Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

I know this post is somewhat self-serving :) We're opening a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill so I have a coffee bias.

I just read an interesting story in U.S. News & World Report. It cited recent studies that have found that "a cup of joe may chase away the blues; turn you into a better athlete; and protect against diabetes." Coffee reduces the risk of certain cancers; reduces muscle fatigue; boosts endurance; and reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes found that a two-cup-a-day habit dramatically lowers the risk of chronic liver disease. A spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association said, "If its benefits continue to mount, coffee may come to be viewed as a health food."

So maybe we aren't opening a coffeehouse. Maybe we're opening a "health food store" on Capitol Hill :)

Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health is a leading coffee investigator. He says, "If you're already drinking five or six cups a day, I'd be hard pressed to come up with a reason you should cut back."

Here's the bottom line: coffee is rich in antioxidants--the substances in fruits and vegetables that deactivate disease-causing byproducts of the body's metabolism. According to Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsyvania, "Coffee is by far the largest source of antioxidants in our diet."

Don't drop your health club membership :) But keep drinking coffee. Especially when Ebenezers opens :)