Hello, Monica Reinagle here with another episode of the Nutrition Diva podcast.

Are you a regular coffee drinker?

Do you ever worry that caffeine might be bad for your health?

Well there's no need to feel guilty about your little coffee habit.

In fact, caffeine has been found to have a lot of positive health benefits, and despite

what you may have heard, relatively few drawbacks.

You who drink coffee every day have a significantly lower risk of diabetes, Parkinson's, colon

cancer, gallstones, and Alzheimer's disease.

Now that may not all be due to the caffeine.

Coffee contains a lot of volatile compounds and antioxidants that may have beneficial

effects either by themselves or possibly in combination with caffeine.

For example, drinking tea doesn't seem to reduce your risk of diabetes even though tea

contains caffeine.

On the other hand, people who drink decaffeinated coffee do have a reduced risk, but decaffe only

seems to work about half as well as caffeinated coffee.

Now it is definitely the caffeine that protects against Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Not only does caffeine stimulate the brain and the central nervous system, but it appears

to protect it as well.

Caffeine doesn't make you any smarter, but it does make you more alert and it boosts

your ability to concentrate, and that can make you a better test taker or a better driver.

The benefits of caffeine start kicking in when you consume a cup of coffee or a couple

of cups of black tea every day.

...