Beginner's Fitness Programs

There has been some debate whether coffee and tea, which contain high doses of caffeine, are good for the body, especially for cardiovascular health. It now appears that drinking coffee and tea actually promotes a healthy cardiovascular system. According to a study conducted at the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands, drinking 6 cups of tea a day can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 45% and drinking 2 to 4 cups of coffee can reduce that risk by about 20%. This is not the only health benefit of coffee and tea; here are more:

• Moderate coffee-drinkers at mid-life may reduce the risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease by 65%.
• Drinking coffee and/or black tea may reduce the risk of diabetes.
• Drinking coffee may reduce the risk of liver, head, and neck cancers
• Dark-roasted coffee contains stomach-friendly ingredients.
• Women who drink French-press coffee moderately reduce the risk of breast cancer.
• Women who drink tea may lower the risk of ovarian cancer by 46%.
• Green tea reduces incidents of glaucoma and other eye diseases.
• Green tea could modify the effects of cigarette smoking on lung cancer risk
• Green tea has an antifibrotic effect.
• Green tea keeps bacteria away.

Of course, the key is “moderate.” Too much of a good thing often ends up being a bad thing. For example, women who drink large amounts of tea (e.g., more than 6 cups a day) have an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Furthermore, drinking too much tea or coffee results in excess fluoride in the body which can cause bone problems.

The health benefits mainly come from antioxidants, not caffeine (although more studies need to be done). If you are sensitive to caffeine, drink decaffeinated tea or coffee, but make sure that it is water-processed or CO2-processed. Chemically treated coffee may have better flavor, but it is not good for the body.

If you are not a tea- or coffee-drinker, but you want to try them for potential health benefits, you can buy tea extract—- many are caffeine-free and highly concentrated. (I have not seen studies done with these extracts, but makers claim that these extracts contain the same benefits.)

One more thing: if you are drinking coffee for alertness, the effect could, unfortunately, be an illusion—according to research at the University of Bristol.

Source
Tea and Coffee Consumption and Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association
Midlife Coffee and Tea Drinking and the Risk of Late-Life Dementia: A Population-based CAIDE Study. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 16
JAMA and Archives Journals (2006, January 3). Drinking Tea Associated With Lower Risk Of Ovarian Cancer
Consumption of filtered and boiled coffee and the risk of incident cancer: a prospective cohort study. Cancer Causes & Control, 2010
Coffee and Caffeine Ameliorate Hyperglycemia, Fatty Liver, and Inflammatory Adipocytokine Expression in Spontaneously Diabetic Mice. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010; 58
Coffee Drinking Related To Reduced Risk Of Liver Cancer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007, August
Coffee and Tea Intake and Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: Pooled Analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, June 22, 2010
American Chemical Society (2010, March 22). Brewing up a gentler java: Dark-roasted coffee contains stomach-friendly ingredient.
Black Tea May Fight Diabetes: Institute of Food Technologists 2009, August
Green Tea Catechins and Their Oxidative Protection in the Rat Eye. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010
Green tea could modify the effect of cigarette smoking on lung cancer risk: American Association for Cancer Research 2010, January
Antifibrotic effects of green tea on in vitro and in vivo models of liver fibrosis. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 2009
Cup Of Green Tea To Keep The Bacteria Away: National Institute Of Chemistry, Slovenia 2007, January
Women who consume large amounts of tea have increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis: European League Against Rheumatism 2010, June
Association of the Anxiogenic and Alerting Effects of Caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and Habitual Level of Caffeine Consumption. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010

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