Cappuccino Health Benefits

Cappuccino is a popular Italian drink. Its name came from the robe color of Capuchin friars, which is light or darkish brown with a white hood. Italians only take cappuccino during breakfast and on night outs. In other parts of the world, people take cappuccino anytime of the day.

It's been a great week for coffee drinkers: 1) "Data from 10 studies … suggest that people who drink coffee may be reducing their risk of liver cancer." 2) "Drinking more than three cups of coffee a day helped protect older women against some age-related memory decline." 3) "Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half." 4) "Exercise and moderate caffeine consumption together could help ward off sun-induced skin cancer." Unauthorized conclusions: 1) Go pour yourself another cup. 2) And don't forget the chocolate …

There's a great deal of recorded research to show that coffee has many benefits. Moderate coffee use is associated with reduced risk of:
Alzheimer's Disease
Parkinson's Disease
Gallstones
Diabetes mellitus
Cirrhosis of the liver
A form of liver cancer
Gout in men over 40
As if that wasn't enough, coffee has been found to also improve cognitive performance. So your belief that your morning cup of coffee jump starts your brain and your afternoon cup of coffee picks you up may actually have scientific foundation.

But how would you know you have just enough caffeine in your body? Just a cup or two for a day?

Despite what research says, it is still best to know caffeine’s effects on yourself. It all depends on your body’s condition and how it responds to caffeine.

To be sure, just drink in moderation. Try a couple of cups for a day. But if you sense something wrong, like feeling of dizziness, perhaps a cup may just be enough. Everything in excess, after all, has ill effects. And remember, coffee is diuretic. It flushes out fluids off your body. Hence, drink more water to replenish lost fluids.

Dizzy after drinking coffee? You may have been just dehydrated.

Diet Soda Myths

What is it about diet soda that seems so naughty? Maybe it’s because enjoying something without any calories leads people to feel like they’re going to have to pay one way or another-if not with their waistline now, then with ambiguous bad health later (a tumor? osteoporosis?).

Diet Coke has 46.5mg of caffeine per 12-ounce can, and a Diet Pepsi has 36. (A seven-ounce cup of coffee, by comparison, has anywhere from 85 to 135mg of caffeine.) “For most people, up to 300mg a day of caffeine seems to be safe,” says nutritionist Elisa Zied, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and author of So What Can I Eat? (Wiley 2007) She does say that certain medications and heart conditions may make that much caffeine a bad idea, so check with your doctor or pharmacist if you’re unsure.

Legend has it that the lethal hantavirus spreads to humans when they drink soda contaminated by the droppings of warehouse rats or mice. True, humans can catch the hantavirus from rodent waste, but there are no known cases of a person getting it from unclean Diet Coke cans (or any food packaging). Still, it's a good idea to wipe icky stuff off the top before popping it.

Fight Colorectal Cancer with These Foods

An increased risk of colon cancer is posed for those who are older than 50, suffer from polyps, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity or type 2 diabetes, or have a family history of colon or rectal cancer. Poor lifestyle choices, such as a diet high in red and processed meats, smoking, inactivity and heavy alcohol use have been linked to colon cancer. Incorporating these powerful foods into your diet will reduce your risk of developing this devastating disease.

Dark-coloured fruits and vegetables may help to protect against colon cancer, research has shown.

Scientists found that the chemicals that give foods such as grapes, radishes, purple carrots and bilberries their colour significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells.

Evidence from experiments on rats and on human colon cancer cells suggests that anthocyanins, the compounds that colour most red, purple and blue fruits and vegetables, slow the growth of the cells by anything from 50 to 80 per cent.

The findings take scientists a step closer to figuring out what gives fruits and vegetables their cancer-fighting properties.

Broccoli and related foods like kale, cabbage and cauliflower contain indol-3-carbinol, which is protective against breast cancer by turning bad estrogen into healthy estrogen. A substance in these foods called sulforaphane acts as an antioxidant that can deactivate cancer-causing chemicals.

What is it about beans, rice, green veggies, and dried fruit that help with colon cancer prevention? In a word: fiber. And lots of it. Fiber is a known anti-carcinogen. But that's not all, folks. Scientists think there may be something else at play in these foods -- perhaps a perfect storm of various nutrients working together that helps prevent cancer. As if that weren't enough, a high-fiber foods also help steady your blood sugar, control your appetite, and lower your cholesterol.