By michael - September, 8th 2014

Coffee is a brewed beverage prepared from the roasted or baked seeds of several species of an evergreen shrub of the genus Coffea. The two most common sources of coffee beans are the highly regarded Coffea arabica, and the “robusta” form of the hardier Coffea canephora. The latter is resistant to the coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), but has a more bitter taste. Coffee plants are cultivated in more than 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee “berries” are picked, processed and dried to yield the seeds inside. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor, before being ground and brewed to create coffee.

Researchers found that women who consumed higher amounts of caffeine were less likely to have tinnitus, which is a steady ringing or buzzing in the ear. The study included more than 65,000 American women, aged 30 to 44, who did not have tinnitus in 1991 and were followed for 18 years. During that time, nearly 5,300 cases of tinnitus were reported among the women. Women who consumed less than 150 milligrams (mg) a day of caffeine (found in about one-and-a-half 8-ounce cups of coffee) were 15 percent more likely to develop tinnitus than those who consumed 450 mg to 599 mg a day of caffeine, the investigators found.

Coffee May Help Ringing in Your Ears

Tinnitus, or ringing in your ears, affects about one in five people. While it’s typically not serious, it can significantly impact your quality of life (and it may get worse with age, or be a symptom of an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, ear injury, or a circulatory system disorder).

Interestingly, new research revealed that women who consumed higher amounts of caffeine (mostly in the form of coffee) were less likely to have tinnitus. Specifically, women who consumed less than 150 milligrams of caffeine a day (the amount in about 12 ounces of coffee) were 15 percent more likely to develop tinnitus than those who consumed 450 mg to 599 mg.

Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world and can be helpful or harmful, depending on how it's used. Caffeine provides a “lift” by blocking the normal action of adenosine.

Is Coffee Good …

It's unclear why higher caffeine intake may reduce the risk of tinnitus, said study senior author Dr. Gary Curhan, a physician-researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

“We know that caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, and previous research has demonstrated that caffeine has a direct effect on the inner ear in both bench science and animal studies,” he said in a hospital news release.

Please Read this Article at Articles.Mercola.com

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