Coffee definitely is a health-booster

Coffee, legend has it, was first discovered in 9th-century Ethiopia when a goatherd noticed his flock was behaving oddly after eating some reddish tree berries.

When he took the berries to the local monastery, religious leaders deemed the beans unworthy and threw them on a fire. But, wouldn’t you know it, the roasting beans smelled so good that they decided to give them another chance.

They put the toasty seeds into a pot of warm water, and the first cuppa Joe was brewed! Today Americans down around 146 BILLION cups of coffee annually! Good thing it turns out to have a lot of health benefits.

A new review published in The BMJ looks at the current data on coffee and health, and finds that it has many health benefits.

You do, however, encounter some serious negatives with overconsumption of coffee: pregnancy loss, low birth weight and preterm birth, as well as an increased risk of bone fracture in women, but not men.

Your daily dose: If caffeine doesn’t give you a headache, upset tummy or other side effects, enjoy three or four cups of decaf or regular (filtered through paper, no added sugar or high-fat milk) daily.

You’ll lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes and reduce your risk of all-cause mortality over a set period of time by more than 17 per cent, compared with folks who don’t drink any coffee. In addition, caffeinated coffee lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke, as well as nine cancers and liver problems.