We have different reasons why we drink coffee, whether it’s for morning pick me up, energy booster, or health benefits, we drink coffee because we simply love it!
In recent years, scientists have studied the effects of coffee on various aspects of health and until now many studies have proven good effects of coffee drinking.
Here are ten interesting Oohing Facts about coffee.
1. Coffee is Loaded With Nutrients and Antioxidants
It’s no secret from us coffee lovers, that coffee is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants, that’s why we love drinking it. In fact, coffee is the biggest source of antioxidants in the western diet, outranking both fruits and vegetables.
Many of the nutrients in the coffee beans do make it into the final drink, which actually contains a decent amount of vitamins and minerals.
A cup of coffee contains:
6% of the RDA for Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5).
11% of the RDA for Riboflavin (Vitamin B2).
2% of the RDA for Niacin (B3) and Thiamine (B1).
3% of the RDA for Potassium and Manganese.
2. Coffee May Drastically Lower The Risk of Type II Diabetes
Nowadays diabetic is one of the chronic diseases in the society. There are over 300 million people suffering from diabetes.
Diabetes is characterized by high blood glucose levels due to insulin resistance or an inability to produce insulin.
A case study conducted by 18 students with a total of 457.922 participants have shown that coffee has associated with a lower risk of diabetes. The study has resulted from 23% all the way up to 67% of risk reduction for type II diabetes.
3. Coffee Can Make You Smarter
There are a lot of articles and studies published about how coffee can enhance our memory.
The active ingredient in coffee is caffeine, which is a stimulant and the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world.
Caffeine’s primary mechanism in the brain is blocking the effects of an inhibitory neurotransmitter called Adenosine.
By blocking the inhibitory effects of Adenosine, caffeine actually increases neuronal firing in the brain and the release of other neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine.
Many controlled trials have examined the effects of caffeine on the brain, demonstrating that caffeine can improve mood, reaction time, memory, vigilance and general cognitive function.
4. Coffee Is Good For Your Liver
Many studies have shown remarkable effects of coffee to our body, Like drinking coffee helps in the reduction of liver cancer and Cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis is the end stage of liver damage caused by diseases like alcoholism and hepatitis, where liver tissue has been largely replaced by scar tissue.
Multiple studies have shown that coffee can lower the risk of cirrhosis by as much as 80%, the strongest effect for those who drank 4 or more cups per day.
Coffee may also lower the risk of liver cancer by around 40%.
5. Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world and a leading cause of dementia.
In prospective studies, coffee drinkers have up to a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by death of dopamine-generating neurons in the brain. Coffee may lower the risk of Parkinson’s by 32-60%.
6. Coffee Can Help You Burn Fat and Improves Physical Performance
This is not new to us coffee drinkers that coffee help burns fat and improves our physical performances. In fact, coffee can help relieves muscles pain during after exercises.
There’s a good reason why you will find caffeine in most commercial fat burning supplements.
Caffeine, partly due to its stimulant effect on the central nervous system, both raises metabolism and increases the oxidation of fatty acids.
Caffeine can also improve athletic performance by several mechanisms, including by mobilizing fatty acids from the fat tissues.
In two separate meta-analyses, caffeine was found to increase exercise performance by 11-12% on average.
7. Coffee May Decrease Your Risk of Premature Death
Many people still seem to think that coffee is unhealthy.
This isn’t surprising, though since it is very common for conventional wisdom to be at exact odds with what the actual studies say.
In two very large prospective epidemiological studies, drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of death from all causes.
This effect is particularly profound in type II diabetics, one study showing that coffee drinkers had a 30% lower risk of death during a 20 year period.
8. Coffee Can Fight Depression and Make You Happier
In a Harvard study published in 2011, women who drank 4 or more cups per day had a 20% lower risk of becoming depressed.
Another study with 208,424 individuals found that those who drank 4 or more cups per day were 53% less likely to commit suicide.
9. Coffee Drinkers Have a Lower Risk of Some Types of Cancer
Cancer is one of the world’s leading causes of death and is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells in the body.
Coffee appears to be protective against two types of cancer liver cancer and colorectal cancer.
Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, while colorectal cancer ranks fourth.
Studies show that coffee drinkers have up to a 40% lower risk of liver cancer.
One study of 489,706 individuals found that those who drank 4-5 cups of coffee per day had a 15% lower risk of colorectal cancer.
10. Coffee Does Not Cause Heart Disease and May Lower The Risk of Stroke
It is often claimed that caffeine can increase blood pressure.
This is true, but the effect is small (3-4 mm/Hg) and usually goes away if you drink coffee regularly.
However, the effect may persist in some people, so keep that in mind if you have elevated blood pressure.
That being said, the studies do NOT support the myth that coffee raises the risk of heart disease.
In fact, there is some evidence that women who drink coffee have a reduced risk of heart disease.
Some studies also show that coffee drinkers have a 20% lower risk of stroke.
FIRST PUBLISHED AT authoritynutrition.com
