Coffee is practically a health food: Myth or fact?事實上咖啡是健康食品：迷思還是事實？
(CNN)Myth or fact? Coffee is good for you.
是迷思還是事實？咖啡對你的身體很好。
If you chose fact, you're
right. New studies this week add to dozens more reporting the health benefits
of coffee, including protection from type
2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, prostate cancer, Alzheimer's, computer back pain and more.
如果你選的是事實，你是對的，本週新的研究增加了許多咖啡對健康的益處的報告，包括預防2型糖尿病、帕金森氏症、肝病、前列腺癌、阿滋海默症、長期使用電腦引發的背痛和一些其他的病痛。
But if you chose myth, you'd
also be right. There are times when coffee is bad for you, and it depends on
your genetics, your age and even how you make your coffee.
但如果你選擇的是迷思，你也是對的，有時候咖啡對你身體是不好的，但這要看你的遺傳基因、你的年紀甚至是你製作咖啡的方法。
Good to the last drop
Coffee lovers rejoice!
There are more studies than ever encouraging you to sip for your good health.
屬於咖啡愛好者的好消息！有比以前更多的研究鼓勵你為了你的健康去啜飲一番。
A huge study of more than 25,000 coffee drinkers in
South Korea shows that moderate daily consumption -- that's three to five cups
a day -- is associated with a decreased risk for coronary artery calcium. CAC is
a great predictor of future heart disease and hasn't been studied much in the
past.
一個南韓超過25,000咖啡飲用者參與的大型實驗顯示，每日適量的飲用，大約一天是三到五杯，和降低冠狀動脈鈣化的風險有關，冠狀動脈鈣化是未來是否會得心臟疾病的一個重大的指標而且過去還沒有做過太多關於這方面的研究。
Four cups of coffee a day
was also recently found to moderately reduce one's risk for melanoma, a highly dangerous skin cancer. It has
to be leaded, though; in the study decaffeinated coffee didn't provide any
protection. The study supports a previous finding of a link between coffee and
a reduced risk for basal cell
carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer.
近期也發現每天四杯咖啡能適度地降低得黑色素瘤和高度危險皮膚癌的風險，不過必須是高咖啡因的濃咖啡；在研究中除去咖啡因的咖啡沒有給予身體任何保護，研究贊同先前提出的發現，就是咖啡和降低得到基底細胞癌(最常見的一種皮膚癌)的風險有關係。
Another recent study looked at coffee consumption and
multiple sclerosis. It found high coffee intake -- that's four to six cups a
day -- reduced the risk of getting MS. So did drinking a lot of coffee over
five to 10 years. Researchers now want to study coffee's impact on relapses and
long-term disability in MS.
另外一個近期調查是在研究咖啡的飲用和多發性硬化症的關聯，發現高度咖啡攝取量（一天四到六杯）會降低得到多發性硬化症的風險，五到十年來，喝很多咖啡的話也是，研究人員現在想要研究咖啡對多發性硬化症的復發和其導致的長期殘疾的影響。
Add this to the existing research on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and investigators now
believe coffee could be neuroprotective, meaning that it is possible the drink
is suppressing the production of inflammatory markers in the brain. And it may
be more than the caffeine in coffee that's responsible. Researchers are
starting to look at other compounds in
coffee that may help as well.
把這項新發現加入現有的帕金森氏症和阿茲海默症研究研究，調查人員現在認為咖啡可能有保護神經的功能，意味著這個飲品可能能夠抑制腦中炎性標記物的形成，而這可能比在咖啡中實際有用的咖啡因還多，研究人員也開始研究其他可能對該疾病有所幫助的咖啡所含之化合物。
Before you run off to your favorite
coffee spot for a double mocha latte, note one thing about these studies.
在你跑去你最喜歡的咖啡店買一杯雙份摩卡拿鐵之前，注意一件關於這些研究的事。
Most research defines a
"cup" of coffee at 5 to 8 ounces, about a 100mg of caffeine, and
black or maybe with a bit of cream or sugar. It is not one of those 24-ounce
monsters topped with caramel and whipped cream.
大部份的研究定義一「杯」咖啡為5到8盎司，大約是100毫克的咖啡因，而且是黑咖啡或著或許加上少量奶油或糖，不是那些上面有焦糖和鮮奶油的24盎司巨無霸。
Chock full o' studies多到數不清的研究
Coffee has been studied a lot, and not just recently.
人們已經針對咖啡做了很多的研究了，而且這也不是最近的事了。
The Harvard Health Professionals Follow-Up
Study, which
began in 1986, and the Nurses'
Health Study, which started in 1976, have been following coffee consumption
habits of healthy men and women for decades.
