Coffee unfortunately has had a very bad press. It has often been considered daring to drink it, a vice associated with those hotbeds of sedition, the coffee houses of Europe. By extension it came to be seen as a promoter of antisocial behaviour. Quite possibly in the colour conscious western thought of 19th and 20th Century, as well as in colonial India, its black colour was contrasted unfavourably with the white of healthy milk and the paale brown colour of the less harmful tea. It is predominantly bitter which further enchances its unhealthy image. Whatever the actual reasons, coffee has been considered an unhealthy drink, and one especially unhealthy for the heart. Does coffee really deserve this negative image? Are health dangers really lurking in our kapis?

What is coffee? It is a drink obtained from a decoction of roasted and ground beans of species of the coffee plant. Its most well recognized constituent is caffeine, the ingredient that has also been the target of the greatest suspicion and innuendo. In addition, it has a number of other ingredients, including a variety of powerful antioxidants and medicinal, substances. Caffeine itself is a methylxanthine, a drug belonging to the same group of chemicals as theophylline, an excellent bronchodilator, the crutch on which many an asthmatic wheezes his way through life.

Let us examine the evidence in favour of coffee.

Coffee contains hundreds of compounds that may help with research into some of the most, prevalent diseases of our time. One of the most exciting discoveries is the significant presence of antioxidants within coffee beans. Antioxidants are known to protect against "oxidative stress" by "mopping-up" damaging free radicals that are destroy cells and tissues, antioxidants are proven to help mitigate the chances of heart disease, cancer degenerative brain disorders and ageing. Results from some studies clearly demonstrate that coffee contains up to four times the antioxidant levels found in tea.

At the 1999 annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association health experts were reassuring: Drinking up to three cups of coffee a day poses no risk. And actually offered some surprising benefits.

What happens when an infrequent coffee drinker drinks a cup of coffee? Within half an hour his blood pressure rises. His heart speeds up as does his breathing, and his resting metabolic rate - the number of calories burned just sitting quietly - increases by as much as 10%.

Does all this lead to heart problems? Regular coffee drinkers quickly develop a tolerance to caffeine and these effects are no longer seen after the first couple of weeks.

Doctors are most likely to ask patients with palpitations or irregular heartbeats to avoid coffee. This is probably unjustified as shown in a study published in the authoritative Annals of Internal Medicine which showed that drinking up to five cups of coffee a day didn't increase the likelihood of arrhythmias.

Coffee also does not appear to increase the risk of heart disease, according to a 10-year study of more than 85,000 women. In February 1996 Harvard researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that women who drank six or more cups of coffee weren't any more likely to have a heart attack than women who drank only one or two cups.

Warren G. Thompson, M.D., noted in a 1994 literature review published in The American Journal of Medical Sciences, that: "The largest and better studies suggest that coffee is not a major risk factor for coronary disease."

(Willet et.al, Journal of the American Medical Association Feb. 1996, New England Journal of Medicine 1990, The Framingham Heart Study of more than 6,000 adults conducted over 20 years - Archives of Internal Medcine, the Honolulu Heart Program (The New England Journal of Medicine, The American Journal of Epidemiology). The total number of subjects studied exceeds 200000, and support the ideal that drinking upto 4 cups of coffee a day do not increase the risk of heart disease. Women too appear not to be at greater risk of heart disease due to coffee drinking. There was no difference in the risk of heart disease between women who drank six cups a day compared to those who totally abstained. The Nurses' Health Study, a 25-year study of disease correlating women's health and lifestyle reported that `drinking coffee in moderation appears to have few, if any, adverse consequences.'

Coffee also does not appear to increase the risk of high blood pressure in regular coffee drinkers. Restricting caffeine did not reduce blood pressure in people with mild hypertension (British Medical Journal 1991, Archives of Internal Medicine and the American Journal of Nutrition).

Coffee drinking specifically could be protective against cirrhosis of the liver and gall stone disease. (Klatsky 1992, Leitzmann 1999, 2002)

In the current Olympics atmosphere, it is interesting that caffeine can enhance exercise and sports performance. In fact, caffeine's efficacy as a performance-enhancing drug has led the International Olympic Committee to consider urinary levels of caffeine exceeding 12 micro grams/ml the equivalent of drinking 8 strong cups of coffee - as worthy of a ban. Plenty of other alarms have turned out to be false. Reported links between coffee drinking and cancer, and coffee drinking and osteoporosis have turned out to be untrue. Coffee may also protect against Parkinson's disease, improve performance at work and sport, and speed up learning.

Of course too much caffeinated coffee, like too much of anything can cause problems. Because caffeine is a stimulant, it can aggravate sleep problems like insomnia. A few studies have linked caffeine to infertility, although others have found no association. Paradoxically, caffeine, though a stimulant, can exacerbate symptoms in those with anxiety or depression.

On Balance, coffee would appear to have far more benefits than adverse effects. So as the Greeks would have it with "moderation in all things". Go ahead an enjoy that hearty cup of coffee.