Last week, a California judge deemed that coffee is ultimately bad for you. Evidently, during the bean roasting process a chemical, acrylamide, is released. Acrylamide is a carcinogen that’s formed when certain starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures, typically above 250F. Going forward, the California judge stated coffee sellers in the state should post-cancer warnings where consumers could see clearly.

Despite your preference, I’m here to say that coffee is great and I won’t take any slander. Personally, I’m a green tea kinda gal, but there’s something about a great cup of coffee in the morning before a busy day or during an intense studying session that makes it all the better.

Now, I'm not saying to disregard the fact that this contains a key ingredient that kills about 7.6 million people a year but, too much of anything could potentially kill you. It's all about moderation. Acrylamide could be found in a few other things ranging on the spectrum of baked cookies to asparagus. Especially french fries, which feels like a personal attack on me. Aside from consumption, you can also be exposed to acrylamide if you smoke cigarettes, one of the major causes of exposure. There's even a chance that your workplace may be at risk to exposure, especially if you work in certain industries that involve cosmetics, construction, or processing food.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC for short, they classify acrylamide as a "probable human carcinogen" based on data from a research study involving rodents that were given a dosage of acrylamide in their drinking water. The dosage given during this research were 1,000-10,000 times higher than the levels people might be exposed to food sources.

The results concluded deemed that although the effects in rodents may not be same in humans, it's better to be safe than sorry. If exposure to these rodents increased the risk of several types of cancer, it's best humans should not be exposed to them too. Now despite this study, the IARC still states that the evidence for humans is still inadequate.

So what does this mean? Everything is still up in the air. There isn't any conclusive data that directly shows that this positively causes cancers in humans. All evidence has been based on research with rodents and although it was evident within them, doesn't necessarily mean it will be present in us. Of course, the American Cancer Society still expresses that if you're worried about your exposure to acrylamide, you may take several precautions.

You could opt out of the spectrum of foods that may could acrylamide, quit purchasing and eat processed foods (to be honest, we should all be aiming for this lifestyle anyway), and having brewed coffee instead of roasted.

I'm a firm believer that anything could potentially kill you; If you drink too much water, sleeping too much, etc. you'd be surprised at the endless possibilities of what could happen if you have too much. Coffee, I love you so dearly and I, for one, do not think you are a murder.