Coffee usually gets a poor rap because of issues like caffeine content and the fact that it stains teeth. However, truth be told, its health benefits outweigh all that bad rap. What most people overlook is the fact that your cup of bliss offers a lot more than caffeine.
Naturally, coffee is a whole food with many beneficial antioxidants and constituents. The important thing is knowing the right place where you can find high-quality coffee. In addition, you need to know the best way to preserve coffee, so that it won’t lose its benefits.
Coffee tends to lose its quality when you add in artificial substances. That said, let’s have a look at some of the health benefits coffee has to offer.
Many of us tend to overlook coffee preparation as tiring and tedious. If you’ve heard about french press or pour-over, then yes they are. But there are now one-cup coffee machines that make life easy. With just a press of a button, you get your cup of coffee ready, no fuzz. One popular brand that is involved in single-serve capsule machines is Nespresso. In these machines, you just have to insert a coffee pod and press a button, no measuring and nothing else, and your cup is ready.
Even if you don’t like the pod machines, maybe for some subtle reason, you might opt for a coffee maker with grinder as it grinds instantly the beans, and brews a regular cup of coffee within minutes. Our world is now filled with many automation and we just have to set them into our lives to make things easy.
Anyways, that was just a quick glance of brewing, now let’s head to the benefits!
Top 25 Health Benefits of Coffee Drinking
1. Coffee can Prolong Your Life
This has a lot of sense in it, especially if you think about the different disorders, diseases, or ailments that this brew can protect you against.
A study by Harvard University found that taking at least two cups of coffee daily leads to a 15 percent reduction in death rate for women and about a 10 percent reduction in death rate for men compared to non-drinkers.
2. Coffee is a Great Source of Essential Nutrients
Coffee is just more than a flavored drink. It’s also a great way to consume caffeine. While the beans might not offer magical bliss, they have many important vitamins and minerals that your body can use to stay in good health. In fact, one cup of coffee has Niacin, Riboflavin, Folate, Manganese, Magnesium, and potassium.
3. Drinking Coffee can Relieve Headaches
Do you suffer from stress-related headaches? Consider a cup of coffee to help you relieve your headache. Coffee has caffeine, which is also a key ingredient in headache medication like Midol, Anacin, and Excedrin. Caffeine not only enables the body to absorb these medications but it can actually be used to treat headaches.
4. Coffee has Antioxidants
Some people automatically think of berries and fruits when someone mentions antioxidants. Coffee has an abundant supply of antioxidants like polyphenols and hydrocinnamic acids. These elements help the body delay or prevent damage to cells. Therefore, including antioxidants in your diet is beneficial to your health. These substances occur naturally and prevent damage caused by free radicals.
5. Drinking Coffee Raises Good Cholesterol
Doctors often say that any amount of cholesterol in your body is not good. However, what you need to know is that there are two different types: low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Of the two, low-density lipoprotein is the one doctors warn you against. Since coffee has a high antioxidant amount, a cup a day will raise the level of GPx3, an enzyme that increases the quantity of HDL in the body.
6. Coffee Supports DNA Repair
Your DNA requires a substance called Chlorogenic acid to self-repair. Although this substance is found in abundance in vegetables and fruits, coffee has a relatively high concentration too. Damage to DNA leads to aging or even cancer. Therefore, it is important for the body to repair its DNA. A study has suggested that increased availability of Chlorogenic acid prevents cancer and promotes long life.
7. Drinking Coffee can Reduce Inflammation
Most chronic illnesses such as autoimmune disorders and heart disease are because of inflammation. Fortunately, taking coffee is the best way to minimize such effects. Based on a study published in the American Journal of clinical nutrition, taking several cups of coffee each day reduces inflammation by up to 16 percent. This could be because coffee is full of antioxidants that help to reduce inflammation.
8. Coffee can be Good for the Teeth
Sometimes people associate stained teeth with coffee drinking. While that may be true, coffee can also be beneficial to your teeth. Coffee can help prevent tooth decay and the accumulation of plaque. The reason is that coffee with a high caffeine content has antibacterial elements that kill bacteria responsible for tooth decay and dental plaque. However, these beneficial effects are countered by sugar and milk, two things that bacteria love very much.
9. Drinking Coffee Helps You Stay Hydrated
Coffee is known to be a diuretic, so most users think it causes dehydration. In fact, the reverse is true. Many studies have shown that coffee has the same level of effectiveness as ordinary water as far as hydration is concerned. This makes a lot of sense since coffee is mainly water anyway. Many athletes add this to their diet for this added advantage.
Also Read: Why Drink Coffee Before Workout
10. Coffee can Lead to Longer Life for Women with Diabetes
A study done in 2017 showed that women with diabetes who took 100 mg of caffeine each day stood a 51 percent chance of not dying early unlike those who took no caffeine at all. This number increased with additional caffeine intake. Taking 2 cups led to a 66 percent chance of not dying.
11. Drinking Coffee Reduces the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Several studies have revealed that there’s an inverse association between the risk of getting type 2 diabetes and the amount of coffee consumed. Based on research done in 2014, increasing your consumption of coffee reduces your chances of getting type 2 diabetes. Thus, drinking one more cup every day is beneficial.
