Coffee and Exercise = Healthy Living
In a world where Elton John believes the Internet should be shut down so that he can get creative, it isn’t often that we see something as beneficial as the recent study I’m about to comment on. And, though I’ve been saying it for awhile, I now have scientific backing. What is it?
Coffee is good for you!
Two recent studies conducted have actually provided links between coffee/caffeine consumption and the health benefits. Included is a drop in the risk of liver cancer – the third most common cause of cancer deaths world wide – and cancer as a whole.
The first study, from the June edition of the journal Hepatology, performed a meta-analysis (the combining of several studies common to each other to gather relevant dat) that tracked liver cancer. Out of this analysis they pulled coffee consumption related data and found a 41 percent reduction in the risk of suffering from cancer.
This conclusion was reached using studies both case-controlled and cohort designed (a research study that involves repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time), as well as across major geographical lines.
The second study, conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal, concentrated on caffeine rather than coffee, and added exercise to the equation. Their goal was to see what the result would be in the response of cells to ultraviolet light exposure.
The average cell has only two options when confronted with UV exposure (ie, no sunscreen!), accept the damage or commit what is known as apoptosis; essentially a mass ritual suicide by the cells in question.
The apoptotic is thought to prevent cancer by killing off the cells that have received DNA damage.
The
experiment – dosing mice with caffeine in their water and placing a
running wheel in their cage (a mouse equivalent to our voluntary
exercise programs) – found that either caffeine or the exercise would
cause a slight uptick in the apoptotic response. However, it was the
combination of both that caused a massive spike of over 400 percent in
the apoptotic response, suggesting that the two – exercise and caffeine
– work together in a synergistic response to increase the cell safety
of the body.
The latter study concluded that combining caffeine with your standard exercise routine would then increase the chance of an apoptotic in your cells, often most needed as a result of exercising outdoors.
So we coffee addicts were right all along; caffeine = good! However, temper that with the fact that exercise is a natural necessity, and shouldn’t be left by the wayside.
Posted by Josh Hill
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you never see anyone working out and drinking coffee. i think the study actually shows that energy drinks are going to be better than coffee only any benefits from caffeine are probably going to be offset by all the sugar. Its probably more of an exercise issue anyway, and having all the extra energy lets you exercise more. i really dont think coffee is going to be the magical bean here jack.
Posted by: emails4females@yahoo.com | August 03, 2007 at 04:39 PM