For coffee lovers around the world, the news is all-good! With this delicious beverage increasingly being found to provide numerous health benefits, many simply see it as an added bonus to drinking coffee.
Scientists are increasingly finding that coffee can reduce and prevent modern day illnesses. In fact, the 2015 United States’ new dietary guidelines recommend drinking between 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day to reduce a range of health problems. These guidelines also state that drinking this many cups a day, which is considered to be within the “moderate range”, is not linked to an increase in “long-term health risks”.
As a source of antioxidants, coffee has been found in numerous studies to protect the body from damage and degeneration.
The good news when it comes to consuming coffee is that it contains antioxidants. As a drink, coffee consists of hundreds of compounds – some of which include antioxidants that work to protect molecular damage in our bodies and consist of caffeine, caffeic acid, eugenol, gamma-tocopherol, chlorogenic acids, isoeugenol, p-coumaric acid and scopoletin.
While we’re no strangers to the positive benefits of antioxidants, it comes as great news to find that due to coffee’s antioxidant properties it can inhibit degeneration, damage and disease in the body.
The science is in! Coffee consumption is not only good for you; it lowers the risk of disease and illness in the body.
Both the 2015 guidelines and other scientific studies have found that drinking coffee can:
- Reduce the risk of Type II diabetes
- Reduce cardiovascular disease in adults
- Protect against Parkinson’s disease
- Lowers inflammation
- Protects against “specific” types of cancer, such as prostate cancer
- Protects against liver injury with a positive effect on chronic liver disease
- Lowers the prevalence of non-melanoma skin cancer in Caucasian women
- Lowers the risk in men of developing symptomatic gallstone disease
Coffee has been consumed around the world for over five centuries. And, while our current way of drinking coffee may have evolved to enjoy its qualities even more, the fact is that it still contains all the health benefits it always did.
So, what are you waiting for? There is no reason to feel guilty about having your favourite beverage. The scientists have given us the green light. Coffee is good for us!