Make mine an instant until I'm too young

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX

Looking for the elixir of youth? Drink coffee - and make it instant.

Research completed at the University of Sydney and reviewed by top New Zealand nutritionist Professor John Birkbeck has found that instant coffee contains antioxidants, chemicals which can improve health.

Antioxidants break down free radicals - unstable oxygen molecules that punch holes in cells, damaging DNA. A body damaged by free radicals is less able to combat ageing, cancer, hardening of the arteries and other serious illness.

Antioxidants are found in fruit and vegetables, tea, red wine and wood-aged white wine.

The Sydney study compared antioxidant levels of eight coffee samples, including decaffeinated.

Professor Birkbeck, of Massey University's Albany campus, said the high levels in instant coffee did not mean it would cure cancer, but it was "one of the many beverages that contain helpful antioxidants and would be beneficial to the diet."