We’ve been touting the incredible list of caffeine’s health benefits for some time. (See our post, “Caffeine: Unexplored Source of Pharmacological Treasures.) However, ever since the first use of coffee in the Yemen around 1500, many nay-sayers have been trying to brand coffee and caffeine as harmful and dangerous. That’s why we find it encouraging that the Wall Street Journal, in a recent article on goverment’s encrochment into controlling health care, satirically suggested that the government pay our coffee bill:
Studies show that coffee can ward off depression, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes and sleepiness—which makes it one of the most powerful preventive treatments. Workers who drink java are also more productive and pleasant. While many offices have coffee makers, some employers—most notably those affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—continue to deny workers this essential benefit. All employers should have to provide workers with freshly brewed coffee. Oh, and workers must also be able to choose the kind of coffee regardless of the price. Further, leading medical experts recommend drinking coffee.
Therefore, the author suggests, the government should assume the burden of insuring that we are supplied with good quality coffee at the workplace! Obviously, this suggestion is only political lampoon. But, nevertheless, it drives home the fact that people are beginning to recognize that the caffeine in coffee is one of the most widely beneficial drugs in the pharmacopeia!
