reports. The only ones that might have tempted me to stop were the cautionary tales about consuming caffeine during pregnancy. However, these advisories emerged long after our children were grown. Hopefully my fondness for coffee didn’t affect them adversely. Two of the three maybe enjoy coffee even more than I.
But it was the news about the findings of the latest studies that prompts me to pay tribute to my favorite drink again. According to a study, published in the June issue of BMC Public Health, “people who regularly consumed coffee, whether caffeinated or not, were less likely to develop chronic liver disease, chronic fatty liver disease and had a lower risk of dying from liver disease, compared with those who didn’t drink coffee.”
Of course, such studies cannot guarantee that drinking coffee will absolutely prevent a person from contracting any illness, but they can be good indicators of some protection. It seems to me over the years, that experts had flipped and flopped over study findings about coffee and of course, the caffeine in it.
Dr. Donald Hensrud, M.D., writing for the Mayo Clinic, explains, “Why the reversal? It's hard to look at just one aspect of diet and connect it to a health condition because so many other factors that could play a role. For example, early research on coffee didn't always take into account that heavy coffee drinkers also tended to use tobacco and be sedentary.”
Today, studies of coffee drinkers have found that the beverage may also offer some protection against Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke, in addition to this newest study about the liver. And yet, we all know a coffee drinker who has been affected by at least one of these conditions.
According to Kris Gunnars, BSC, writing for Healthline, coffee, because of caffeine, can also improve energy levels, memory, mood, vigilance, reaction times and general mental function. It can help a person burn fat, can improve physical performance, may protect a person from dementia and fight depression. It is also the biggest source of antioxidants in the Western diet.
Coffee cultivation and trade began on the Arabian Peninsula. By the 16th century, coffee was a popular drink both in homes and public houses in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. By the 17th century, travelers had bought the beverage to Europe. Some people reacted to the new beverage with suspicion and fear until some local clergy condemned the beverage in Venice. Pope Clement VIII was asked to intervene. He tasted the drink and found it so satisfying that he gave it papal approval.
While coffee arrived in the new world in the mid-1600s, tea remained the favorite beverage until King George III enacted a heavy tea tax. The colonists revolted by dumping a shipload of tea in the harbor and turning to coffee to serve for breakfast.
Thomas Jefferson praised the change. “Coffee - the favored drink of the civilized world.”
2021
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