Go ahead--say it... "I knew it!!!"
A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania Scranton, lucidly titled "AGFD 10" has validated what we geeks have known in our little digital hearts all along--that coffee is good for you! Now, don't go hooking up the IV drip just yet, as with anything, moderation is key (may not be as much fun as blinding excess, but you won't look like an epileptic on crack, either).
The study found that based on density and frequency of consumption, coffee was the number one delivery system for antioxidants among over one hundred different foods, among them traditional sources for antioxidants like red wine, black tea and red grapes.
So what's a free radical? No, not a Bush protester, but an oxygen atom that loses an electron from its outer shell, destabilizing the atom. As atoms are most content with a full complement of electrons, it steals an electron from another atom, destabilizing it and leading to a chain reaction that can destroy whole cells. Big fat hairy deal, you say--I kill millions of brain cells every weekend! Yes, but these are particularly nasty, acting like little buzz saws on cells all over your body, and in turn creating instabilities that lead to neato things like colon cancer, skin cancer, and all sorts of other fun and exciting hobbies like chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
This isn't an excuse to refrain from eating other things that are good for you, as the uptake and utilization of antioxidants may hinge upon other chemicals and elements found in fruits and veggies, as the exact method these things work is still being worked out. So far, we know they're good for you and there are a lot of them in coffee, and so I don't really need any other reason for that beautiful cup of life in the morning, other than the fact that I am not actually recognizable as a member of the genus homo sapiens sapiens pre-coffee either, but that's just details... Who needs juice bars? We have COFFEE!!!
