Have Another Cup – It’s Delicious AND Good for You!

As reported in the British Medical Journal, British researchers have reviewed over 200 studies and declared that "coffee drinking appears safe within usual patterns of consumption", which seems to be three or four cups a day.

The researchers say that coffee drinkers are "more likely to see health benefits than harm, experiencing lower rates of premature death, cardiovascular disease and liver disease."

ABC News reports that:

Drinking more coffee also is associated with a decrease in several types of cancer, including prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, skin cancer, leukemia and liver cancer, according to the researchers' findings. There also were lower rates of type 2 diabetes, gallstones and dementia associated with coffee consumption.

Three of four cups of coffee offer the most health benefits, except for pregnant women or those who are prone to suffer fractures. And it's not going to be helpful to load the coffee with a lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Note:

Since this is an observational analysis of studies that already exist, it is impossible to account for many of the other factors that may influence these findings. More studies are needed to determine correlation versus causation. In other words, it might be that people with more healthy lives also drink coffee, but this news suggests that there are more positive findings than negative ones.

Although the review found than there was more benefit than harm from coffee, the studies were not adjusted for important confounders, such as body-mass index, smoking, age, alcohol use, income or education level.