20 Most Surprising Health Benefits Of Coffee

Although coffee gets a bad rap, it’s actually a medicinal food. In fact, this stimulating bean isn’t nearly so bad as we’ve all been taught. Although I’m skeptical about grande latte supplementation in the long run (it’s a drug, after all)

1. Apparently, coffee and alcohol really do go together. Believe it or not, alcohol drinkers who also drink coffee regularly have a lower chance of developing cirrhosis of the liver. That’s not to say it’s a healthy lifestyle - obviously, lowering your alcohol consumption is better. But…science says…
2. Caffeine reduces risk of skin cancer. Sorry, venti quaffers, this prevention method is topical. Lotions containing caffeine (both from coffee and green tea) have been shown to prevent the occurrence of cancerous tumors on the skin - in murine trials, anyway.
3. Have a smile with your morning brew! If you’re a caffephile, you don’t need this Johns Hopkins study to tell you that a cup or two a day increases your sense of well-being and happiness. You can thank dopamine for that, which also contributes to coffee’s addictive nature. But be aware, the study also noted that more than 2 cups daily increases the risk of anxiety and panic attacks. Some people respond more readily than others - if you find yourself feeling jittery or nervous, ease up on the joe.
4. Caffeine may reduce chance of Parkinson’s Disease. A 30-year study has shown that non-coffee drinkers have a higher chance of developing Parkinson’s Disease than their coffee-drinking counterparts.
5. Most Americans get their antioxidants from coffee. That doesn’t mean it’s the best source of antioxidants, just that it’s the most consumed. But, it’s true, coffee is very high in antioxidants. As for me, I’ll stick to fruit.
6. Black gold. After petroleum, coffee is the second most valuable economic product in the world. Imagine the financial potential of running our cars on coffee grounds.
7. Coffee may cut colon cancer in women. A 12-year study on Japanese women found that drinking 3 or more cups of coffee per day may actually halve the risk of developing colon cancer. They found no beneficial effect from green tea on the colon - in this case, it was strictly a coffee thing.
8. Coffee and diabetes, that’s a tricky one. Even though a Finnish study shows that drinking large amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of developing Type-2 Diabetes, coffee drinkers who already have diabetes have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels.
9. Coffee reduces muscle pain. After a hard workout, a cup or two of coffee has been shown to reduce muscle soreness (in women, anyway) more effectively than naproxen, aspirin and ibuprofen. (But don’t replace your water thermos with coffee.)
10. Coffee will detox your liver in surprising ways. This remedy is not one for drinking: we’re talking about the coffee enema. Some people swear by it - using a tube to introduce coffee into the rectum and colon in order to stimulate the liver to remove toxins. Definitely not for the squeamish.
11. Coffee may reduce chance of death from heart disease. Studies show that drinking 4-5 cups of coffee a day can make you less likely to die from heart disease. The researchers think it may have something to do with coffee’s anti-inflammatory effects.
12. The devil is in the grounds. When coffee, which originated in Ethiopia and became popular in the Arab world, was first introduced to Western culture, Christian priests denounced it as the devil’s drink, given to the Muslims as a substitute for the wine (Christ’s blood) they weren’t allowed to consume. The belief at the time was that any coffee-drinking Christian risked burning in hell forever. Hooray, progress!
13. Coffee may help with short term memory. It’s probably because of caffeine’s stimulant effects, but an Austrian study showed that volunteers given caffeinated coffee had better reaction times and short-term memory function than those who were given the cup of decaf.
14. For women, caffeine may prevent long term memory loss. Because caffeine is a psychostimulant, older women who drink 3 or more cups of coffee or tea a day have less memory loss and cognitive decline than their counterparts who drink less or none. Unfortunately, caffeine consumption doesn’t seem to have any preventative effect against dementia.
15. Caffeine won’t cause hypertension. Some of the studies can be contradictory and confusing. What we do know is that for non-habitual coffee drinkers, those first few cups will cause a temporary rise in blood pressure, but for regular drinkers, a tolerance develops and won’t cause any long term, permanent increase.
16. The injustice of cheap coffee. No, it’s not just an injustice to your connoisseur taste buds; conventional coffee farming exploits workers and destroys communities in third world countries. On average, 5% of the profits actually make it back to the farmers, who are hungry, underpaid and treated badly. Why do they work on coffee plantations at all? Because in many cases, the plantations own the most fertile land (which was most often acquired unscrupulously) and the local people won’t survive from subsistence farming alone. How can you avoid supporting the cycle of poverty, corruption and injustice? Only buy Fair Trade certified coffee.
17. Pesticides in your brew. Because almost all coffee is grown in third world countries with less stringent laws than Europe or the United States, your non-organic cuppa is probably laden with chemicals. That’s not just bad for you, it’s bad for the farmers and the tropical ecosystems in which the coffee is grown. Go organic, will ya?
18. Pick your poison - literally. Caffeine is an alkaloid, which is a type of poisonous, bitter substance found in plants. Other alkaloids include strychnine, nicotine, morphine, mescaline, and emetine (the deadly ingredient in hemlock). Fortunately, in small quantities the bean is harmless, but it’s worth thinking about if you choose to use other drugs (both pharmaceutical and recreational).
19. The FDA has approved caffeine for babies. This doesn’t mean you can wake up your sleepy infant with a bottle of latte. Caffeine injections have been used medicinally since 1999 in the United States to stimulate breathing in infants who are experiencing apnea. It’s still recommended that pregnant and breastfeeding women keep their caffeine intake to a minimum, but a modest amount is safe. 
20. Coffee can fight cavities. Just avoid all the sugar and milk! Actually, roasted coffee has some  antibacterial properties, particularly against Streptococcus mutans, one of the major causes of cavities. By the way, these properties have nothing to do with caffeine, so decaf drinkers will get the same protection.

