Pistachios, Coffee, and Green Tea: Good, Good, and Good for you!

William Atkins
Wednesday, 02 May 2007 00:37

Science - Health

A Pennsylvania State University study shows that pistachios may help to reduce stress in everyday life. When the cardiovascular system responds to hypertensive states, the eating of pistachios seems to help relax arteries within the human body. Thus, they seem to help to reduce blood pressure levels when they are too high.

More details are found at: http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=368809&ssid=23&sid=LIF.

A University of Michigan Health System study in Ann Arbor, Michigan, shows that green tea may help to reduce the pain and inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis. Although the findings were preliminary, they were promising for the benefits of green tea in pain relief for such patients. (Green tea is already used to benefit the cardiovascular system and as a help for fighting cancer.)

Green tea was also found to protect against some autoimmune diseases. Although too early to advise people to drink tea as a defense against rheumatoid arthritis, the researchers commented that green tea is already touted as healthy (and with no side effects) so it couldn’t hurt to drink several cups of green tea throughout the day. It also shows signs of keeping blood levels more constant during the day.

Additional details are found at: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/04/30/hscout604103.html.

A study at the Harvard School of Public Health shows that the drinking of coffee helps to protect against colon, rectal, and liver cancers and helps to reduce the amount of cholesterol, bile acid, and natural sterol secretion in the colon. The elimination of large amounts of such secretions helps to remove potential carcinogens, found in some food, from the colon and intestines. (The study, however, indicated that coffee may increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer.)

The study indicates that decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee equally help in fighting diabetes. The researchers are looking into chlorogenic acid—an antioxidant that is also a major phenolic compound in coffee—which they think could be the active ingredient that helps to decrease the risk to these cancers.

Extra information about this study is found at: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL15953520070501.