Last month, you may have been surprised to read of this little known fact from the National Institutes of Health.

“…[C]offee is the single most important source of antioxidants in the diets of Norwegians and of middle aged women in Iowa.”

If you’re like me, and are neither Norwegian nor a middle aged Iowan woman, then you’ll be glad to know that coffee may hold some benefit for the rest of us. The Archives of Internal Medicine just released a study suggesting that everyone’s favorite pie-accompanying beverage may actually prevent some of the damage caused by alcohol abuse.

Those who drank less than one cup per day were 30 per cent less likely to develop alcoholic cirrhosis, although this result was not statistically significant. But those who drank one to three cups were 40 per cent less likely - a significant result - and four or more cups per day cut the risk by 80 per cent. (link)

Being a man of eternal compromise, I believe I’ll start going a little heavier on the ol’ Irish Coffee. As long as it’s made with the good stuff, that is.