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A coffee a day could help keep eye diseases at bay. That's according to a joint study out of South Korea and the US, which concluded that powerful antioxidants found in coffee can play a role in preventing age-related eye diseases and the degeneration of eyesight. For their research, scientists looked at the impact of chlorogenic acid or CLA, a strong antioxidant that has been shown to prevent retinal degeneration in mice. To conduct their experiment, mice were treated with nitric oxide, which creates oxidative stress and free radicals and leads to retinal degeneration. (Read: Drink coffee for better memory and waistline)
Those that were pretreated with CLA developed no sign of retinal damage. The retina is a thin tissue located on the back wall of the eye that receives and organizes visual information, researchers explain. It's also one of the most metabolically active tissues and requires high levels of oxygen. Without it, the tissue is particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress and prone to the production of free radicals, which leads to tissue damage and loss of sight. (Read: Revealed why you need coffee to give you the wake-up jolt)
However, it's not yet known whether or not drinking coffee delivers CLA directly to the retina, researchers stress. Future studies could lead to the development of a special brew customized for retinal support, or CLA delivery via eye drops. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, is the latest to vaunt the nutritional merits of coffee. (Read: How coffee helps prevent diabetes)
Another large scale, US-led study published recently in the journal European Association for the Study of Diabetes found that people who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had the lowest risk of type 2 diabetes -- 37 percent lower than those who consumed one cup or less per day. Scientists looked at the coffee consumption patterns of 95,000 women and 28,000 men. (Read: Drinking coffee reduces the risk of liver cirrhosis)
What are the health benefits of coffee?
People were asked what they would give up for a year coffee, sex, alcohol, social media, etc. and over 5% of the people said they found coffee the most important thing in the morning and they would sacrifice other things for it. 25% people said lack of coffee made them less creative, while 22% said they couldn't get out of bed without it. 16% said they were unable to talk to people before their first cup!
Potential health benefits of coffee:
1. Good for your heart
Scientists say green tea and coffee, if made a regular part of the diet, could benefit the heart, according to research conducted in Japan and published in the US. Green tea and coffee may help lower your risk of having a stroke, especially when both are a regular part of your diet, according to research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. 'This is the first large-scale study to examine the combined effects of both green tea and coffee on stroke risks,' said Yoshihiro Kokubo, lead author of the study at Japan's National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Centre. 'You may make a small but positive lifestyle change to help lower the risk of stroke by adding daily green tea to your diet.' Read more
2. Could prevent autoimmune liver disease!
Research has shown that regular coffee drinkers are at a reduced risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis - an autoimmune liver disease. PSC is an inflammatory disease of the bile ducts that results in inflammation and subsequent fibrosis that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure and biliary cancer. Study author Craig Lammert, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist said, 'While rare, PSC has extremely detrimental effects.' Read more
3. Could reduce risk of suicide!
A study suggested that having two to four cups of coffee every day can reduce the risk of suicide among men and women by 50 per cent. The finding was reached after researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reviewed data from three previous US studies. They found that the risk of suicide amongst adults, drinking several cups of caffeinated coffee on a daily basis, was about half compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee, very little coffee or no coffee at all. (Read: Health benefits of coffee to help justify your addiction!)
With inputs from AFP
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