Despite the positive health studies, it’s best not to intentionally pick up the caffeine habit if you’re not already a regular coffee drinker. Even though some of the studies suggest drinking 3 or more daily cups to get the benefits, everyone is different. If it makes you jittery and sick to your stomach, stick to a milder pick-me-up like green tea or yerba mate. But if that morning cup makes you feel awake, alive and eager to greet the day, you might as well indulge (in moderation) in the world’s most well-loved drink.
Source  en8848

The raw food diet appears to have reversed diabetes and cancer for at least one man

A raw organic vegan diet is said to provide the body with everything necessary to stop and possibly reverse disease.

The claim is that the foods that are natural and from the Earth contain everything the body needs to survive and thrive.

More than that, being raw prevents the live force in the food from being destroyed by heat.

 Doing this alone has brought on some very interesting testimonials around the world. Now, when eliminating harmful foods from the diet at the same time as incorporating more healthful plant based foods, the body has more of an opportunity to heal at the cellular level.

Meet Dave Conrardy who turned his life around after changing his diet

Conrardy, a.k.a. Dave "the raw food trucker" once suffered from diabetes, colon cancer, and weighed a whopping 430 pounds. He learned about sprouting and juicing and took the challenge. He says that from the time he read the book There Is a Cure for Diabetes by Gabriel Cousens he "was off of all [his] diabetic meds in four days."

After about a year and a half Conrardy had dropped 230 pounds from his unhealthy weight. The diabetes had lifted as well. In just six months he was off of 24 out of 25 of his prescription medications.

The irreversible was reversed

At one point before his diet change his kidneys were leaking proteins into his blood system. He was told that the issue was non-reversible and that he would end up on a kidney dialysis machine. In just shy of a year with raw food, Conrardy's kidneys were no longer leaking proteins.

He says that colon cancer (stage 1) was gone just after six months on his organic plant based diet. No chemotherapy or radiation was used.

Mr. Conrardy feels that he is alive today because of his turn towards a more wholesome diet. He is involved in spreading the word even further now so as to help others.

Sources for this article include:

rawfoodsnewsletter.com

youtube.com

therawfoodcoach.com

http://science.naturalnews.com/Raw_food_diet.html

About the author:
A science enthusiast with a keen interest in health nutrition, Antonia has been intensely researching various dieting routines for several years now, weighing their highs and their lows, to bring readers the most interesting info and news in the field. While she is very excited about a high raw diet, she likes to keep a fair and balanced approach towards non-raw methods of food preparation as well.

Read more: http://rawfoodhealthwatch.com/writers/antonia/

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041305_raw_food_diet_colon_cancer_reversing_diabetes.html#ixzz2Zz90Rz00

 

THCV: The Next Diabetes Drug Is Being Made From Cannabis

GW Pharmaceuticals grows cannabis at an undisclosed location in southeast England. The company is testing a new diabetes drug made from a cannabis compound called THCV.

Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) is just one of over 60 chemicals found in cannabis, but its unique activity has led GW Pharmaceuticals to believe that THCV could be the future of diabetes therapy.

On Friday, the company – who also manufacturers the cannabis spray Sativex – told Bloomberg about their new drug, which showed promising results in a mid-stage clinical study, helping improve insulin production and lowering blood sugar levels, among other things, in patients with Type 2 diabetes. GW plans to publish the results later this year.

GW has been funding research on THCV since 2005 and has already filed a patent on its use in the protection of pancreatic islet cells, which are the cells that produce insulin. At least 50% of these cells are lost by the time Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed.

THCV is produced naturally by the cannabis plant, but the amount varies by strain.