1986年開始的哈佛大學醫療專業人員追蹤研究和1976年開始的護士健康研究已經追蹤健康男女的咖啡飲用習慣數十年了。
"We did not find any relationship between coffee
consumption and increased risk of death from any cause, death from cancer, or
death from cardiovascular disease. Even people who drank up to six cups of
coffee per day were at no higher risk of death," writes Dr. Rob van Dam of Harvard's School of
Health.
「我們沒有找到任何咖啡飲用及增加任何因素所導致的死亡、癌症導致的死亡或心血管疾病導致的風險之間的關係，就算人們每天喝多達六杯咖啡也不會稱將死亡的風險。」哈佛衛生學院的Rob
van Dam博士寫道。
So why was coffee given a bad rap for so long?
所以為什麼咖啡長久以來一直名聲這麼差呢？
Earlier studies didn't always factor out serious health
behaviors that used to go along with coffee, such as smoking and a lack of physical
activity. Today's coffee drinker doesn't necessarily fit that mold and
researchers are more likely to screen for those behaviors in their results.
早期的研究有時候不會將過去喝咖啡的人們的會有危險的健康習慣列入計算，像是抽煙和缺乏體力活動，今日的咖啡飲用者未必符合那樣的模式而研究人員更有可能在他們的研究結果中檢視這些習慣。
Make mine a tea給我一杯茶
While the health benefits
of coffee keep rolling in, the complete story isn't so rosy. In some studies,
very high consumption -- six or more cups a day -- reduced the benefits.
就在咖啡對健康的益處不斷湧現時，其他還沒談到的部分就沒這麼樂觀了，某些研究發現，大量的飲用（一天六杯以上）會讓減少這些好處。
Some populations can find coffee consumption potentially
harmful. People with sleep issues
or uncontrolled
diabetes may
need to ask their doctors before adding caffeine to their diets. There's also a
concern about caffeine use among youths.
對於某些特定族群飲用咖啡有可能有損健康，有睡眠問題或不受控制的糖尿病的人在他們的飲食中加入咖啡因前可能需要問他們的醫生，年輕人使用咖啡因的情況也受到關注。
And there's a genetic mutation many of us have that can
affect how fast our bodies metabolize caffeine. The gene is called CYP1A2 -- if
you have the slow version,
it would explain why you crawl the walls after only a cup or two or why it
might contribute to your high blood pressure.
而發生在我們很多人身上的基因突變會影響我們的身體代謝咖啡因的速度，這個基因叫做CYP1A2，如果你的系統比較慢，那可能就解釋了為什麼你只喝了1、2杯咖啡就站不穩或著什麼這會導致你高血壓。
Women should take particular note. Coffee may increase
menopausal hot
flashes. And pregnant women might be more likely to miscarry -- the jury is
still out -- but caffeine does reach the fetus and might restrict growth. Doctors recommend
only a cup a day during pregnancy.
女人們則需要特別注意，咖啡可能會增加更年期的潮熱，而且懷孕的女人更有可能流產，關於這方面仍存在著相當多的疑問和爭議，但胎兒確實也會吸收咖啡因而這可能會限制其生長，醫生建議在懷孕期間一天只能喝一杯。
And interestingly enough, the way you make your coffee could
also make a health difference -- there's a compound called cafestol in
the oily part of coffee that can increase your bad cholesterol or LDL. It's
caught in the paper filters, so as long as you use those to make your morning
joe, you should be fine.
有趣的是，你喝咖啡的方式也有可能對你的健康造成影響，在咖啡的油脂部分裡有一種化合物叫做咖啡醇，它可能會增加你的膽固存或低密度脂蛋白（low density lipoprotein, LDL），它會被咖啡濾紙濾掉，所以只要你在泡Morning Joe（一種咖啡）時使用它們，就沒問題了。
But if you're a lover of French press, Turkish coffee
or the boiled coffee popular in Scandinavian countries, you could be putting
your health at risk.
For many of us, coffee is a blessing. And as long as you
avoid its pitfalls, current science seems to be saying you can continue to
enjoy it, guilt free.
但如果你是法式濾壓壺、土耳其咖啡或是在斯堪的納維亞國家很受歡迎的煮沸咖啡的愛好者，你可能是讓你的健康受到威脅。對我們大多數的人而言，咖啡讓人感到幸福，只要你避開它隱藏的危險，現今的科學似乎在告訴你你可以繼續享受它，完全不用感到有罪惡感。
