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Though for many centuries it has been one of the most favorite beverages around the world, coffee is considered one of the most controversial drinks as to its health effects. We love coffee for its amazing aroma and unique energizing properties, but most of us are aware about the fact that drinking it in moderate or high amounts every day is linked to some positive and some destructive health effects. Thus, as previous studies have found out, moderate coffee consumption is associated with reduced skin cancer risk. According to the findings of a research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2011, starting your morning with a cup of coffee is linked to better performance and better abilities to focus during the day. Positive coffee health effects include lower risk for diabetes mellitus, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, other dementia-like brain disorders.
At the same time, there are a few negative health effects of coffee. In particular, it was found out that a regular consumption of coffee and increased amounts of caffeine affects the amounts of female hormone estrogen in modern women. Besides, it has been recently reported by a group of Danish scientists at the Aarhus University Hospital that drinking 5 and more cups of coffee a day is linked to lower chances to achieve success in IVF fertility treatment. This month, the findings of one more study were published and extended the list of destructive coffee health effects. A group of American researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have presented their findings suggesting that drinking 3 and more cups of coffee every day is associated with increased risk of glaucoma, a disease linked to eye nerve damage. The report about the study appeared earlier this week in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.
Glaucoma is a common eye condition in aging people, which takes place when eye drainage tubes in human eye started getting blocked and affect eye fluid drainage causing increased pressure in the eye and damage in optic nerve. It is estimated that it affects 5 per cent of people over 65, and up to 1 per cent of those over 40. This eye condition usually starts developing in the middle age and go one progressing very slowly, mainly with no other symptoms but slight vision loss. People with family history of this disease, as well as those who suffer from type 2 diabetes, are at increased risk of glaucoma. The research have shown that drinking 3 and more cups of coffee on a daily basis should also be considered as a factor that increases chances of developing this serious eye condition.
The experts from the scientific team analyzed the data collected on 12,000 American and British people. All of the participants were over 40 and never diagnosed with glaucoma. All of the participants were asked a series of questions, including the ones about their eating habits and daily coffee consumption. Further, they were followed for some period of time, and their medical records were analyzed again. 
It turned out that those participants who reported consuming 3 and more cups of coffee every day had higher risk of glaucoma, in contrast to those people who avoided drinking coffee or reported occasional drinking this beverage. In addition, those who had family history of this eye condition had much higher risks in conjunction with increased coffee consumption.
The scientists are convinced that the discovered health effects of coffee are connected with certain compounds in coffee which cause increased pressure in eye and severe nerve damage. At the same time, these compounds have nothing to do with caffeine since there were no connections detected between drinking increased amounts of tea or cola and high risk of glaucoma (namely exfoliation glaucoma). At the same time, the scientists pointed at one more scientific evidence of the fact that coffee health effects on our vision and eye health can be quite negative. A number of previous studies have shown that there are very high rates of exfoliation glaucoma in all modern Scandinavian nations, which are known for their very high coffee and caffeinated drink consumption. If you want to learn more about the study and its findings, check out supplemental data and the methods used for analyzing the information, please, go to here.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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