Coffee Lovers Rejoice!

How many times have we been on this roller coaster? Coffee's good for you, coffee's bad for you...yada, yada, yada... Well, now, we're back on the good news end of the cycle.

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reported that coffee contains soluble fiber, useful in lowering cholesterol.

With about 1 gram per cup, coffee's fiber impact is modest. But the report is the latest in a growing stream of positive news about coffee.

Some of the most promising findings come from studies of diabetes. When Harvard researchers combined data from nine studies involving more than 193,000 people, they found that regular coffee drinkers had a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes than those who abstained. The more they drank, the lower their risk.

And, despite coffee's reputation for being bad for the heart, recent epidemiologic studies haven't found a connection; some even suggest coffee can be protective. A study in February's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that healthy people 65 and over who drank four or more cups of caffeinated beverages daily (primarily coffee) had a 53 percent lower risk of heart disease than non-coffee-drinkers.

Good news for those of us for whom caffeine is our drug of choice. Have that cup of coffee in the morning and if anyone gives you a hard time about it, tell them it was recommended to you by a qualified medical professional (I qualify that by saying I was a doctor in a play once!)

Lowering cholesterol, reducing risk of diabetes and possibly heart disease, and doggone it, it just tastes good! Forget laughter. Coffee is the best medicine!