(Michael Irving/New Atlas) — Your morning vice might not be that guilty a pleasure after all: coffee seems to have a range of health benefits, but exactly how it affects the body to produce these results remains unknown. A new study has identified specific proteins that caffeine works on, which help the liver remove bad cholesterol from the bloodstream and protect against cardiovascular disease.
Several large-scale, long-term studies have revealed that coffee is good for you in various ways. One study tracked the coffee habits of more than half a million people across Europe for 16 years, and found that those who consumed the most had significantly lower mortality rates than those who abstained. Other research has linked coffee to reductions in prostate cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. (…)