Coffee is
one of the most versatile and popular drinks, coffee can be enjoyed hot or
cold, morning or night. Not only that, lot of recent research suggests that
coffee offers a host of potential health benefits.
Coffee beans
are actually roasted seeds from fruit (coffee cherries🍒) that grow on coffee trees.
Sipping on a
hot (or cold) coffee beverage gives you a dose of the plant’s polyphenols,
which are antioxidants. According to a research , coffee
polyphenols have a handful of health promoting properties that can help protect
against:
* inflammation
* cancer
*diabetes
If you aren’t bulking up your coffee
with sugar and cream, coffee is also a naturally a low calorie beverage, containing
around 2 calories per 8-ounce cup.
Health Benefits of Coffee
1. 1. Energy Boost
Coffee
contains a stimulant called caffeine.
When you drink a cup of caffeinated coffee, your central nervous system perks
up, which controls the majority of your body and mind functions. One study
showed that caffeine intake can increase alertness, reaction time, and
vigilance.
2. Promote Heart Health
According to a study published in 2021 in the American Heart
Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure, drinking one or more daily
cups of plain, caffeinated coffee was associated with a significant reduction
in a person's long-term risk of heart failure.
The study looked at the original data from the well-known heart disease
studies: the Framingham Heart Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities
Study and the Cardiovascular Health Study.
The 2017 meta-analysis
found that caffeine consumption may
have at least a small benefit for cardiovascular health, including blood
pressure.
In a 2018 study, researchers found that drinking three to five cups of
coffee per day may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 15%. Drinking
one to five cups daily also seemed to be associated with lower overall
mortality resulting from any cause.
In 2013, the journal Epidemiology and Prevention published a
review of studies analyzing the correlation between coffee consumption and
cardiovascular disease. Data from 36 different studies showed that people who
drink three to five cups of coffee per day had a lower risk of heart disease
than those who drink no coffee or more than five cups per day.
While the reason isn't clear, one possibility is that coffee helps to
improve blood vessels' control over blood flow and blood pressure.
3. Protect against Type 2 diabetes
A 2014 study by Harvard researchers published in the journal
Diabetologica tracked nearly 124,000 people for 16 to 20 years.
Those who increased their coffee intake by more than a cup a day over a
four-year period had an 11% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes; those who
decreased their intake by one cup per day had a 17% higher risk of developing
the disease.
The reason may be the antioxidants in coffee, which reduce inflammation
(inflammation contributes to your Type 2 diabetes risk).
If you already have Type 2 diabetes, however, you should avoid
caffeinated products, including coffee. Caffeine has been shown to raise both
blood sugar and insulin levels in people with the disease.
4. Lower Cancer Risks
Thanks to a study
that spanned over 30 years, researchers found that non-smokers who drank 2 cups
of coffee per day had a decreased risk of colorectal, liver, and female breast
cancers. Drink 2 to 3 cups of coffee, and your risk for head and neck cancer
start to drop as well.
5. Lower risk of Parkinson’s
A
number of studies have suggested that consuming caffeine can reduce your risk
of developing Parkinson's disease — and research published in 2012 in the
journal of the American Academy of Neurology showed that a daily dose of
caffeine equivalent to that found in two eight-ounce cups of black coffee can
help to control the involuntary movements of people who already have the
disease A meta-analysis
found that a max of 3 cups of coffee per day helped reduce the risk of
Parkinson’s disease by 28 percent.
6. Gives you antioxidants
Coffee is one of the most antioxidant-rich beverages you can drink. A 2013 research compared
antioxidant levels of coffee, tea, and red wine. The antioxidant levels for
each are:
*Coffee: 200 to 550 milligrams
per cup
*Tea: 150 to 400 milligrams per
cup
*Red wine: 150 to 400
milligrams per cup
Chlorogenic acid (the polyphenol we’ve talked about a few times) is one
of the main antioxidants in coffee, which can range from 10 to 325 milligrams
per each cup of coffee.
Another antioxidant called ferulic
acid is also found in coffee. It’s anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic,
anti-bacterial, and anti-viral.
7. Helps burn fat
If you’re trying to lose weight, add coffee to your go-to beverage
choices. A research discusses
how coffee increases:
*Metabolic rate: how fast your
metabolism is
*Energy expenditure: the number
of calories you need to carry out daily physical functions
*Lipid oxidation: fat breakdown
Non-exercise activity
thermogenesis: the calories burned by movements you make when you’re just going
about your daily business
All of these components are beneficial for maintaining or losing weight.
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