Coffee, a long time early morning drink, is not just a drink to keep the body warm, it is a life-saving beverage that can protect people from simple ailments and deadly diseases.
Strange as this may sound, especially since coffee with its caffeine content has been fingered for some health challenges in the past, Kemi Odukoya, a public health physician with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, said coffee can have its good sides. Odukoya based this assertion on results of a research conducted by Ignite Scientific Group on coffee.
Speaking at the annual Lagos State Nurse Leaders Interactive Forum, Odukoya said coffee has been found to contain antioxidants, which fight against free radicals. “The modern-day life exposes humans to many sources of oxidation stress such as inflammation, pollution, cigarette smoke and other free radicals which initiate chain reactions that can damage DNA, protein and lipids. With the antioxidants provided by food sources and mostly coffee, the body is immune from oxidation stress,” she said.
But that is not all there is to coffee. Regularly drinking the beverage is said to be capable of lowering the risk of Type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. She further explained how recent studies have shown that a lower risk of coronary heart disease among moderate coffee drinkers is connected to the presence of antioxidants found in coffee. She explained that caffeine, which has been roundly used to condemn coffee, is the most widely consumed pharmacologically active substance in the world. Caffeine, according to Odukoya, is also found in tea, cocoa, chocolate products, soft and energy drinks and a variety of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.