“Coffee: Good, Bad, or Who Knows”
People are bewildered by confusing so-called medical reports, especially those related to coffee. Americans drink an average of 3.1 cups a day and the average size of a cup is 9 oz. 65% of Americans drink coffee with breakfast; 30% drink it in between meals and 5% drink it with meals other than breakfast. The U.S. spends $40 billion on coffee each year. According to some estimates, 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide, daily. So, surely we must know by now if coffee is good or bad for us. Right? Well, not exactly. A December 2015 headline reads, “Specific coffee chemicals may ward off type 2 diabetes.” Almost 1 in 10 Americans are diabetic, and more than half of American adults drink coffee daily. Another reads, “Moderate coffee drinking may prevent premature death.” But, a Mayo Clinic study found that men who drank more than four 8 oz. cups of coffee had a 21% increase in all-cause mortality. One would think that anything that humans consume on such a huge scale deserves thorough research into its health benefits, or lack thereof. But, coffee is a complex cocktail of chemicals, including naturally occurring caffeine.
