Your daily cup of coffee may be doing more for you than providing that early-morning pick-me-up. The health impact of coffee has long been a controversial topic, with advocates touting its antioxidant activity and brain-boosting ability, and detractors detailing downsides such as insomnia, indigestion and an increased heart rate and blood pressure. But the latest wave of scientific evidence brings a wealth of good news for coffee lovers. Here are number of reasons drinking coffee may be healthier for you than you thought.
Brain Gains
Moderate coffee drinking—between 1 and 5 cups daily—may help reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s disease, studies suggest. How? Coffee’s antioxidants may prevent some damage to brain cells and boost the effects of neurotransmitters involved in cognitive function, say experts. Preliminary studies have noted that as coffee (or tea) intake rises, incidence of glioma, a form of brain cancer, tends to drop. Some researchers speculate that compounds in the brews could activate a DNA-repairing protein in cells—possibly preventing the DNA damage that can lead to cells becoming cancerous.
Defeating Diabetes
Studies link frequent coffee consumption (4 cups per day or more) with a lowered risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Scientists suspect that antioxidant compounds in coffee—cholorogenic acid and quinides—may boost cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar. While most of the research didn’t assess whether the brews were caffeinated, decaf may be even better, since other studies have found that caffeine tends to blunt the insulin-sensitivity boost.
Hearty Benefits
Some studies show that moderate coffee drinkers (1 to 3 cups/day) have lower rates of stroke than non-coffee-drinkers; coffee’s antioxidants may help quell inflammation’s damaging effects on arteries. Some researchers speculate that the compounds might boost activation of nitric oxide, a substance that widens blood vessels (lowering blood pressure). More java isn’t better: a 5-cup or more daily habit is associated with higher heart disease risks. Researchers believe excessive caffeine may sabotage the antioxidants’ effects.
Liver Lover
Though the research is limited at best, it appears that the more coffee people drink, the lower their incidence of cirrhosis and other liver diseases. One analysis of nine studies found that every 2-cup increase in daily coffee intake was associated with a 43 percent lower risk of liver cancer. Possible explanation: caffeine and antioxidant chlorogenic and caffeic acids in coffee might prevent liver inflammation and inhibit cancer cells.
Coffee Lowers Risk of a Variety of Cancers
Coffee drinking has been associated with a lower risk of lung, prostate, breast, endometrial, pancreatic, stomach, and colon cancer. In some studies the association is robust, while others have shown no benefit from coffee, which could be due to many reasons. But, it seems clear that coffee can be protective and does not increase cancer risk.
It is the antioxidants caffeic and chlorogenic acid that coffee provides that are protective against cancer and other disease. An example of how the antioxidants lower cancer risk is with endometrial cancer, which is a cancer of the lining of the uterus.
A study of over 67,000 women demonstrated that women who drank 4 or more cups of coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk than those who did not drink coffee regularly.
Researchers think the high antioxidant activity in coffee lowered oxidative stress, and that coffee also upregulates the expression of enzymes in the liver that help metabolize estrogen down the healthiest 2-hydroxyestrone pathway. This is a much preferred pathway for detoxifying estrogen from the body and it plays a role in preventing estrogen-related cancers such as breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer in men.
Coffee Lowers Risk of Heart Disease & Heart Attack
Coffee intake is highly protective for the cardiovascular system and has been repeatedly found to decrease risk of heart disease and death from a heart attack. In one 15-year study of 41,000 women, drinking up to 3 cups of coffee a day was linked to lower risk of heart failure. Similar results have been shown for men.
Coffee Improves Vascular Health & Does NOT Raise Blood Pressure
The caffeine in coffee has actually been shown to improve the health of the blood vessels because it increases nitric oxide production in the endothelium (the thin layer of cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels), which improves vascular muscle tone. Coffee also supports healthy arterial pressure, lowering blood pressure over the long-term.
It is true that drinking caffeinated coffee can increase short-term acute blood pressure, but blood pressure will return to normal once the caffeine is metabolized. One study found that 8 weeks of habitual coffee drinking lowered blood pressure readings significantly.
Coffee Improves Cholesterol Health
The antioxidants in coffee can improve total cholesterol, raise “good” HDL cholesterol, and lower inflammation related to heart disease. In one study, regular coffee drinkers were asked to increase their coffee intake to 4 and then a whopping 8 cups a day. This dosing improved the ratio between “bad” LDL and HDL cholesterol by 8 percent.
Coffee Decreases Metabolic Syndrome Risk
Metabolic syndrome is the combination of obesity, a large waist circumference, and insulin resistance, all of which increase heart disease and diabetes risk. Coffee drinking can improve fat burning, potentially influencing body composition, and it has been has been closely linked to lower diabetes risk.
For example, one study of a Japanese population showed coffee consumption was inversely correlated with risk of metabolic syndrome because greater intake was associated with lower triglyceride levels and better glucose tolerance.
Coffee Improves Body Composition & Elevates Fat Burning
There is compelling evidence that coffee increases your metabolic rate so that you burn more calories, and it can help shift the body to burn fat rather than glucose for energy.
In addition, coffee modulates blood sugar and can improve insulin sensitivity. Caffeine taken alone, however, has been shown to decrease insulin sensitivity, which is only relevant to this discussion if you have problems with insulin, are popping caffeine pills, and eating high-carb foods.
The fat loss effect of coffee drinking hasn’t been studied extensively, but one study showed drinking 500 ml of coffee daily for 4 weeks produced 2.5 kg weight loss in overweight subjects. Perhaps more effective, green coffee extract, which comes from the bean before roasting and can be added to any beverage, has been shown to produce significant fat loss.
One study found that a high-dose of green coffee extract (1050 mg) taken for 6 weeks resulted in an average 8 kg loss in body weight and a 4.4 percent drop in body fat—very impressive! A low green coffee dose produced no changes in body composition.
Caffeine Increases Power & Strength Performance
Sports scientists like to test the effect of caffeine supplements on athletic performance because isolating a part of the plant allows them to avoid confounding variables, such as the antioxidants.
That said, you can improve power and strength performance by getting the right dose of pre-workout caffeine from a supplement since using coffee as your sole source of caffeine would require 6 to 9 cups for a 90 kg lifter, depending on sensitivity to the caffeine.
One study found that a dose of 3 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine is necessary to improve power output in the squat and bench press. Another study showed that taking caffeine before early morning workouts can elevate performance in the morning when it is naturally diminished compared to later in the day.
Caffeine is thought to act directly on the muscles to produce greater power and strength, rather than acting directly on the nervous system.
Caffeine Speeds Recovery and Reduces Muscle Soreness
Caffeine can speed recovery and reduce post-workout muscle soreness by up to 48 percent. It can also improve performance during a second high-intensity workout performed in one day.
One study showed that giving athletes 8 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine after performing a glycogen-depleting exercise trial to exhaustion allowed for better performance on a second sprint interval test also done to exhaustion 4 hours later.
The group that took the caffeine went for 48 minutes compared to only 19 minutes by the placebo group and 32 minutes in a group that only drank carbs. Researchers suggest the caffeine may improve muscle glycogen resynthesize post-workout, while mobilizing fatty acids to be burned for fuel during exercise.
Caffeine Increases Motivation & Reaction Time
Taking 4 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine improved reaction time on soccer skill tests in athletes when sleep deprived. A similar dose increased motivation and led athletes to voluntarily do more reps using 85 percent of a 1RM load when sleep deprived, resulting in a greater volume compared to a placebo group.
So, these are some of the interesting facts and benefits of Coffee which can also serve as one of the most influential reason to build up a good friendship with a cup of Coffee… So, let’s have a cup of Coffee!