Purveyors of fresh coffee may be right when they tout the benefits of a just-brewed cup of java. Turns out, according to ongoing studies by a UC Davis researcher, that chemicals present in the aroma of coffee during the first 10 minutes after brewing and pouring may contain healthful antioxidants. "If you leave the coffee sitting for too long, the chemicals will be lost," says Takayuki Shibamoto, a professor of environmental toxicology who conducted the research. This is the first time that researchers have been able to show the antioxidative effect of the smell of coffee, he says. In the past, Shibamoto's research has revealed that brewed coffee shares the antioxidative properties found in vitamins C and E. Antioxidants, which inhibit the undesirable chemical process of oxidation, have become more widely known by the general public in recent years for their disease prevention and anti-aging properties. It is the heating process itself that produces the antioxidative compounds found in the aroma and in the coffee. Lest non-coffee drinkers think they can simply smell the aroma of their co-workers' fresh coffee and increase their antioxidant intake -- not so. The coffee must be both smelled and consumed to achieve the benefits, Shibamoto says. He presented his findings recently during the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.