Some people like coffee, some people like tea.
What about the wild popularity of coffee enemas btw?
also:

http://www.jcrows.com/coffee.html

WASHINGTON: If you are addicted to coffee, and doctors warn you to quit the habit, don't worry, and just keep relishing the beverage, because it's not that bad after all!

Infact, according to a new study, the steaming cup of java even beat fruits and vegetables as the primary source of antioxidants.

The study by University of Scranton states that coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in American diet, and both caffeinated and decaf versions appear to provide similar antioxidant levels.

"Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close," said study's lead researcher Dr. Joe Vinson, adding that high antioxidant levels in foods and beverages don't necessarily translate into levels found in the body.

Antioxidants in general have been linked to a number of potential health benefits, including protection against heart disease and cancer, but Vinson said that their benefits ultimately depend on how they are absorbed and utilized in the body.

The researchers analyzed the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and common beverages. The data was compared to an existing US Department of Agriculture database on the contribution of each type of food item to the average estimated US per capita consumption.

The results were surprising. Coffee came out on top, on the combined basis of both antioxidants per serving size and frequency of consumption. It outranked popular antioxidant sources like, tea, milk, chocolate and cranberries.

Of all the foods and beverages studied, dates actually have the most antioxidants of all based solely on serving size, but since dates are not consumed at anywhere near the level of coffee, the drink comes as the top source of antioxidants, said Vinson.

Besides keeping you alert and awake, coffee has been linked to an increasing number of potential health benefits, including protection against liver and colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson's disease, according to some recently published studies.

The researchers, however, advice that one should consume coffee in moderation, because it can make you jittery and cause stomach pains.

"One to two cups a day appear to be beneficial. If you don't like coffee, consider drinking black tea, which is the second most consumed antioxidant source in the U.S. diet," Vinson said.

and:

http://www.jcrows.com/coffee_b.html

Study finds coffee reduces liver risk
Coffee and tea may reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drink alcohol too much, are overweight, or have too much iron in the blood, researchers reported on Sunday.

The study of nearly 10,000 people showed that those who drank more than two cups of coffee or tea per day developed chronic liver disease at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup each day.

The study, conducted by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., found that coffee provided no protection to people at risk of liver disease from other causes, such as viral infections.

"While it is too soon to encourage patients to increase their coffee and tea intake, the findings of our study potentially offer people at high-risk for developing chronic liver disease a practical way to decrease that risk," said Dr. Constance Ruhl, who helped lead the study.

"In addition, we hope the findings will offer guidance to researchers who are studying liver disease progression."

Writing in the American Gastroenterological Association journal Gastroenterology, Ruhl and colleagues said caffeine seemed to hold the key.

They analyzed the records of 9,849 participants in a government survey whose coffee and tea intake was evaluated and who were followed for about 19 years.

and:

http://www.jcrows.com/caffeine.html

Caffeine can improve short-term memory
Thursday, December 1, 2005

By LEE BOWMAN
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

This is your brain. This is your brain on a cafe grande.

For the first time, researchers have been able to watch distinct areas of the brain -- the ones that relate to short-term memory -- fire up after volunteers ingested the equivalent of two cups of coffee.

"Everyone knows coffee makes us more alert, more vigilant, but our study documented how it works in the brain. We were able to show that caffeine modulates a higher brain function through its effects on distinct areas of the brain," said Dr. Florian Koppelstatter, a radiology fellow at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Koppelstatter presented the findings Wednesday before the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant in the world, found in coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate. Americans, on average, consume 238 milligrams of caffeine (the equivalent of more than 4.5 cups of coffee) each day; worldwide, the per capita consumption is about 76 mg.

Koppelstatter and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the effect of caffeine consumption on parts of a brain network associated with short-term, or working, memory in a group of 15 healthy male volunteers between the ages of 26 and 47. Some were regular coffee drinkers, others rarely consumed anything caffeinated.

Working memory is the kind of brain activity required to remember things for a short period of time, "like looking up a telephone number in the phone book and storing the number until you've dialed it," Koppelstatter said.

Volunteers abstained from any caffeine for 12 hours before each test. On two separate days, each subject took a capsule that contained either 100 mg of caffeine or a placebo, with researchers switching the dose for each volunteer without letting him know what he was getting.

The men were put inside the MRI scanner shortly before they took the pills while researchers took baseline measurements of their brains. Then, 20 minutes after taking the capsule, they were asked to do a short-term memory task.

"When we subtracted the effects we saw from the placebo studies, there remained significant increases in activity in regions of the frontal part of the brain that control attention and concentration," Koppelstatter said.

He said that while caffeine clearly exerts an effect on normal brain function in the short term, that doesn't mean that the path to superior memory or learning is paved with coffee grounds.

"We still need to learn more about caffeine's effect on mental resources," Koppelstatter said.

..but I still think you're a sweetie :) <3 XOXO

Caffeine is also a very effective painkiller, and Tea is a fine astringent.
I don't think they're always necessarily bad. IMO it's a Biochemical Individuality thing and a how-often-you-have-it thing, good for some and not-so-good for others.

