By Emily Murray
Great news for coffee lovers! A Cornell University study has found that drinking that d
aily cup o’Joe may actually reduce the the chances of blindness or eyesight deterioration.
The study results were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. We’ve heard of the many other benefits of coffee but this is the first time we have seen a connection between eye health and the rich antioxidants in coffee beans. The exact compound that produces these benefits is called chlorogenic acid. It’s an antioxidant that has proven to prevent retinal degeneration when tested in mice.
Additional coffee benefits include reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease, certain types of cancer and age related cognitive disorders.
So how much of this chemical is present in that daily cup of coffee? More than caffeine. While caffeine consists of nearly 1% of coffee, chlorogenic acid is about 7% to 9%. Often sight is impaired or even lost when there is a lack of oxygen to the back wall of cells in the eye. This compound helps prevent this from happening.