According to the British Coffee Association, UK consumers drink approximately 70 million cups of coffee a day. Some of the potential health benefits include protection against diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, liver damage and even gout. Caffeine in coffee is a known stimulant which works on the brain and can combat drowsiness and fatigue. But researchers wanted to examine what coffee does to the body when it is already under stress, especially when large quantities are consumed in high-pressure meetings. They recruited 64 men and women and put them in same-sex pairs. Each pair was given a range of tasks to complete, including carrying out negotiations, completing puzzles and tackling memory tasks. To add to their stress, they were told they would also have to give a public presentation relating to their tasks. Researchers then gave the pairs either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee and monitored them throughout the experiment. They found the men’s ability to perform well under stress was ‘greatly impaired’ if they had drunk the caffeinated coffee. For example, they took an average of 20 seconds longer to complete puzzles than those on the decaffeinated coffee. Women, on the other hand, completed them 100 seconds faster if they had been given caffeine. Experts think the key to coffee’s effects on the sexes lies in the way men and women respond differently to stress. Men are inclined to exhibit ‘fight or flight’ behaviour, whereas women are more inclined to work together to solve the problem they face, something psychologists call ‘tend and befriend’. In a report on their findings the researchers said unlimited coffee supplies at high-level meetings might not be a good idea, especially for men. "They might unintentionally sabotage the partnerships forged to solve stressful issues," the report said. "Many such meetings, including those at which military and other decisions of great importance are made, are likely to be male-dominated. "Because caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world, the global implications are potentially staggering." Source: The Telegraph

Researchers have claimed that drinking a cup of coffee everyday could be the secret to long life.

According to a study, people who drank one to two cups of coffee a day had more elastic arteries than those who drank little or no coffee, reports the Daily Mail.

The subjects of the research were all aged between 65 and 100 and long-term inhabitants of the Greek island of Ikari

It is known as the ''land of longevity'' and a third of residents reach the age of 90.

University of Athens researchers looked at 485 people with high blood pressure, medically known as hypertension.

Christina Chrysohoou, who led the study, said there was conflicting evidence about the effect of coffee drinking on heart health, with some research showing it aggravated high blood pressure. But drinking coffee is a deeply embedded social tradition in Greek culture, which made it imperative to investigate on this island of ''high life-expectancy'', she said.

The 56 percent who were moderate coffee drinkers, consuming between one and two cups a day, had the best arterial health, with their blood vessels behaving like those found in younger people. Their arteries were more elastic than those measured in people who drank little or no coffee.

Around one in 10 who drank three or more cups a day had the least elasticity. Dr Chrysohoou said moderate coffee drinkers consumed 25-50ml of coffee a day.

She suggested that ingredients such as caffeine and antioxidants may partly improve arterial function by increasing the ability to take up nitric oxide, which is impaired in hypertensive patients.

"They were socialising, with friends in cafeterias or with family at home, relaxing and discussing daily matters. It''s done in good spirit, which is psychologically important,'' she added.

The findings were released at the European Society of Cardiology congress.

Source: hindustantimes

Scientists from the University of Exeter, Exeter, UK and Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey have studied the role that coffee houses had in the evolution of the consumer.

Coffee houses are usually full of people, gathered around a good cup of coffee and having an interesting conversation, what is currently called "socializing".

The study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, says that coffee houses were even more fashionable in the 1550's, within the Ottoman Empire.

The two scientists that focused on this matter are Eminegül Karababa ( University of Exeter, Exeter, UK) and Güliz Ger (Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey).

They went deep into the history of coffee houses in the early modern Ottoman Empire and discovered that these places often meant much more than a cup of Turkish coffee.

According to historical data, coffee house customers engaged in gambling, drug-taking, meeting with "young beautiful boys," but also performing or watching entertainments such as puppet theaters, storytellers, and dance and musical performances.

The thing is that early coffee houses were very controversial places and thus they were very often banned by the state.

The authors of the study say that "formation, normalization, and legalization of such a site for transgressive pleasures was controversial since formal religious morality of the period (orthodox Islam) considered it as sinful and illegal."

But as all illegal things, coffee houses flourished, and all Ottomans, regardless of their rank, met to drink coffee. Socialize and have literary discussions, by the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

Also, coffee houses were places where people talked a lot and these challenges of the authority of the state and religion led to many changes within the society.

'Simultaneously, a new Ottoman consumer, resisting the prescriptions of the state and religion, actively constructing self-ethics, and taking part in the formation of the coffeehouse culture, was forming as well," the authors explain.

"Obviously, the early modern Ottoman context was very different than any modern capitalist system," they write.

"But the active consumer may not be as recent or even a chronological phenomenon as many consumer researchers think."

Source: Softpedia