It's probably not good to be addicted to anything. But some addictions are worse than others. Cocaine is very bad, marijuana is probably less bad (one reason why it's gradually being legalized), and dark chocolate is... well, it's downright delicious. And yet, the calories mean you've got to watch your chocolate intake (sigh).
Then there's coffee. It has caffeine, and that can certainly be an addictive drug. But if you must be addicted to something, coffee seems to be about the best you can do. It helps us to wake up in the morning, and it has zero calories. Plus, it's mostly water. We need lots of water each day, right?
When scientists have studied coffee, they've often had mixed results. It's a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde story. One day, we'll hear bad things about coffee and be told to cut back. Another day, we'll hear good things. But in general, science has agreed that four average-sized cups of coffee per day are just fine.
If you're one of those "all day" coffee drinkers (like me), you may consume even more than that. And until now, that might have been cause for concern. Some earlier research suggested that drinking too much coffee can be bad for our arteries. But thankfully, a new study from Queen Mary University of London finds coffee just isn't a problem for the arteries -- even among people who drink 25 cups of coffee a day! This was a fairly large study, involving more than 8,000 people. They didn't study people who drank more than 25 cups a day, and apparently there are some who do.
Kenneth Fung, who led the data analysis team on the study, told CNN:
"The main message for people to take away from this is that coffee can be enjoyed as part of a healthy lifestyle, and coffee lovers can be reassured by this result in terms of blood vessel stiffness outcomes."
He did not recommend that people drink 25 cups a day, but the research clearly showed it wasn't something to worry about -- at least as it pertains to our arteries. If anything, people who drink 25 cups of coffee a day tend to have bigger things to worry about. The research found that men who drink alcohol and smoke regularly are typically the heaviest coffee drinkers. Better to worry about a smoking habit, or.a heavy (alcohol) drinking habit, before being concerned with coffee consumption.
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