While you sit there enjoying your cup of coffee – be it latte, cappuccino or espresso – just think, it could be doing you some good!

In these days of health scare after health scare, it is refreshing to know that your favourite beverage could reduce risk of dental decay, lessen your susceptibility to Type II diabetes, reduce your risk of skin cancer, protect against Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, help you handle the pain of exercise at the gym better and even lower the risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver, gall stones, Parkinson’s disease and a number of cancers including those of the mouth, oesophagus, colon and pharynx. Wow – all health positives for those who drink between four and six cups a day. Of course all this cannot just be attributed to that small addictive molecule we call caffeine; coffee is a complex infusion containing literally hundreds of different compounds including antioxidants, polyphenols, quinines, chlorogenic acids, tocopherols and antibacterial compound trigonelline. The fact is that many of the compounds in coffee have not been studied in any great depth and could provide useful drugs if isolated in a pure form.

The Institute for Coffee Studies in Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, was set up in 1999 with a brief to study coffee in depth and they have already turned up a number of interesting results such as a link with helping alcoholics recover from their addiction.

Of course coffee doesn’t always give positive health effects – excessive consumption has been linked to hypertension and serious heart problems. Overdose on coffee (600–750 mg of caffeine in a day – the equivalent of 6–7 espressos) and you could be in trouble with seizures and delirium, although thankfully this is very rare. As well as this, a recent Swedish study points to women who drink coffee having smaller breasts than average because caffeine affects their hormone levels! Add to this a link between excess caffeine and miscarriage in pregnant women and we are back at a balance between good and bad.

Clearly coffee is a wonderful drink and taken in moderation will have some beneficial effects. It’s up to you to decide how much of it you consume.