Coffee Is Beneficial

Drinking coffee is "more likely to benefit health than to harm it," say British researchers who carried out an umbrella review of more than 200 clinical trials across all countries and all settings. They found that drinking three to four cups of coffee a day is associated with a lower risk of death and getting heart disease compared with drinking no coffee. Coffee drinking is also associated with lower risk of some cancers, diabetes, liver disease and dementia.

Coffee greatest benefit was seen for liver conditions, such as cirrhosis of the liver. And, there seemed to be beneficial associations between coffee consumption and Parkinson's disease, depression and Alzheimer's disease.

There was less evidence for the effects of drinking decaffeinated coffee but it had similar benefits for a number of outcomes.

Source:The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal)

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Coffee: Emerging Health Effects and Disease Prevention
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Artwork: Coffee Poster

Mushrooms Slow Aging

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have found that mushrooms are “without a doubt” the single biggest source of two antioxidants found to have anti-aging properties. The compounds, ergothioneine and glutathione, are present in a number of mushrooms, but some species have more than others. Wild porcini mushrooms have more tantioxidants “by far” than any other species tested, but common white button mushrooms are also beneficial.

The positive effects of the fungi remain even when cooked, fending off diseases associated with aging such as coronary heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

Source: Penn State

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Artwork: Dried Porcini Mushrooms

Walnuts Good for Memory

Eating walnuts appears to improve performance on cognitive function tests, including those for memory, concentration and information processing speed according to research from the David Geffen School of Medicine at The University of California, Los Angeles.

The cross-sectional study analyzing cognitive data across multiple surveys found that cognitive function was consistently greater in adult participants that consumed walnuts regardless of age, gender or ethnicity.

Drawn from a large sampling of the U.S. population, ages 1 to 90 years old, the study found that those with higher walnut consumption performed significantly better on a series of six cognitive tests.

"It is exciting to see the strength of the evidence from this analysis supporting the previous results of animal studies that have shown the neuroprotective benefit from eating walnuts; and it's a realistic amount - less than a handful per day (13 grams)," noted the study's lead researcher, Dr. Lenore Arab.

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Source: The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging
Artwork: Raw Walnuts