Colon cancer not associated with coffee, sodas - U.S. study

Drinking coffee and sodas might not boost the risk of colon caner, a new study suggests. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health drew the conclusion after analyzing 13 studies which involved more than 730,000 people, of whom more than 5,600 developed colon cancer.

The new research findings, published online on May 7 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that drinking more than six eight-ounce cups of coffee or eight-ounce cups of sugar soft drinks a day did not boost the risk of colon cancer. The researchers said the findings were not affected much by factors such as gender, smoking and alcohol consumption.

Previous research has been inconsistent about whether coffee and tea boost the risk of cancer. Sugary sodas, meanwhile, are linked to obesity and other conditions that are thought to boost the risk of colon cancer in particular.

The new study, however, found a small boost in colon cancer risk for heavy tea drinkers, who drank more than four eight-ounce cups of non-herbal tea a day. But since there were not so many people that consumed that much tea, more study is needed to determine if too much tea raises risk, the researchers said.

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Coffee may offer benefits

What is the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet? It's not a fruit or a vegetable. Believe it or not, the answer is coffee.Yes, the drink that jumpstarts many Americans every morning has been shown to provide health benefits.

I have touted the benefits of drinking green tea and will continue to do so. But I am also a coffee drinker and was gratified to find that a beverage I so enjoy is actually good for me. Before I proceed with the health benefits, let me say that there are problems that can be worsened by drinking coffee. These include insomnia, anxiety, hypertension and heart problems.

I do have to limit my consumption to two or three cups per day or I experience heart palpitations. But recent research suggests that coffee drinkers may be at lower risk of liver and colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

Other studies suggest that men who drink coffee seem to have a lower risk of advanced lethal prostate cancer, and middle-aged people who drank moderate amounts of coffee had the lowest risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease later in life. According to the CNN article, women who drank coffee regularly were less likely to die of various causes. Since decaf coffee seemed to show the same results, researchers don't credit caffeine with these benefits.

Coffee contains the same types of antioxidants found in other foods and drinks. And even though it is found at even higher levels in some other foods, people tend to consume coffee more frequently, thus making it the main source of these antioxidants. Researchers also think other ingredients in coffee help improve health. Some have said it most likely is not one single component but rather the combination that is beneficial.

I am particular about my coffee and have even been called a "coffee snob." Mornings, I like to grind the beans and press my coffee. I don't know that freshly ground beans have any greater health benefit, but to me they just taste better.

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Coffee helps cut uterine cancer risk

Two cups of coffee a day can lower the risk of uterine cancer, claims Mayo Clinic research. Uterine cancer is the most common cancer for women's reproductive organs.

According to the American Cancer Society, last year, 42,160 new cases were diagnosed, and it caused 7,780 deaths. The research found that, among the 20,000 women who participated, those who drank more.

Than two-and-a-half cups of coffee daily were less likely to develop uterine, or endometrial, cancer as compared to women who did not drink coffee at all, reports CBS.

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Vietnam exports mainly unprocessed coffee

Therefore, foreign importers are still in the dark about Vietnam’s processed coffee. In the near future, businesses should concentrate on increasing the production of processed coffee for export to increase its added value.

According to the ICO, last year’s global coffee production stayed at almost 7.5 million tonnes, a decrease of nearly 300,000 tonnes compared with the previous year. This was mainly due to a drop in production in Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia.

This year’s global coffee consumption is estimated at nearly 8 million tonnes. Despite this fact, the export prices of Vietnamese coffee are continuing to fall sharply. The average export price in March was only US$1,370 per tonne, the lowest level since November 2006.

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Cumberland Farms debuts iced coffee offering

Cumberland Farms, the Framingham-based convenience store chain, said it is rolling out a new iced coffee offering made from its Farmhouse Blend coffee recipe. In response to customer demand, the chain said that its medium roast is now available chilled. Any sized coffee, hot or iced, is 99 cents, the chain said, and to get out the word about its iced coffee, Cumberland Farms said that customers can get iced coffee for free on Fridays from May 7th through June 4th.

This is the first time that stores in the chain have installed iced-coffee equipment, a chain spokeswoman said. Cumberland Farms has roughly 500 stores, most of them in the Northeast. A recent Globe story noted that java wars are brewing in the iced coffee space as chains look to court customers who are increasingly inclined to enjoy their caffeine in chilled form. That Globe story cited statistics from the National Coffee Association, a trade group that noted that 30 percent of coffee drinkers ordered a chilled coffee drink of some sort in 2009, up from 27 percent the previous year.

