Dr Art Hister – Coffee and Brain Cancer

The hardest thing I have to do in my regular health talks to the public is convince that legion of coffee-haters out there (you know who you are) that coffee is actually a health drink.

So while most anti-coffee folks consider coffee to be nothing more than a vehicle to deliver caffeine, coffee is in fact a health drink loaded with minerals, anti-oxidants, and god-knows-what-else that goes into a good cup of coffee (and I for one don’t consider that brown fluid that you get from most coffee outlets to be real coffee; real coffee for me is a good hand-ground espresso, or even a double).

Studies have shown that coffee drinkers have lower risks of lots and lots of adverse health consequences such as two that stand out for me: Type 2 diabetes and dementia.

And you can now add brain cancer to that pro-side of the coffee ledger.

According to a recent huge multi-country study of over 400,000 individuals which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who drink as little as one-half cup of coffee a day had up to a 34 % lower risk of being diagnosed with a type of brain cancer known as a glioma (and yes, I have to grudgingly admit that those who drank tea regularly also seemed to get the same benefit in this study).

I’d tell you more but to be honest, I have got to go and enjoy another brain-saving double cappuccino!