Antioxidants in Coffee - The Unexpected Health Benefits
Believe it or not, the delicious taste of coffee is not its only redeeming quality. Coffee beans provide several health benefits that everybody can experience from their daily cups of coffee.
Most of us are aware of the cognitive boosting effects of coffee. Due to its caffeine content, coffee can increase mental alertness and clarity, as well as enhance your focus and concentration. But the health benefits don’t just stop there.
Coffee contains hundreds of biologically active compounds known to be beneficial to humans. The consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and multiple types of cancer, including cancers of the skin, liver, prostate, endometrium, and colon.
You may be wondering how a cup of coffee can lower your risk of heart disease and cancer. Understandably, these claims sound almost unbelievable.
In this article, we will explain why coffee has a range of health benefits and why the coffee drinkers out there have a lower risk of disease than those who don’t consume coffee.
What Are the Health Benefits of Coffee?
We’ve already mentioned that coffee can lower your risk of heart disease and multiple different cancers. Studies show that there is an inverse association between drinking 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day and all-cause mortality.
The term all-cause mortality refers to deaths caused by any disease. In particular, coffee consumption seems to be most effective in reducing cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory diseases, and liver diseases.
Coffee consumption has also shown improvement in symptoms for those with type two diabetes, metabolic syndrome (obesity and diabetes), and asthma.
What Gives Coffee its Health Benefits?
If coffee has all these amazing health benefits, what exactly is it in coffee beans that are so beneficial to humans? Research indicates that it’s the antioxidant content of coffee beans that makes them so beneficial to consume.
Antioxidants are molecules that can reduce oxidative damage in your cells by neutralizing oxygen-free radicals. Normally, oxygen-free radicals can interact with your DNA and cause damage and mutations to occur.
Over time, a buildup of mutations can increase your disease and cancer risk. Antioxidants can get rid of these free radicals to protect your cells and DNA.
Additional research suggests that coffee’s benefits may also be mediated by the activation of certain pathways in the cells. As a result, these activated pathways can improve insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, and improve cell growth and development.
By activating one or more of these pathways, coffee can reduce the risk of various diseases. For example, insulin sensitivity is low in those with type two diabetes. By activating pathways that improve insulin sensitivity, the diabetic person is able to regulate their book with coast levels more easily. As a result, their symptoms may reduce in severity.
What Affects the Antioxidant Content of Coffee?
Some of the common antioxidants found in coffee are chlorogenic, caffeic, ferulic, and n-coumarinic acids. The exact amount of these antioxidants depends on the type of coffee bean, the way the coffee beans were grown, and the way that they are roasted.
The most influential factor appears to be the way that the coffee beans are roasted when it comes to the antioxidant content of the resulting coffee. Some studies show that medium to dark roast coffee is the highest in antioxidants.
Of course, another thing that significantly affects the number of antioxidants that you are getting from coffee is the serving size. Somebody who drinks 4-5 large cups of coffee a day will consume many more antioxidants than somebody who has one or two smaller cups.
Before you decide to double your coffee intake, it’s important to remember that the more coffee you consume, the higher your caffeine intake! While drinking 4-5 cups of coffee will boost your antioxidant intake, it may be too much caffeine for some people to metabolize.
That being said, most regular coffee drinkers will only experience positive effects from the caffeine field beverages. You can increase your antioxidant consumption by drinking more delicious coffee, but you also feel alert, focused, and full of energy.
See the range we have here at Fatemi Coffee for delicious coffee products.