What makes this compound different from others found in marijuana is how it interacts with receptors in the human body. While THC activates cannabinoid receptors, THCV works in the opposite way by blocking receptors from being activated. Since most strains tend to have much higher levels of THC, the effects of THCV are usually not achieved by using cannabis in its natural form.
On the other hand, Roger Pertwee, a neuropharmacologist at Aberdeen University who conducted one of the first studies on THCV, told The Guardian that some strains can have high levels of this cannabinoid:

“There is a large amount of THCV in Pakistani cannabis, which is the one used to make a medicine called ‘tincture of cannabis’. That contained about equal amounts of THC and THCV.”

Animal studies show that THCV can improve metabolic symptoms in diabetic mice, but won’t help them lose weight.

Earlier studies found that THCV could protect insulin-producing cells in animal models of diabetes, resulting in improvements in blood sugar and insulin levels. It was also believed that THCV could reduce appetite and weight gain, but later studies failed to confirm this.
Interestingly, THCV seems to have slightly different effects than Rimonabant – a synthetic compound that was marketed for the treatment of obesity before being pulled due to side effects of suicide and depression – despite the fact that both compounds work by blocking cannabinoid activity. What’s more, research on the role of cannabinoids in diabetes is conflicted, with some studies showing that THC and CBD may also offer benefits.

Dr. Wright joined GW in 2004 and has been involved with the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years.

GW’s research director Steven Wright, MD says a follow-up trial is planned for later this year with the hope of eventually getting approval on their new drug – temporarily known as GWP42004. Of course, GW is sure to come up with a more consumer friendly name for this cannabis-based pharmaceutical before it reaches the public.
Something along the line of Sativex might do. GW’s cannabis spray is quickly gaining worldwide recognition and – after being launched in Italy earlier this month – is now available in 21 different countries.

Source:  http://www.truthonpot.com/2013/07/19/thcv-the-next-diabetes-drug-is-being-made-from-cannabis/

Turmeric May Equal Exercise In Heart Health Benefits

Curcumin, the powerful antioxidant of the popular Indian spice Turmeric, may benefit cardiovascular health to the same extent as exercise, says new data from a clinical trial from Japan.

Phytochemicals found in turmeric have been investigated in preliminary research for their beneficial effects on diseases, such as cancer, arthritis, and other clinical disorders

Previous research has shown that daily supplements of curcumin combined with diet and exercise strategies could be associated with more than a 60% reduction in triglyceride levels, a reduction known impossible through pharmaceutical intervention alone.

Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat a host of illnesses. It inhibits inflammatory reactions, has anti-diabetic effects, reduces cholesterol among other powerful health effects. A recent study led by a research team in Munich showed that it can also inhibit formation of metastases.

May Match Exercise in Cardiovascular Health Benefits

Vascular health, as measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD), improved equally in groups of women receiving the curcumin supplements and those receiving aerobic exercise training, according to findings published in Nutrition Research .

A recent study in the British Journal of Nutrition indicated that decreased FMD is reported to be a predictor of future adverse cardiovascular events, with every 1% decrease in FMD associated with a 12% increase in risk.

“Therefore, regular ingestion of curcumin could be a preventive measure against cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women,” they wrote.

“Furthermore, our results suggest that curcumin may be a potential alternative [...] for patients who are unable to exercise.”

Benefits

Curcumin, the natural pigment that gives the spice turmeric its yellow color, has increasingly come under the scientific spotlight in recent years, with studies investigating its potential health benefits.

The new study suggests that endothelial function may also be added to the list of potential benefits from curcumin.

Endothelial health is gaining more visibility with the product formulation community. One of the sessions at the recent IFT show in Las Vegas in June focused on the category as a possible avenue for new health claims.

A recent article by NutraIngredients-USA discussed the potential of the market and how to communicate the benefits to consumers.

Study details

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba recruited 32 post-menopausal women and assigned them to one of three groups: The first group acted as the controls, the second group underwent an aerobic exercise training regime, and the third group received curcumin supplements (Theracurmin from Theravalues Corporation, Tokyo).

The curcumin used in the study was described as a “highly absorptive curcumin dispersed with colloidal nanoparticles”. A daily dose of 25 milligrams was provided.

The study lasted for eight weeks, after which the results showed that FMD increased significantly and equally by about 1.5% in both the exercise and curcumin groups, compared with no changes in the control group.

“The mechanism responsible for the curcumin ingestion induced improvement in endothelial function is unclear,” said the researchers.

“Curcumin exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects by inhibiting tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), suggesting that its effect on endothelial function may be mediated by the suppression of inflammation and/or oxidative stress via down-regulation of TNF-alpha. However, TNF-alpha levels were mot assessed in this study.

“Further studies are warranted to clarify the mechanism underlying the effect of curcumin on endothelial function.”

The study was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Source: 
Nutrition Research