Coffee has traditionally been regarded as a villain when it comes to heart disease but new research may have turned conventional wisdom on its head.



Dietician Chiara Trombetti of the Humanitas Gavazzeni institute in the northern Italian town of Bergamo says that far from giving you palpitations, coffee helps improve the circulation within the heart.



It's the tannin and antioxidants that do it. And if that's not recommendation enough, she says it can also help prevent cirrhosis of the liver, stave off gallstones and relieve headaches. What's more, asthma attacks could be reduced by coffee's caffeine content.



With some clever marketing this kind of knowledge may be just the thing to revitalise the world’s ailing coffee industry.