Slowly but surely, scientists are chipping away at the idea that coffee is somehow bad for you. Conventional wisdom seemed to dictate that nowadays, a cup or two a day was thought to be fine — just don’t go overboard… UNTIL NOW.
Vasanti Malik, who is a nutrition research scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, recently blessed Reddit with an AMA in which a Redditor with the superb username fart_joke asked what her take on coffee was.
Her response? “Coffee…. contains a number of healthful vitamins and nutrients and findings from our studies have shown associations with reduced risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality.”
Then, Malik went into specifics, and for those of us who are truly caffeine addicts, this is where it gets exciting. The nutritious benefits of coffee are seen at “about 5 cups per day.”
Five cups, y’all. Count ’em.
Malik was careful to add some disclaimers, of course, such as that “no additional benefit” is seen if you consume more than five cups, and that your coffee should be minimally sweetened and not full of whipped cream.
But other than that, a scientist at Harvard just gave you permission to drink almost as much coffee as you want. And don’t listen to the naysayers who tell you that coffee and caffeine consumption are bad for you. Coffee has not been found to increase heart disease, risk of diabetes, or even acid-related stomach conditions such as ulcers or reflux. Scientists are also looking at coffee as a preventative measure in protecting patients against Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Coffee is so important in our daily lives that it is the second largest import IN THE WORLD, second only to petroleum, the other substance that most of us still rely on to keep us going. So drink up and don’t let anyone guilt you about your coffee addiction any more. A scientist at Harvard (and a hapless writer on the internet) said you could drink five cups a day. Go for it!
