Really good news if you like to wake up with a Cuppa Joe in the mornings and de-stress with a cocktail at night.

While a cup of morning coffee might cause jitters, a new study has found coffee does not cause heart-rhythm problems, says Arthur Klasky, a cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. (Click here for the complete report from Science News.)

This report is the second bit of good news for coffee drinkers in a week. Another study suggests coffee consumers have roughly one-third less stroke risk than those who don’t down any coffee at all. (Click here for that report.)

A glass of wine wards off weight!

Now for my favorite research headline of late – A daily cocktail can keep middle-aged women from gaining weight.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that women who drink alcoholic beverages in moderation gain less weight over time than women who don’t drink at all. This held true regardless of whether the women drank wine, beer or liquor.

The study examined the habits of 19,220 American women over age 38. All of the women began the study at a normal weight, but those who drank no alcoholic beverages gained from 7.6 pounds to 8.37 pounds over the 13-year research period. Women who drank moderately — about one to two glasses of wine a day — could expect to gain between 4.69 pounds and 6.59 pounds over the same time span. (Click here for the Science News story.)

Granted that’s only 2 to 3 pounds difference, but my middle-aged midsection will take whatever happy news it can get!

Alcohol makes big men behave badly?

Here’s a headline from the “Duh” department – the larger the man, the greater the chances of alcohol-related aggression, according to a study at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. (Click here.)

When they were drunk, bigger men (about 215 pounds) became especially aggressive when given the chance to give electric shocks to a fictitious opponent in a laboratory contest, while the same-size men who downed a nonalcoholic placebo drink kept their cool. These results were published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.