| With International Coffee Day just behind us, we look at the benefits of our favorite beverage. |
With the recent International Coffee Day just past, we thought it would be interesting to examine some of the health benefits of our favorite hot bean drink.
Second only to oil, coffee is one of the highest traded commodities on Earth. Everyday over one billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide.
1. Improved Memory and Cognition
Like similar effects found with green tea, researchers have reported that volunteers who drank caffeinated coffee in the morning performed better than nondrinkers on tests that involved learning new information. Coffee can also improve cognitive function as we age. One study found that combining coffee with a sweet treat had an even bigger impact.According to the study researcher Josep M. Serra Grabulosa, from the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology at Universidad de Barcelona found:
Our main finding is that the combination of the two substances improves cognitive performance in terms of sustained attention and working memory by increasing the efficiency of the areas of the brain responsible for these two functions. This supports the idea of a synergistic effect between two substances, in which each one boosts the effect of the other.So that double-double may not be such a bad thing.
2. Reduced Risk of Diabetes
In a 2005 review of nine studies, researchers found that for those that drank four to six cups of coffee per day, versus only two or fewer, their risk for Type 2 diabetes decreased by almost 30 percent. The number decreased by 35 percent when people drank more than six cups per day. And if you’re picturing yourself running around the office with your eyes bugging out of your head, no worries because caffeinated and decaffeinated coffees provided much the same results.3. Fights Free Radicals
Don't forget coffee is actually a plant and like all plant foods, the coffee bean contains more than 1,000 naturally occurring substances called phytochemicals, which may help prevent disease. Many of these phytochemicals are antioxidants which protect the cells from damage from free radicals.
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4. Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Death Risk
Adults who drank coffee — caffeinated or decaffeinated — had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee, according a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP.Coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, however the association was not seen for cancer. These results from a large study of older adults were observed after adjustment for the effects of other risk factors on mortality, such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
5. Reduced Skin Cancer Rates
According to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research drinking coffee could lower your risk of developing basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer."Our data indicate that the more caffeinated coffee you consume, the lower your risk of developing basal cell carcinoma," said Jiali Han, Ph.D., associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston and Harvard School of Public Health.
6. Fights Alzheimer's Disease
In the study “Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases” a group of international experts looked into the effects of caffeine on the brain. The result was a collection of original studies exploring a number of topics ranging from molecular targets of caffeine, neurophysiological modifications and adaptations, to the potential mechanisms underlying the behavioral and protective actions of caffeine in distinct brain pathologies.According to the study, caffeine appears to provide its disease-modifying effects through multiple mechanisms, including a direct reduction of Abeta production through suppression of both beta- and gamma-secretase levels. These results indicate a surprising ability of moderate caffeine intake (about 5 cups of coffee per day) can protect against or treat Alzheimer's Disease in a mouse model for the disease and a therapeutic potential for caffeine against AD in humans.
7. Coffee is Full of Caffeine (Duh)
Along with the satisfying taste, the caffeine in coffee has a number of beneficial effects including, an inverse associated between caffeine consumption and the incidence of Parkinson's disease, the stimulant effects on the brain and an overall sense of well-being, happiness, sociability, alertness and energy.Increased weight gain has also been associated with drinking coffee both from its social aspects (along with the traditional coffee accompaniments), and from the cravings that may be caused by caffeine.
However you take yours, enjoy your cup of coffee today - cheers!
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