The Health Benefits of Coffee

 

Coffee.  I've generally found that people either love it or hate it.  For some reason, this bitter brew evokes strong emotions in some; usually more in the "I love coffee" realm than the other.  Of course that's obvious by the abundance of coffee shops that litter the streets of most major cities and a smattering of them in the smaller towns.

 Our very small town/village has a locally owned one that my husband managed and I worked at for 6 years.  We really grew to love and appreciate the rich depths of flavor coffee has and also did some research on its possible benefits.

Benefits?  That's right.  Coffee does have some health perks that go along with it despite a lot of negative press in the past.  More recent studies have shown that coffee can be helpful to your body.

Should everyone drink it?  The purpose of this post is not to make you a coffee drinker as most people don't have to be "made" to love coffee.  It just happens.  Once it starts, coffee is not only a satisfying drink, but one that may just deliver a few helpful benefits as well.  So if you already drink it or are just plain curious, here are a few things I learned...

  

It is important to note that most studies mostly show an association of coffee drinkers with these health benefits.  They aren't direct "cause and effect studies" which show a direct correlation between coffee and the coffee drinker as other factors could affect the outcome of the study.

However, coffee has been with us now since before the 14th century when the Arabs learned how to cultivate and successfully trade the beans. That's a LONG time of usage and it helps to give us some insight into any long term effects of coffee even though most studies will say they "they still don't know the long term impact that coffee has on our health."  

Caffeine is coffee's most obvious draw.  That's a bit obvious.  However, coffee has some other benefits besides caffeine that is now showing up in studies being done on coffee's decaf version.

 

 

Compared to non coffee drinkers:

"A growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to nondrinkers, are:

• less likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia
• have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes." 1 

Diabetes? 

 

"The vast majority of those studies have shown a benefit of coffee on the prevention of diabetes. And now there is also evidence that decaffeinated coffee may have the same benefit as regular coffee,”  says Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. 2

"Hu calls the data on coffee and type 2 diabetes "pretty solid," based on more than 15 published studies." 3

How could coffee help keep type 2 diabetes at bay?  It seems like it's a combination of its antioxidants and minerals such as magnesium and calcium which help the body use insulin which in turn regulates blood sugar.  

                                          Heart disease and stroke? 

 Well, when you lower the risk of diabetes, you automatically lower your heart risk...there's one way it helps.  

                                 "And, for women, coffee may mean a lower risk of stroke.
In 2009, a study of 83,700 nurses enrolled in the long-term Nurses' Health Study showed a 20% lower risk of stroke in those who reported drinking two or more cups of coffee daily compared to women who drank less coffee or none at all. That pattern held regardless of whether the women had high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and type 2 diabetes." 4

                                                                        Dementia? 

 According to a study done on clinical mice, coffee was shown to help boost the levels of GCSF (granulocyte colony stimulating factor), a growth factor that was shown to help fight off Alzheimer's Disease. 5

                                                                  Certain Cancers?

"A Harvard School of Public Health study shows that men who drink six cups of coffee a day have a 60 percent decreased chance of developing a dangerous form of prostate cancer, as well as a 20 percent decreased chance of developing any other kinds of prostate cancer." 6

"New research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference shows that coffee could help to ward off basal cell carcinoma, (skin cancer) the most common cancer in the world." 7

 

These recent studies are sure to encourage coffee drinkers everywhere and make us sigh with a bit of relief when indulging in a cup of our favorite dark roast.  

1. Just remember, these results are conducted on plain coffee only...no cream, sugar or syrups.  Not that you can't still achieve some health benefits with them but to remember to go easy on the additives if you plan on getting the best results. 

2. Also, if you have any sensitivities to caffeine in the coffee, try decaf instead. 

3. Keep your coffee consumption reasonable and moderate.  Four to seven cups are considered heavy usage (this can depend on your body size) and can lead to negative effects like sleeplessness, anxiety and irritability as well as other slight health risk factors.8  Listen to your body, it has its way of telling you when enough is enough.

So put on a big smile when you enter your next Starbucks or coffee house and know that a simple cup of coffee will not only make you a little more wide awake, but can help your body out just a bit too...

Blessings!

Are you more of a tea drinker?  Read this post The Health Benefits of Tea.

References:

1. http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/coffee-new-health-food
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/coffee-health-benefits_n_1064577.html#slide=440657
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coffee-and-health/AN01354

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Tea Chat at the Open Door Coffee House

 Tea happens to be something I REALLY like to talk about and drink.  So, I was invited by our local coffee house where I used to work, to give a 10-15 minute talk about the quick history of tea and about some of the teas that the coffee house was selling. Awesome!  So I  worked on condensing the immense info there is out there on tea (ahhhhh!) into ten minutes and still managed to produce three handouts which included a "fill-in the blanks" sheet.  Thankfully, no one looked too disturbed at all the papers being passed around.

Open Door Coffee House

So, on with the teaching!  After giving some quick history of how the Chinese were the first to discover tea, the differences between black, oolong, green and white teas, what herbals are, how much caffeine is in tea, where tea is grown, what tea varieties do they sell here, it was time for samples.  (Sorry, that was a major run-on sentence.)

Heidi, the assistant manager, made tea for everyone and the samples went all around.  This helped so much when explaining the different flavors associated with the different teas.   

We started out with our Indian black tea, Ceylon and India.  Indian teas are primarily British Legacy Teas and are strong and assertive because they usually are processed and fermented quickly.  Think, espresso as compared to a regular cup of coffee.  These are the ones we mostly drink as Westerners and many Europeans.  I like them, but really love some of the Chinese black teas as they are smooth, with cocoa tones and don't need the addition of milk and sugar.  

The Japanese Green Sencha tea is very grassy and vegetal.  Brewing up to a bright green, it's definitely not your average bag of tea!  Very refreshing, slightly astringent and great hot or iced, a new favorite for me!

Finally, we got to our Rooibos tea.  The "tea" (it's actually an herbal), from South Africa is one of my big time favorites.  I drink it by the pound as it has superb health benefits, including its vitamin and mineral content.  It also contains some alpha hydroxy which is good for the skin.  I usually drink it flavored with natural vanilla and it's great iced or hot.  

Ceylon and India, Rooibos and Japanese Green Sencha teas

All in all, it was a fun time, and we all learned a little bit more about tea. It's a great drink, good for you and good tasting.  Life always seems to be a bit better with a cup of tea...