Health Bytes-q3-10

There have been several reports recently that coffee has properties that help cut the risks of developing Parkinson’s disease, with a consensus revealing that drinking two to three cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk by almost 25% than if no coffee was consumed. 

The cause of Parkinson’s disease and how it works is still unknown by medical researchers, but the new findings offer hope for those who suffer from it. 

German researchers at Munich-based Ludwig-Maximilians-University have cause to believe that alcohol, smoking, and coffee are to blame for many of the headaches experienced by teens. The study surveyed a total of 1,260 students aged between 14-20, an discovered that an estimated 5%-15% of high school teens experience migraines, and 15% to 25% suffer from tension headaches  

Researchers have found that drinking coffee can help drinkers lower the risk of diabetes. The study, which tested the diabetes fighting effects of coffee on laboratory mice, was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and it had.

The researchers found that when compared with mice drinking water, mice that drank coffee saw high blood sugar content reduced and became more sensitive to insulin – both of which would otherwise have led to diabetes. 

A study conducted by the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology group, a World Health Organization agency, found that drinking coffee (but not decaffeinated coffee) reduces the chance of developing head and neck cancers. Tea, unfortunately, does not have the same cancer-fighting properties as coffee, the study found. 

Researchers based their conclusions on a study of over 5,000 cases and 9,000 control cases. 

Researchers have found that drinking tea and coffee regularly significantly lowers the risk of heart disease. Antioxidants found in both beverages are thought to be responsible, the effects being more profound in tea than coffee. 

Dr. Yvonne van der Schouw from the University Medical Center Utrecht led the study which followed 37,514 people for 13 years and found that those who drank tea regularly could see their heart risk decrease by as much as 45%, while coffee drinkers only saw a 20% decrease. 

Researchers had discovered one of the plant compounds in green tea that help people with high-glucose conditions such as diabetes. The researchers are part of the Department of Food Science and Biotechnology at National Chung-Hsing University and the National Institute of Cancer Research in Taiwan.

The compound, called EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), is believed to be the most potent of the ones found in plant matter, and has been found to stop and prevent glycation, a form of oxidation making dangerous disease-inducing radicals that are caused by excessive levels of glucose.

Research done by the LA Times’ Healthy Skeptic columnist Chris Woolston had shown that while green tea has been a key ingredient in many of today’s weight-loss products, by itself it has only modest weight-loss properties. The columnist found that most of the weight loss supplements on the market include other ingredients added to live up to claims and that green tea had a more modest effect on weight loss.

Research in the US had conducted a study showing that green tea had lowered the chances of developing prostate cancer, thanks to antioxidants that reduces free radicals that lead to the disease. The study had men that had benign prostate cancer drink either green tea or water for three to six weeks before having their prostates operated upon

Samples taken during surgery were then tested for levels of a compound that eradicates free radicals and prevents the cancer. 

A new study from Egypt had shown that drinking green tea helps promote better effectiveness of important and commonly used antibiotics, with as much as triple the effectiveness seen after drinking. The antibiotic-enhancing properties of green tea were discovered by the Alexandria University while they were testing whether green tea helps or interferes with antibiotics.