I have known a lot of people who were hurt by their use of coffee, especially.

Some people are addicted to one or the other, and IMO *that's* not good. Or some folks overuse coffee and tea (Like 20+ cups per day in a corporate office) or, worse yet, use coffee instead of food to fill their stomachs.
I think moderation is the key.

Good Health to All of Us,

Ladylove :)

PS: Monica, I am not devaluing your opinion. Your use of the word *never* is what prompted me to post.

Great post/information Monica999!

Our bodies were not designed to do constant daily battle against the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. And no matter how "organic & pure" one attempts to be, our bodies are overburdened & overladen with all varieties of chemical poisons...including supplements. (Did you know? Virtally ALL B vitamins are derived from sewage sludge and/or cows livers...that source, enables them to be marketed as 'natural' - this has been true for decades). So the HIGH majority of all supplements we ingest for 'healing' are either laden with some of level of toxins, or they're purely chemical (or worse yet, derived from rocks & shells)...the body MUST detox itself from ALL these things - every breath of air we breath and everything we put into our mouth has toxins & poisons that our bodies were NOT designed to deal with...

...so folks lived 500 years in biblical times and now we're an anomaly if we're vital when we're 75 :(

When trying to protect our bodies and allow them to become 'whole', putting something in your mouth that adds stress to your body (that is CLEARLY a burden to major organs & systems in more than several different ways) is NEVER something one should do or consider - EVER...and it's certainly not something on a 'support' forum that we should encourage and support others to do.

Am I perfect? Heck no, but I'm not so 'politically correct' and/or hogwashed by 'biochemical individuality' concepts that I can't know that there IS a very solid black/white line when it comes to ingesting caffeine. My bad habits don't stop me from recognizing/seeing/saying the truth...and supporting others in their quest for health. The effects of caffeine are very similar to all forms of "speed" - is it ever 'okay' to ingest amphetamines/cocaine 'occasionally'? Maybe morally/ethically/spiritually there's some justification somewhere, but in regards to physical truth and health? A poison/toxin/stresser is what it is - to ALL human bodies. Oh sure, some can handle it better than others, but that doesn't mean it's something we should willingly ingest.

Caffeine ALWAYS affects your heart/heart rate; ALWAYS affects your blood sugar; ALWAYS adds phytoestrogens; ALWAYS alters blood sugar; ALWAYS is dehydrating; ALWAYS stresses the adrenals; ALWAYS produces adrenaline; ALWAYS alters neurotransmitters, and there's many other things it 'always' does that I haven't even listed.

Yes, caffeine may have a few "trace benefits" for therapeutic reasons (heck, LSD was designed to eliminate alcohol addiction)...but the only reason one would NEED caffeine therapeutically, would be because their body is in a state of ill health already....and there are plenty of HEALTHY alternatives to treat any disease/symptom for which one might recommend caffeine. And even if it does have therapeutic value, it's only value would be to cover up a symptom...and covering up symptoms is ALWAYS a bad thing (unless of course, the symptom is crippling, addressed, and one is dealing with it properly).

Caffeine (and cocaine) in it's natural form grow on this planet in the equatorial regions, and was put there by the Creator for a purpose. When everything was in it's natural state, people toiling in fields 12 hours a day in the 115+ degree heat (and thus ingesting HUGE quantities of water) had the DNA to handle & utilize the natural benefits of caffeine (and cocaine). Heck, the Eskimos were incredibly healthy on a 'whale blubber' diet, but that doesn't make it healthy for people that don't live & work in the frigid cold.

Coffee has been traded, marketed and shipped throughout the world for as long as opium & sugar...and it's ensconced in virtually every culture on the planet. But that doesn't make it healthy. In fact, millions of humans have been enslaved and lived brutally miserable lives (and still are/do) in order to provide us with coffee & sugar. (Edit) There's not a culture or society on the planet that EVER suffered ill health because of a lack of Sugar cane or cocaine, coffee beans (or any other stimulant)...but now that's they've all been 'accepted' into our societies for decades (most for centuries), there's sure a lot of people that seem to think they'd be 'deprived' if they didn't have them. But most of us (away from the subtropics) would have never seen or heard of caffeine/coffee or Sugar cane in an entire lifetime...and we certainly wouldn't have suffered without it.

It seems to me that this is a support forum/site for health & healing. I am constantly blown away to see people actually "supporting" others to put things in their body's that seriously and negatively affect true & natural health. Truly, hardly any of us have the self-discipline/control to ever 'hit the mark' for which we are striving...but that doesn't mean we should justify and encourage wrong thinking and harmful actions. I would like to see a world (however unlikely), where we could all support each other with solid truths and good information...and help each other see through the veils of societal lies & "norms", and encourage each other to strive for vibrant natural health - rather than 'justifying' and supporting bad action.

That's MY story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Unyquity