12. Coffee can Prevent Tinnitus
If tinnitus hasn’t hit you yet, count your luck because it’s very annoying and usually affects one in five people. Luckily, a recent study has shown that higher caffeine intake is linked to a reduced risk of developing tinnitus, particularly in women. This study examined women aged between 30 and 44 for almost 20 years, and it found that there is a substantial inverse relation between caffeine intake and tinnitus.
13. Coffee can Protect against “Superbugs”
You constantly hear about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also referred to as superbugs, which are incredibly tough to treat. A common one is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus, which is a bug that is responsible for infections in different parts of your body.
A possible solution is to drink coffee. A study has shown that a daily intake of coffee is linked to a lower chance of MRSA presence in your nasal carriage.
14. Coffee helps Reduce Pain Associated with Computer Work
If you fall under the category of desk jockeys, chances are you often suffer shoulder and neck pains due to sitting for long hours before your computer. In that case, try keeping a cup of coffee handy as it can help lower the intensity of your pain, particularly around the wrist and forearms.
15. Long-term Coffee Drinking can Reduce the Possibility of Gout
Gout can be likened to a complicated type of arthritis because it causes a lot of inflammation and pain around the joints due to a buildup of uric acid. In a study involving female subjects, the researchers realized there is an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and the chances of getting gout. The benefits increase with more consumption.
16. Coffee Helps You Stay Alert and Focused
Coffee not only keeps you awake but also causes you to stay focused so that you can accomplish important tasks, thanks to caffeine’s stimulating potential. A recent psychopharmacology study showed that 80 mg worth of caffeine is adequate to keep a worn-out driver alert. The study found out that a caffeinated driver has a reduced lateral position deviation, which is the measure of the tendency to weave.
17. Coffee Improves Cognitive Functions
Although it’s not really clear whether coffee makes a person smarter, some research studies have suggested that caffeine has the potential to improve your cognitive function. Caffeine blocks neurotransmitters benzodiazepine and adenosine responsible for slow brain activity.
However, you can easily block these elements with a simple cup of coffee each day. While it’s also not clear whether tolerance reduces such benefits, most studies have found that daily drinkers show increased cognitive activity.
18. Coffee can Reduce the Risk of Dementia
You have seen the benefits coffee has on your alertness and focus, but coffee can also help you preserve your mental facilities as you age.
A research study published by the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease assessed many long-term findings on the effects caffeine has on slowing the development of dementia. Coffee’s protective effects result from its ability to stimulate your central nervous system.
19. Coffee Reduces the Risk of Depression
Increased caffeine intake has a direct correlation with a reduced risk of developing depression based on a study done in 2016. Since depression affects more than 15-percent of adults in high-income countries, this is actually excellent news for people enjoying a coffee cup daily.
20. Coffee Improves Mood
Just like in cognitive performance research studies, some studies have shown that your mood can improve if you consume caffeine. In fact, taking a cup of coffee will result in a positive change in your behavior. Many have argued that this is because your body experiences withdrawal when you get off coffee. However, results from a number of studies have shown that people actually experience an improvement in disposition.
21. Coffee can Lower the Risk of Colorectal Cancer
You may have to take a little more than your current intake. Based on a study on caffeine intake, those who take between 4 and 5 cups daily are least likely to suffer colorectal cancer. This is so because coffee has a rich supply of antioxidants. These destroy the free radicals linked to the development of cancer in your body.
22. Coffee Increases Endurance During Exercise
When exercising, the body uses starch, inform of glycogen, to fuel the muscles. After a long workout, your body will be worn out since the activity exhausted your energy reserves. However, if you take caffeine regularly, it will slow down the rate at which your body uses glycogen. This means you won’t tire that fast, especially if you are doing endurance activities.
23. Coffee Helps You Burn Fat
Since coffee has stimulating characteristics, it can raise your body’s metabolic rate. That means, your body will be using more energy. Because the body has fat stores, it will tap every single one to meet increasing energy needs. When your nervous system is stimulated, the body will begin burning fat, which converts it to energy.
This is important when you are exercising because your body will be able to meet its energy needs.
24. Coffee Leads to Better Blood Circulation
A study has shown that coffee can improve your body’s blood circulation. The improved efficiency, according to this research, is due to the enhanced function of blood vessels. Thus, a regular cup of coffee will help improve your cardiac health.
Many cyclists and athletes understand this wonder of coffee and that’s why many athletes consume caffeine on a balanced basis.
25. Coffee Reduces the Risk of Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED) attributes to a decrease in the quantity of blood flowing to the penile region. Nonetheless, daily coffee intake causes more blood to reach this area, and that offsets erectile dysfunction. It was concluded that 2 to 3 cups a day significantly lowers the risk of ED. This is mostly in men who are overweight.
Above these 25 benefits, coffee is also associated with healthy skin – Learn more about How coffee benefits the Skin.
Wrap Up
More research is underway to find out the health benefits coffee brings to your body. Even the used coffee grounds can be reused in many ways. However, it’s already evident that coffee has a lot to offer. That does not mean you need to have more coffee in order to achieve a certain result. Simply enjoy your daily cup knowing fully well that it’s doing your body a lot of good.
