With the amount of health information demanding that you don’t eat this and you don’t drink that to give you a better and healthier lifestyle, it is sometimes good to counterbalance the arguments with the many good reasons why you should continue to drink coffee, every single day of your life.
Most advice revolves around eating and drinking sensibly. Unless you’re a vegetarian, you might like to eat an occasional burger, but it wouldn’t be sensible to consume six a day, every single day of the week.
Now there’s scientific evidence showing that sensible coffee drinking might actually be healthier for you then you knew.
Video Overview
A great source of helpful antioxidants
Around 1000 antioxidants can be found in unprocessed coffee beans, with hundreds more appearing within the roasting process. In fact, the drink has a higher level of healthy antioxidants than green tea or cocoa. Many of today’s chronic conditions such as arthritis and some cancers can be fought with a good supply of antioxidants which fight inflammation. Neutralizing free radicals can reduce stress levels which bring on some chronic diseases. For the scientifically minded, antioxidants, at the micro level, protect your cells from damage.
Chlorogenic acid is thought to help prevent cardiovascular diseases and is a significant antioxidant found in coffee.
Giving yourself a short-term memory boost
Proven by Austrian researchers, a single dose of 100 mg of caffeine, the amount found in a single cup of coffee, provides a surge in brain activity. In contrast, people who tried to carry out the same work without the caffeine boost didn’t show an increase in brain activity. Caffeine affects the parts of the brain that deal with memory and concentration, particularly short-term memory.
Keeping a healthy heart
A Dutch study over 13 years following over 37,000 people found that people who drank between two and four cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of heart disease by 20%, compared to those who didn’t drink coffee. It is thought that coffee helps protect the heart against arterial damage caused by swelling.
Reducing your risk against developing Type 2 diabetes
Scientists have found that coffee drinkers lower their risk of developing diabetes by 7 per cent each time they drink a cup of coffee. The drink helps your body to use insulin properly and it also protects essential insulin producing cells which regulate your level of blood sugar. This also helps prevent any damage to tissues and reduces inflammation, which is a substantial risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Caffeic acid, found in coffee, is important in reducing a build up of toxins in protein deposits, a regular occurrence with people who have type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, decaffeinated coffee is as effective as the full caffeine variety.
Coffee is kind to your liver
Coffee is also kind to your liver. It reduces the risk of liver cancer and also is good at fighting cirrhosis, which is often linked with alcohol and liver damage. When the levels of enzymes are low in your liver, you reduce the risk of inflammation and damage to the organ. For coffee drinkers, elevated enzyme levels are reduced by around 20% when you drink your daily coffee.
If anyone ever says that drinking sensible amounts of coffee is bad for you, you now have 5 easy ways to show them how wrong they are.
Damien Higgins writes for Eden Springs, who supply Eden office coffee machines.
