Don’t look now but that morning cup of coffee might be the new health food sweeping the nation. People have always loved to drink the stuff, but usually with an, “Screw it” attitude because they know it’s not good for them.

Surprise! Coffee is in the news now for cutting risks associated with several leading diseases. And it seems the more you drink the better. Which diseases? How about diabetes, Parkinson’s, and colon cancer? How about treating headaches, toothaches, and pulling your mod out of the dumps?

Excuse me, but it seems the laws of nature have been temporarily repealed. Did I just say the MORE coffee you drink the better it is for you?

Yes, I did.

Here’s the lowdown on all this craziness.

Harvard researchers took a look at 126,000 people over 18 years to calculate that drinking one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily (as opposed to those who don’t drink any) reduces diabetes risk by single digits. Then it gets really crazy. Men who drink six or more cups daily reduce diabetes risk by 54% and women by 30%!

Of course, scientists provide the cautionary “more research is needed” warning before you grab an IV and take it down to Starbucks, but hundreds of studies have already verified the results.

At least six of the studies show an 80% reduction in Parkinson’s for coffee abusers. Two cups a day cuts your colon cancer risk by 25%, and an 80% drop in risk for liver cirrhosis.

But why, Obi Wan, why is coffee such a potent force for good rather than evil? It seems that it’s all a direct result of high caffeine content. An eight ounce cup of drip-brewed provides about 85 mg of pure, high-octane caffeine. That’s three and one half times more than tea, cola, or an ounce of chocolate.

It might even increase your athletic performance!

“Caffeine stimulates the brain to do things differently,” says Terry Graham, longtime coffee researcher from the University of Guelph in Canada. “That may include signaling you to ignore fatigue or recruit extra units of muscle for intense athletic performance. Caffeine may even have a direct effect on muscles themselves, causing them to produce a stronger contraction…”

You can read the entire article from WebMD here.

It’s a quite an eye opener!

As a four decade survivor of planet earth who has never taken so much as a single SIP of coffee in my entire life, all I can say is, “Crap. Guess I was wrong about this one.”

I wonder if Mountain Dew is good for you too?

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