NVCC Coffee Has Health Benefits Question

I'm working on a esl test / quiz prep and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

You will read a short article, then write a one-paragraph summary following the guidelines you've learned in ESL 52.

Read the article (use your SQ3R skills!). I recommend having a notebook or concept map handy to take notes. Then, type your one-paragraph summary of the article in the text box. Limit: 10 sentences in length. Don't forget to start with the main idea sentence. You will need to use Respondus Lockdown Browser for midterm writing.

this is the article

Is Coffee Good for You or Not?

According to recent research, coffee may be good for you. "The overall evidence has been pretty convincing that coffee has been more healthful than harmful in terms of health outcomes," says Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet," Hu confirmed what recent studies have found: Moderate coffee intake is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson's disease and depression. People who drink coffee may even reduce their risk of mortality, though it isn't yet clear exactly what role the beverage plays in our lifespans. And a moderate amount of daily coffee is still pretty generous at two to five cups a day, according to Hu and a number of large mortality studies.

The Key to Coffee's Powers

Coffee is probably best known for that one natural stimulant – caffeine – that gives people energy and keeps them alert throughout the day. But it's unlikely that caffeine is solely responsible for the health boosts the drink confers. "Coffee is a complex, plant-based beverage, which contains not just caffeine, but also hundreds of bioactive compounds," Hu says. That makes it difficult to differentiate the effect of the drink's individual components.

Your morning coffee also contains lots of antioxidants called polyphenols, and they're likely to confer various health benefits. Some polyphenols have been found to fight inflammation and protect against some diseases. Studies have suggested that some of the same reductions in diabetes and heart disease risk are associated with decaffeinated coffee, which means it's not just the caffeine.

Why Past Studies Got It Wrong

For years, researchers linked coffee to a higher chance of developing some medical conditions that we now believe it combats. Studies in the 1980s and 1990s pointed to coffee as a suspect in everything from heart disease to asthma. Now, we know that there were likely several explanations for the early coffee studies that have exaggerated or been incorrect about its risks. For one thing, Hu and Cornelis say that a number of studies followed groups of people who drank coffee and also smoked, leading researchers to believe that coffee explained the adverse effects now associated with cigarettes.

Today, scientists use more advanced sampling and statistical methods, and the old claims about coffee's dangers have been largely refuted by more recent studies that include bigger groups of people and account for those outside factors, like smoking, that can skew results.

According to Hu, anything that people consume plenty of is bound to come under scrutiny. "In the past, I think a lot of people thought, 'Oh, coffee's so delicious, there must be something bad about coffee," he says. "So I think the good news is that for most people, coffee actually confers some health benefits."

It Matters How You Take It

If you do opt for coffee, preparation matters. Experts find that coffee brewed with a paper filter is the preferred preparation method. Other methods of making coffee, including espresso, French press, or boiled Turkish coffee are considered "unfiltered," even if they're strained by a metal filter. Unfiltered coffee is associated with higher rates of mortality and can contain compounds called determines that raise levels of "bad" cholesterol or LDL.

Though it can be tempting to assume coffee's health benefits apply to a typical Starbucks drink, they often don't. The experts often refer to coffee in its most basic form: drip coffee or pour-overs with little added cream or sugar – not a venti java chip Frappuccino with extra whipped cream or a Dunkin' caramel macchiato. Drinks like these include lots of added sugar and calories. Drinking regular coffee instead of these sugar-sweetened beverages, or others like soda or juice, however, has positive effects on health.

We've clearly come a long way since the coffee panic of decades past and now know that we can handle a few daily cups and may even be better off for them.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/is-coffee-good-for-you-or-not