Ok, it’s 7 o’clock tonight and I’m at this vegetarian restaurant with our son Max and we’re drinking lots of water, great stuff. Feeling good. H2O.  On the way out, Max says, hitting me like a splash of hot java: “If you drink lots of coffee, it can extend your life.” I love coffee, but I’m kind of a fake coffee drinker. I will fill maybe two cups and keep them on my desk the whole day, sipping through steaming hot until lukewarm, and not finishing them. Also, I can’t stand the coffee too strong.  I’ll put skim milk in and I rarely have coffee late, unless we are having dinner with friends or family, or I really need to be totally jazzed for work.

So that’s my routine.  I guess I’m not much of a coffee drinker. When it comes to coffee, that may not be the healthiest.

What Max was talking about were reports from two studies published today that says those extra cups of Joe can lead to a longer life expectancy.

One of the studies that showed the benefits of coffee drinking examined the drinking habits of more than a half million people in 10 European countries. The other study also said coffee helps people of many different races live longer, according to CNN.

“People who drank two to four cups a day had an 18% lower risk of death compared with people who did not drink coffee,” CNN said about one of the study’s findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study made me think of all the times in the old days reading into the wee hours backed by gallons of coffee.

Or as a little kid sitting with my Italian-American relatives as they spent hours debating everything over seriously strong coffee.

And yum, they had amazing pie and cake…that the coffee washed down. Oh, that’s another story.

Before I sat down to write this, I prepared some coffee, and I’m eagerly drinking it right now. Am I going to be up all night and regret it in the morning?

— Joe Cantlupe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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