Over 200 million Americans kick start their morning with a hot cup of coffee. Coffee has become one of America’s most popular drinks. Every cup is full of caffeine that can make any morning a little bit easier to kick into gear. Even though it’s often grabbed for the energy boost, each cup actually packs a lot of healthy goodness that can possibly do wondrous things for your health. If you haven’t already, grab a cup, and let’s dive into some of the amazing health benefits each sip will bring you.
Coffee’s Rich With Antioxidants
Right off the bat, by just looking at coffee’s nutritional content, you’ll find that it’s packed with antioxidants. Antioxidants are micronutrients in foods and drinks that help prevent cell damage. This means that they can help prevent diseases like cancer (we’ll go into that later). Some researchers at the University of Scranton, Coffee is the biggest source of antioxidants for the average American. These antioxidants include: Vitamin B2, B3, and B5 along with potassium, magnesium and chromium! The last two, magnesium and chromium, actually help the body regulate insulin that is critical to preventing type 2 diabetes. The nutritional content in coffee is already convincing enough to grab another cup, but it still has a lot more to offer.
Coffee May Help Fight Stress And Fat
Another interesting discovery is that even just the aroma of coffee might have positive effects. For this study, the brains of rats stressed with a lack of sleep were examined. When exposed to coffee’s aroma, the part of the brain related to stress changed. This provides evidence that simply smelling a fresh pot of coffee could be altering your perception of stress that coffee could make more manageable. There’s also evidence that caffeine can even help you lose weight! Caffeine increases the body’s ability to burn fat by as much as 29%. Not only will you be less stressed by its aroma, drinking it can help make you less stressed about your body as well!
Coffee Can Prevent Serious Diseases
Coffee, on top of its nutritional benefits, can help prevent a large number of diseases. For instance, Harvard School of Public Health did a study and found that those who drank around 3 (8-ounce) cups of coffee on a daily basis lowered their risk of heart disease by 11%. This alone is a significant incentive to drink for its health benefits. However, there’s more. Another study lead by Dr. Carlo La Vecchia found that 2 cups of coffee a day can lower the risk of liver cancer by about 40% and those that drank 3 cups daily, lowered their risk by more than 50%. These are some serious health benefits! Heart disease and cancer are some of the most prevalent and deadly diseases out there and anything that can combat it is worth trying.
Taking things another step further, a study (done by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) of over 1,000 individuals with stage III colon cancer found that those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day were 42% less likely to have their cancer return after remission. This is an astonishing correlation, and tacks another point on the board for reasons why coffee should be considered a super food.
Not only does coffee fight heart disease and cancer, it has even shown promising signs of delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The study in question, funded by the University of Miami, has results showing that those 65 and older with higher levels of caffeine in their blood developed Alzheimer’s disease several years later than those who didn’t. In addition, there is no better source for caffeine than coffee!
Coffee Wards Off Early Death
Coffee has even been shown to prevent early death. One study done by the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health of over 400,000 people done over 13 years determined that drinking 2 to 3 cups lowered the rate of death by 10%. Even more so, drinking 4 to 5 cups lowered the rate of death by 12%! The ability to stave off death by such a significant number is amazing. Coffee has proven through study after study that it can be a key factor in prolonging life.
Coffee truly is a wondrous drink. It’s packed with antioxidants, aids in weight loss, relieves stress, and prevents cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and even premature death. It genuinely deserves the title of a super food (or drink). Next time you reach for that cup, you’ll reach for another, since it’s all for your health of course!
