One of the best and most reliable “health drinks” available is a simple, good ol’ cup of Joe.
A few mugs of black coffee per day can do more than just keep you awake and stimulated. There is evidence showing that coffee can lower your risk of diabetes and liver disease and that it can promote a healthy heart. These are just some of the potential benefits of coffee, and there are likely more on the way.
In fact, when I was enjoying my morning cup of coffee the other day, I came across a new discovery suggesting coffee may be able to stave off tinnitus.
Tinnitus is a condition typically defined as “ringing in the ears,” but it can also produce symptoms like buzzing, humming, grinding, hissing, whistling, and sizzling sounds; your ears and heart can even seem like they’re beating in unison. It is an annoying condition that affects roughly one out of every five people at some point.
This discovery I’m referring to was a study published in the American Journal of Medicine that shows women who consumed higher amounts of caffeine were less likely to have tinnitus. Their primary source of caffeine was coffee.
Researchers followed more than 65,000 American women, aged 30–44, for 18 years. None of them had tinnitus at the outset of the study, but roughly 5,300 cases were reported over the trial period. They noticed that women who consumed less than 150 mg of caffeine per day (about a cup and a half of coffee per day) were 15% more likely to get tinnitus than those who had 450–599 mg of caffeine per day.
Caffeine helps stimulate the central nervous system and has a direct impact on the inner ear, which lends some possible insight into why it’s helpful with tinnitus, even though the study does not indicate any causation. Doctors involved in the study say more needs to be done to understand the relationship between caffeine intake and tinnitus.
If you don’t drink coffee because you think it’s unhealthy or that small amounts of caffeine are bad for you, think again. As long as you’re not filling it with cream, sugar, or other additives, coffee can offer you a number of health benefits. (Try not to drink more than four cups per day, though.)
Sources for Today’s Article:
Preidt, R., “Coffee May Keep Your Ears from Ringing,” National Institutes of Health web site, August 8, 2014; http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_147756.html.
“Increasing daily coffee consumption may reduce type 2 diabetes risk,” Harvard School of Public Health web site, April 24, 2014; http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/increasing-daily-coffee-intake-may-reduce-type-2-diabetes-risk/, last accessed August 18, 2014.
Wiley, “Coffee consumption reduces mortality risk from liver cirrhosis,” ScienceDaily web site, April 2, 2014; http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140402095656.htm, last accessed August 18, 2014.
“About Tinnitus,” American Tinnitus Association web site, 2014; http://www.ata.org/for-patients/about-tinnitus, last accessed August 18, 2014.