illycaffè
Founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy, illycaffè produces and sells a unique single blend of premium quality coffee worldwide. The unmistakable illy taste found in every cup all around the world comes from its blend of 100 percent Arabica coffee from nine different growing regions from South America, Central America, India, and Africa. Today illy promotes the expansion of the coffee market and the global culture of coffee through all the elements contributing to a perfect cup of coffee: from the blend to the machines for its preparation, from the training of specialized staff in cafés to the study and choice of settings for savoring it. Illy believes in combining the spread of the coffee culture with an ongoing reinterpretation of its tradition.
Coffee is experiencing a new renaissance, according to the National Coffee Drinking Trends Report. For the first time since 1990, the percentage of adults who drink a daily cup of coffee has surpassed the percentage of adults who drink soft drinks each day. The average coffee drinker now drinks 3 cups per day.
One of the best-kept secrets about coffee is that it is one of the greatest sources of antioxidants in our diets. Green coffee beans contain approximately 1,000 types of antioxidants. Once the coffee beans are roasted and brewed, this figure increases to include health-promoting compounds unique to coffee alone. Coffee science begins with the growing practice, where many factors influence the overall quality and chemical composition of the raw coffee bean: The location, altitude, and weather of the plantation; the composition of the soil and its fertilization; and finally the cultivation, harvesting, and drying methods used.
In addition to coffee's well known ability to increase performance on mental and physical tasks, coffee drinking has been strongly linked to lowering the risk of colorectal and liver cancers, asthma, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Harvard School of Public Health conducted a meta-analysis of studies and found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Participants who drank 4 to 6 cups and more than 6 to 7 cups of coffee per day had a 28 percent and 35 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared with those who drank less than 2 cups per day. Similar inverse associations between coffee and type 2 diabetes were found in various populations from the United States, northern Europe, southern Europe, and Japan. There are several ways in which coffee provides its benefits for type 2 diabetes; coffee has been shown to be a major source of cholorogenic acid and other antioxidants which actually influence how glucose is metabolized.
One of the largest and longest studies of coffee suggests that it may boost the lifespan, mainly because it cuts the risk of dying from heart disease. The study tracked the coffee drinking habits of 41,736 men and 86,216 women for more than two decades. The results show that as coffee consumption increases, the overall risk of death decreases. Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day, for instance, had a 25 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease than non-drinkers. The dramatic effects are largely due to its anti-inflammatory compounds, which reduce risk factors associated with heart disease. Once the researchers accounted for other factors such as obesity and smoking, they concluded that women who drank four to five cups of coffee a day were 26 percent less likely to die from any cause. Men who drank more than five cups of coffee per day were 35 percent less likely to die.
Sources
Rob M. van Dam,
PhD; Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD. Coffee consumption and the
risk of type 2 diabetes: A systematic review. JAMA. 2005;294:97-104.
Rosengren A, Dotevall A, Wilhelmsen L, Thelle D, Johansson S. Coffee and incidence of diabetes in Swedish women: a prospective 18-year follow-up study. J Intern Med. 2004; 255:89-95.
Salazar-Martinez E, Willett WC, Ascherio A, et al. Coffee consumption and risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140:1-8.
Inoue M, Yoshimi I, Sobue T, Tsugane S. Influence of Coffee Drinking on Subsequent Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Prospective Study in Japan. J Natl Cancer Inst 2005;97:293-300.
E. Lopez-Garcia, R. M. van Dam, T. Y. Li, F. Rodriguez-Artalejo, and F. B. Hu. The Relationship of Coffee Consumption with Mortality Ann Intern Med, June 17, 2008; 148(12): 904 - 914.