Good news for the day: coffee is no longer a guilty pleasure. Before we get too far into it, we have to point out that we’re not talking about foo-foo drinks masquerading as coffee. You know, frappucinos, those bottled “mocha” drinks, and the like. We’re talking about ground and brewed and doctored with a just a minimum of cream and/or sugar if you need them. Turns out, when it’s served in that form, coffee is almost a miracle drink.
Skip the foo-foo drinks and go for the real thing if you want to reap the health benefits of coffee.
Image by hirotomo t/Flickr
Research tends to ping-pong between showing something is healthy for you one year, and then recanting that to say that it’s deadly the next. The thing about coffee research is that it’s trending toward getting better and better. More benefits of the brewed beverage are being discovered all the time. That’s good news for the coffee-drinking public, considering that 400 million cups of coffee are consumed each day in the U.S., according to the Huffington Post. If you’ve been trying to quit coffee, under the misguided impression that it’s bad for you, you may want to reconsider.
Antioxidant Heaven
Drink up! No other dietary source comes close to the antioxidant content of coffee, giving your cells extra protection against free radicals. Image by ImmunoViva/YouTube
If you’re trying to get more antioxidants in your system, you can’t do better than downing a cuppa java. Medical News Today reveals that coffee is the top source of antioxidants, hands down. MNT even quotes Dr. Joe Vinson of the University of Scranton in saying that no other dietary source of antioxidants even comes close to coffee. BAM!
Live Long and Prosper
When you stumble into the kitchen and pour that first cup, your only thought is to get through the morning. However, drinking at least two and up to four cups of joe each day can add some years to your life and improve your health. According to Harvard Health, research has shown that consuming at least two 8 ounce cups of coffee per day resulted in 15 percent fewer deaths in women from all major causes including heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease and more. The study also showed a 10 percent death reduction in men from all causes. Plus, more is better, within reason. Research published in the British Medical Journal found that three to four daily cups of coffee offers the maximum health benefits in general.
Improve Endurance and Performance
Cyclists increased speed and endurance by drinking caffeinated coffee before riding.
It’s healthy and can lengthen your years, so you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that coffee can lend a hand with your workout. A study published on the PLos One site showed that cyclists who drank caffeinated coffee before a ride improved their endurance and were faster by about 5 percent. Caffeine does seem to be the key element in this study, as some of the participants drank caffeinated beverages other than coffee and got the same, impressive results. But that’s still good news for coffee-aholics.
The Disease Eliminator
One drink keeps numerous health issues in check.
No one is claiming that coffee is chock-full of nutrients. It isn’t the best source of vitamins and minerals though it does contain minimal amounts of magnesium and potassium. It’s actually a combination of the over 1,000 different substances it does contain — including but not limited to caffeine — that makes it useful to your health. Harvard Health lists disease-by-disease the numerous health conditions that are affected positively by coffee to include
- Alzheimer’s
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Liver disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Stroke
Drinking coffee can even lower your risk of some types of cancer including prostate and breast cancer. Additionally, a 2013 study showed that coffee drinkers who indulged in four cups a day had a 20 percent lower risk of developing UV-induced tumors, a.k.a. skin cancer.
Unleaded or Regular?
Removing the caffeine still leaves the majority of health benefits intact. Image by Amy/Flickr
Different people have different tolerance levels for caffeine. That’s why some can drink coffee right before bed and enjoy a full night of restful sleep and others can’t drink it after 11 a.m. without risking a restless night. Regardless of the rumors, water processed decaf coffee is a healthy alternative to caffeinated coffee. It’s true that even decaf contains a tiny bit of caffeine, but it truly is so miniscule that it won’t affect you. You won’t get the benefits from coffee that the caffeine specifically delivers, but the rest of the healthy elements are still there.
Drink Up!
Serve some java over regular ice or flavored cubes for a refreshing chilled drink.
There’s more than one way to serve a cup of coffee and, if the goal is to drink more of it to reap the health benefits and improve your workouts, you might want alternatives to a basic hot cup of go juice to add variety to your life. Iced coffees are a delicious way to down the drink for an afternoon pick-me-up or before exercise. Try mixing vanilla flavored protein powder with 8 ounces of coffee, a splash of skim milk and some ice cubes in a blender for a tasty coffee protein shake. Alternatively, try freezing up a tray or two of flavored ice cubes to pour chilled coffee over. Mix a teaspoon of cinnamon with 1 1/2 cups of almond milk, pour into an ice cube tray and freeze. Or, mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder with a 15-ounce can of coconut milk and a teaspoon of powdered sugar to make frozen chocolatey coconut cubes that will give your iced coffee a delicious candy bar flavor.