Like millions of other coffee lovers, I rejoice at the sight of new research bolstering the health benefits of my favorite beverage. From increased alertness to improved workouts to better brain function, you really can’t go wrong with a cup of joe – or two – in the morning.

With new research surrounding the mysterious coffee bean, experts now believe we may be one step closer to elevating the benefits of coffee from good to prescription-worthy.

As reported by CNN, recent studies propose that it may be the antioxidants in coffee that give it its superior health qualities. This is because our bodies produce oxygen radicals that can damage DNA, but antioxidants work to prevent this damage. This is especially good news for U.S. coffee drinkers since coffee was recently found to be the top source of antioxidants for Americans.

Another major benefit of coffee comes from the caffeine, which can have positive effects on brain health and alertness because it binds to adenosine receptors which can slow us down and leave us feeling sleepy. No wonder one cup of joe alongside breakfast is the way so many people start their day.
Read Full Post >

For Timothy Caulfield, it wasn’t about vanity. It was about cutting through the twisted messages the diet and fitness industries sell our health-crazed society, and finally finding the best way to be truly healthy. And this is why instead of just writing about diet and fitness, he became a human guinea pig to test the theories and health advice he would propose in his book.

Caulfield, 48, is the research director of Health Law and Science Policy Group at the University of Alberta. And he’s now the author of “Finding the Cure to Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness and Happiness.” Unlike most authors who go the traditional route of research, deliberation and then writing, Caulfield became a walking experiment before he ever put pen to paper.

The project started as an academic book. “It wasn’t going to be for the popular press,” Caulfield told Diets in Review in a recent interview.” But then I started getting into it and thought, ‘I’m going to live every one of these chapters’ because I thought it would be a great story.”
Read Full Post >