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I feel like a broken record!  Now coffee is being held up as a way to hold on to your eyes. Or, your vision, at least. A cup of coffee a day may keep retinal damage away, newswise.com reports.  Coffee may prevent deterior ating eyesight and possible blindness from retinal degeneration due to glaucoma, aging and diabetes. That's because coffee contains not just caffeine but  chlorogenic acid, a strong antioxidant that prevents retinal degeneration in mice.   Accordin to newswise.com, t he retina is a thin tissue layer on the inside, back wall of the eye with millions of light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells that receive and organize visual information. It is also one of the most metabolically active tissues, demanding high levels of oxygen and making it prone to oxidative stress. The lack of oxygen and production of free radicals leads to tissue damage and loss of sight. “Coffee is the most popular drink in the world, and we are understanding what b...

First it was video games.  Then it was movies.  Now sports and energy drinks  are " significantly associated with higher consumption of other sugar-sweetened beverages, cigarette smoking, and screen media use," according to newswise.com. Although national data have shown a decline in the prevalence of soft drink and fruit drink consumption, sports and energy drink consumption has tripled among adolescents in recent years, the Web site reports. The high caffeine content of energy drinks, as well as the high sugar and calorie content of many sports and energy drinks, has drawn much concern from health professionals. “Among boys, weekly sports drink consumption was significantly associated with higher TV viewing; boys who regularly consumed sports drinks spent about one additional hour per week watching TV compared with boys who consumed sports drinks less than once per week,” newswise quotes  lead author Nicole Larson, PhD, MPH, RDN, Division of Epidemiology and Co...

Want relief from you allergies? Get stress out of your life. According to newswise.com, " Stress doesn’t cause allergies, but easing your mind might mean less allergy flare-ups this spring." “Stress can cause several negative effects on the body, including causing more symptoms for allergy sufferers,” said allergist Amber Patterson, MD, lead study author and ACAAI member. “Our study also found those with more frequent allergy flares also have a greater negative mood, which may be leading to these flares.” In a recent study , w hile there were no significant findings between allergy flares and stress on the same day, a number of sufferers reported allergy flares within days of increased daily stress, the Web site reports. “Symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes can cause added stress for allergy sufferers, and may even be the root of stress for some,” said Dr. Patterson. “While alleviating stress won’t cure allergies, it may help decrease episodes of i...

I was shocked to see the kid sitting next to me at a recent event sipping from a cup of coffee . "You drink coffee?" I asked, stupidly. "Yeah, it keeps me awake," this boy said.  "Sometimes I fall asleep in school."  He added that, with all the stress from seventh grade, he needs the caffeine to keep on-track, and alert.    I was shocked.   Even though I'm the last living human never to have drunk a cup of coffee (my first taste was after crossing the English Channel after a night of seasickness so I suppose that's a reason why), I still find it incredible that kids have now discovered the stuff. According to The Mommy Files, kids are drinking less soda, which is good, but more coffee, which, not so much.   They're also guzzling energy drinks.  Starbucks' Frappucinos and Red Bull are very popular among the preteen and teen set. Of all the beverages kids drink today, coffee is the favored liquid, at 24% of total youth uptake, an ...

Coffee's topped the hit list again.  Now it's as a memory prod.  According to newswise.com, " Regardless of the routine, the consumption of caffeine is the energy boost of choice for millions to wake up or stay up. Now, however, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University have found another use for the stimulant: memory enhancer." Scientists have found that caffeine has a positive effect on long-term memory in humans. The study showed that  caffeine enhances certain memories at least up to 24 hours after it is consumed. I don't know about you but for years, seemed like coffee was the devil's brew. It was bad for pregnant women and those wanting to be; it caused sleeplessness; it raised blood pressure and cholesterol, and could speed up your heart. It can make you jittery and cause dehydration. Yes, it can do all these things.   But in recent years it's now become the elixir of -- well everything.   "Even though fruits and vegetables are both...

It's long been known that over-consumption of sugary soft drinks can harm adults, leading to stroke, obesity, kidney damage, and high blood pressure. But a study, published Friday in the  Journal of Pediatrics , which focused on 5-year-old soda drinkers and behavioral problems, found that "those who drank four or more pops daily were more than twice as likely to attack others, fight with them or destroy their property," according to Beth Greenfield at yahoo.com. The study found a clear association between aggression—as well as withdrawal and attention problems—and soda consumption, even after adjusting for socio-demographic factors, maternal depression, intimate-partner violence, and paternal incarceration, Greenfield reports. Is it the caffeine?  The sugar?  Researchers aren't yet sure. And sports drinks are no better. “Other than the obvious reasons that children should stay away from soda—that it rots their teeth, that it has no nutritional value—the Ameri...

So you think you're ok. You've been able to cut down your coffee consumption to just two cups a day. But you may be up to three or four, without even knowing it, if you take certain supplements . According to Genevra Pittman at healthnews.com, many supplements containing caffeine don't even mention it on the label, a new study has found.  "The amount of caffeine in diet supplements varies widely and product labels are often inaccurate or have no caffeine information at all, according to a new study of supplements sold on military bases," she writes. "Consumers really have no idea when they're purchasing supplements what's in them, even if they carefully read the label,"Dr. Pieter Cohen from Harvard Medical School in Boston, who worked on the new study, told Pittman. Six of the products tested did not have caffeine levels on their labels, "but had very high amounts according to the chemical analysis - between 210 and 310 milligrams p...

Quick.  What's the difference between energy drinks and cigarettes?  Not enough, says the Senate.  And they want the drinks to be regulated the same as cigarettes, because, like their tobacco cousins in the past, they're covertly marketed to kids. According to the thehill.com, the tobacco industry once told everyone they weren't interested in kids.  “We knew better," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told a Senate panel on Wednesday. "We knew if they could get them hooked early on it would become an addiction and one hard to break. We’re getting the same runaround from these energy drink companies. They are openly advertising to kids and denying it.” “It’s exactly what’s happening and we can’t kid ourselves about the direct correlation that exists between the market practices and the increased use by younger people of these beverages,” thehill.com quotes Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). What's the problem?  Well, energy drinks contain caffeine and oth...

OK. Here's a new reason to drink coffee. It can prevent oral cancer.  No joke. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/risks-coffee-linked-to-fewer-oral-cancer-deaths/