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Is Decaffeinated Coffee Good?

Let’s begin by understanding what is decaffeinated coffee? It is essentially coffee with the caffeine content being removed from it or perhaps reduced. Now before you reach for that cup of coffee and think well it is decaffeinated what harm can come of it?

Think again! Most people who drink coffee do so because it keeps them fresh and stops them from feeling jittery, however some believe that it is better to have regular coffee than decaf. So the question that is uppermost in your mind is- which is better regular coffee or decaffeinated? Another question that emanates from this discussion is- does drinking decaffeinated coffee pose any health risks?

Now let’s begin by understanding how much caffeine does decaffeinated coffee contain? It actually has almost 97% of the caffeine removed that means just about 5milligrams remains, as compared to the 150 milligrams in about 6 ounces of regular brewed coffee.

Let us also briefly understand how caffeine is extracted so we know whether the process is healthy or not. Three methods are mainly used to extract caffeine; one is by making use of organic solvents like mythlene chloride or ethyl acetate, the second is by using carbon dioxide and the third being the water method. As ethyl acetate is a fruit derivative, coffee that is decaffeinated by making use of this solvent is called natural decaf.

There have often been heated discussions about coffee that is decaffeinated with methylene chloride being used as a solvent because often studies have shown that this chemical caused cancer when it was inhaled by animals in labs, however interestingly the same chemical had no effect when the animal drank it. In fact the compound that is used in decaf has been approved by the FDA.

Another question is does drinking regular coffee cause any health problems? Often coffee is blamed for many ailments particularly related to hypertension, but almost all tests carried on this harmless beverage have declared it not guilty. One study has found that drinking five or more cups of coffee may raise cholesterol levels. Most Canadians and Americans drink filtered coffee.

You may be surprised to read this but caffeine can actually have some benefits like- it boosts alertness and also has mild analgesic effect that is why it is added to some pain killers. Drinking excessive decaffeinated coffee can however cause the risk of ulcers. So just drink in moderation and hey! There is no stopping you from reaching for that warm cup of coffee to begin the day in a refreshing way!

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The world's most expensive coffee

A group of inner-city gardening enthusiasts believe they might just have stumbled across the recipe for the perfect cup of coffee. It goes something like this: take one lovingly nurtured coffee tree, add 12 volunteers and the generous services of an international coffee expert; enlist a helping paw or two from some greedy local possums, then carefully season with plenty of time and commitment. At the end of all that, you should have a cup of coffee to be proud of.

The coffee tree stands in a tiny Woolloomooloo community garden. There's really room for only one tree because the garden is about half the size of a basketball court. About 25 locals maintain tiny plots of beans, leafy greens, artichokes, eggplants and so on. There are also communal areas for herbs and other food plants such as the coffee tree - not that you'd really notice it, gardener Carlyn Chen says. "It's just one skinny little tree," she says. "It looks pretty weedy, actually."

But this year, the weedy little tree decided to show what it is capable of and grew some serious fruit.

The members of the community garden picked more than a kilogram of berries. They also discovered plenty of berries around the base of the tree that appeared already to have been stripped ready for drying.

"Possums like to eat fruit and the fruit around coffee beans is really sweet and creamy, so it seems they were eating the fruit and then spitting out the beans," Chen says. "They were doing some of the work for us, peeling the beans."

Next, the community gardeners enlisted the help of master roaster Toby Smith of Toby's Estate. Smith, who started his business in Woolloomooloo and still has a popular cafe in Cathedral Street, was happy to help turn the beans into a product ready for drinking.

After laboriously peeling the skin, or parchment, from each seed, Smith roasted them.

"I roasted them to a light medium so we could get as much acidity and as much of the natural flavour of the coffee as possible," he says. "It roasted beautifully and evenly."

In fact, Smith even managed to fool some of his colleagues into thinking the beans were the latest Colombian supremo roast rather than originating much closer to home. The end result was 300 grams of coffee beans, which were bagged and sent off to the gardeners down the street.

Later, Smith joined Chen and the others for a ceremonial cup of coffee in the garden, a moment they all savoured. "Having a coffee harvest in the middle of the city is a real triumph," Chen says. "Cities aren't known to have the most fertile soil and the cleanest air and you also have the risk of vandalism so we're pretty happy to have the whole process happen in the same suburb - from growing, to harvesting, to roasting and grinding and drinking it."

And the verdict from the expert? "It was very drinkable," Smith says. "Not at all bad for a coffee from sea level. It would have to be about the most expensive coffee in the world if we costed it out but it was worth the effort - great fun!"

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