Report touts coffee's health benefits

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - You may be one of those people that have a cup of coffee to begin your day, maybe a couple cups, and you probably don't give the potential health benefits of a cup of "joe" a lot of thought.

A new National Cancer Institute study of a little over 400,000 AARP members has led to some interesting conclusions. The report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week.

On Thursday, we spoke with Dr. Jo Freudenheim, Chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Buffalo.

"It would indicate that people who drink more coffee are living longer. The differences are modest, so there's a five to ten percent decrease in risk over the 12-year period."

She goes on to say that it's not just about coffee consumption, and you've probably heard it before, but there are some other very important factors to healthy living.

"You would do better to stop smoking, get more exercise and make sure you don't gain weight. These are going to have a bigger impact than a couple cups of coffee," added Freudenheim.

Those risks include dying from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and even infections.

"It does seem to indicate that it's not going to hurt you to drink coffee," she noted. "There's been a concern for sometime that somehow it would be good for you to drink a lot of coffee."

So in light of the new coffee study, we set out to see if anything has changed in local coffee shops.

According to the Maggie Shonitsky, a Tim Hortons Manager at Williamsville, "I definitely think so and with summer coming on and kids off of school, the ice coffee is really selling and we get a lot of our regulars everyday. Our business has increased a lot."

And then there are those people that can't be without, regardless of health studies.

"I couldn't have a great day of work, a great day of just enjoying life without my coffee," added Dan Tufts.

And Chuck O'Brian said, "I don't think that I'll drink more, but at least it makes me feel better about what I do drink."

News 4's Mike Cejka couldn't help but wonder if Dr. Freudenheim drinks coffee.

"I drink coffee occasionally. I like it with a lot of sugar. So it's not really such a great thing."

So if you want to make the beverage healthier, limit the cream and sugar. And, women who are pregnant, or people who have high blood pressure or blood sugar may want to avoid coffee consumption or switch to decaf.