We reported on a recent study that suggests that drinking a huge amount of coffee can actually raise your risk of contracting Alzheimer’s disease — that may be enough to cause people to reconsider their coffee drinking habits, but many people aren’t aware of the wide range of huge health benefits coffee offers.

A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shows that people who drink excessive amounts of coffee have an increased risk of “mild cognitive impairment,” which is considered an early risk factor for Alzheimer’s or dementia — but again, that’s just for people who drink a lot of coffee every day.

But if you’re a light to moderate coffee drinker, cheer up: you’re getting some really great health benefits.

One of the most obvious benefits in a world where obesity is on the rise is that coffee is basically calorie-free. No joke: one cup of coffee has just 2 calories, unless you want to load it up with cream and sugar, of course. That’s certainly a lot better than the extreme amounts of sugar and calories in popular energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull these days. So that means you can get your energy boost without any of the crash or the calorie increase that can lead to an expanding waistline.

But it’s not just a low-cal energy booster. Coffee also boasts lots of long-term health benefits. Research has shown that it is the number one way Americans get antioxidants, which can fight off a range of diseases.

And then there’s type 2 diabetes, a growing problem in this country linked to obesity. UCLA research suggests that coffee prevents the development of type 2 diabetes — or at least can help do so — but increasing the plasma levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which plays a key role in the disease.

And did you know it can help stop Parkinson’s disease? A study from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center found that it reduces the risk by a significant margin.

Coffee is also great on your liver. It can reduce the risk of liver cancer, and help prevent liver disease. It can also reduce cirrhosis of the liver, which is found in alcoholics and is often fatal, by about 22 percent.

Research also suggests that coffee is good for your heart. If you drink a moderate amount of coffee ever day, you may reduce your risk of heart failure by 11 percent, research suggests.