www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com
"Men who reported drinking two or three cups of coffee a day were 10% less likely to have died than those who didn't drink coffee", quoted by Gretchen Reynolds in the New Straits Times on 9 July 2013
OFFEE is very close to my heart. That is why my blog is named
kopihangtuah, after the name of my favourite coffee brand,
Kopi Hang Tuah. In fact, I am drinking
Nescafe while writing this post. I drink coffee every morning to start a good working day and every night before going to sleep, so that I can go to sleep (contrary to the common effect of avoiding sleep). Other than determination, coffee has been the one most important factor that made my quit cigarette attempt a success. At lunches or dinner functions, coffee will always be a good closure to the series of meals. Coffee is black. Black is my favourite colour. I like coffee.
What made me write about coffee? Well, I stumbled upon an article in the New Straits Times,
'A Cuppa Health Benefits' by Gretchen Reynolds. The article attracted my attention as its highlight states,
"Experiments show that caffeine may reshape the biochemical environment in brains in ways that may stave off dementia." I've always had that thought that coffee improves the brain. I certainly studied better in university on the back of numerous cups of coffee. Reynolds also stated that men who reported drinking two or three cups of coffee a day were 10% less likely to have died than those who didn't drink coffee. The figure for women is 13%. It's not clear exactly what coffee had to do with this, but the correlation is astonishing.
The above result was the conclusion reached from a large-scale epidemiological study done by researchers at the National Cancer Institute whereby 400,000 of those aged 50 to 71 who were free of major diseases at the start of the study in 1995 were monitored until 2008. Many died but those who lived were those who are coffee drinkers. It is advised that moderate coffee drinking should do the trick. An equivalent of three or four 141g cups of coffee a day would be just nice. It reduces Type 2 Diabetes, Basal Cell Corcinoma (the most common skin cancer), prostate cancer, oral cancer and breast cancer recurrence.
Animal experiments show that caffeine may reshape the biochemical environment. As mentioned earlier, this helps stave off dementia. This was proven when mice were deprived of oxygen and then reoxygented again after injected with doses of caffeine. The caffeinated mice regained the ability to form new memories 33% faster than those that weren't caffeinated. What had happened was that, the caffeine disrupted the action of adenosine, a substance inside cells that usually provides energy, but can become destructive if leaks out from those cells causing dementia. A research on older adults with precursor of Alzheimer's disease revealed that those with little or no caffeine circulating in their blood streams were far more likely to have progressed to full-blown Alzheimer's than those whose blood indicated they'd had about three cups' worth of caffeine.
Reynolds also concluded that it is unclear whether caffeine by itself provides the benefits associated with coffee drinking or if coffee contains other valuable ingredients. Mice genetically bred to develop Alzheimer's that were given caffeine alone did not fare as well on memory tests as those provided with actual coffee. Hmmm,.. coffee may have other secret ingredient that works better than caffeine or works better together with caffeine. Hence, I'd say, just take caffeine from coffee and not from, say Coca-Cola.
There you go. Contrary to common understanding, coffee is actually good. Doctors say that it increases blood pressure but so far there has been no conclusive evidence. People say life is short, enjoy life while you can. I had the same perception. I savour my coffee like how I used to with cigarettes. Now it seems that that addiction is helping prolonging my life. What a delightful knowledge that is. Many companies have in the past trying to portray a cool image of coffee by making weird statements such as
"You can sleep when you're dead. Drink Coffee" knowing that the public has already been brainwashed to believe that coffee is no good. Well, now they can actually say cooler stuff like
"Drink Coffee. Hell can wait for you." It makes life more interesting now that we discovered that something bad has now turned good. It is as if the devil himself grew white wings and halo.
It makes life more interesting now that we discovered that something bad has now turned good. It is as if the devil himself grew white wings and halo.
* kopihangtuah
| mcmlxxv:viii:xxix |
blogger recently opened my eyes to my age. Damn! I am approaching 40 soon. Looking back at the past, many things have changed significantly. Malaysia has developed tremendously and new methods of dealing with issues need to be established. On a less stressfull note, the poem written by that blogger seems to be an appropriate account to remind what we used to see in our everyday life,.. back then, the history. The poem is entitled DI AMBANG 40 as extracted below. It is written in Malay so you'd best embrace your (Malaysians) dual-language ability.Masih aku ingat kereta Volvo 240 bapa aku
Masih aku ingat 8 jam perjalanan dari KL ke Penang
Masih aku ingat ayam goreng McDota
Masih aku ingat sos cili Aminahassan
Masih aku ingat pakaian kanak-kanak Ladybird
