The only thing I love more than reading about the health benefits of coffee, is the health benefits of chocolate. Why? Well, like Anna Nicole Smith’s laywer claims about her, chocolate and coffee are the much maligned underdogs.

Now, I’ll leave speculation as to the reasons behind Anna’s death to the celebrity blogs, and I’m afraid yoiu won’t get your chocolate fix here today either. But brace yourself for a cup of the hearty java, mocha, espresso, robusta - or whatever you like to call it!

Coffee - or caffeinated drinks - have been found to be potentially beneficial in reducing death from heart disease, by as much as 53%. Now, the bad news is that you have to be over 65 to receive this benefit. There was no significant effect found in those under 65, even though the research covered 6594 men and women between the ages of 32 and 86.

The research was conducted at the State University of New York and the City University of New York, and reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers did say that the research wasn’t sufficient to allow them to prove that “caffeinated beverages or the caffeine content is directly responsible for the apparent protective effect”. They said more follow-up and other types of studies were definitely needed.

A summary of their result follows:

• the results were dose dependant, which means that more caffeine containing drinks consumed seemed to have a greater protective benefit
• the benefits they observed was only in people with normal blood pressure, and not those with hypertension
• they considered coffee, tea, caffeine containing cola, and chocolate
• they looked at the risk of mortality ie. dying from a cardiovascular event, and caffeine consumption in relation to it
• they note that caffeine is not the only important biochemical in the foods and drinks that they studied. Chocolate, tea, and coffee also contain antioxidants and flavanoids, and these may contribute to the whole picture

The full article is located here.