Yes, my favourite morning starter is back in the news again. This time researchers have found that drinking roasted coffee results in less breakages in your DNA.
So first things first, every day breakages occur in the DNA in our cells. This is just a fact of life, we are imperfect beings. The body can correct some of these errors by DNA repair and some will accumulate and contribute to ageing or age related diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Coffee is packed full of phenolic compounds that have antioxidant activity and so could offer some protection against oxidative damage.
The researchers recruited 84 men for the trail, half of who were instructed to drink 750ml of coffee per day in 3 equal servings morning, noon and night. The other were told to avoid caffeinated drinks and drink the same volume of water. The group that were given the coffee had fewer measurable spontaneous DNA strand breaks than the control group.
There is a downside though for those of whom milk is a necessity. The coffee in this trail was served black and previous research looking at antioxidants and milk concluded that milk can bind to some of the beneficial components so that they are not absorbed by the body (Got Milk?).