“I need some coffee now!” You might be thinking. If we can understand, we often feel the same way. Because coffee not only kicks us, it is – in moderation – also healthy and can do more than you think. Or did you know, for example, that coffee can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease? Coffee drinkers are also said to develop liver cancer, up to 40 percent less often. The brewed drink contains various antioxidants, including cafestol and kahweol, which counteract liver fibrosis. The coffee a day does not spare a doctor. But now there are numerous positive and proven effects of the brewed drink on health. (See here for a Comprehensive Review of Gaggia Classic Pro)
What makes coffee so healthy?
What effects does coffee have on our health? Numerous scientific studies and researchers have already dealt with the question. Like beans, they come in the typical 500-gram package. Not all areas independent as they are. However, a British meta-study that evaluated more than 200 such studies concluded that coffee had around 19 positive health effects. For comparison: there were only six adverse effects. In particular, the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks or strokes is reduced by drinking coffee.
According to British scientists, what makes roasted coffee so healthy is its antioxidant ingredients. Coffee is a “complex mixture of over 1000 bioactive compounds” and more than 800 aromatic substances. Everyone processes them differently. Nevertheless, together they usually have a stimulating, anti-inflammatory, even anti-cancer effect. The bronchi are also slightly dilated when drinking coffee, which in turn improves the oxygen supply.
Reasons coffee is healthy
Coffee increases the ability to think. As researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have found, coffee or the caffeine it contains is not just a stimulant – it also improves memory. Only 200 milligrams of caffeine increase memory and help with learning.
Coffee can be sexually arousing
Especially women. At least that’s what Fay Guarraci of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas claims. Then caffeine stimulates the same areas of the brain that are responsible for the level of sexual arousal.
Coffee lowers the risk of diabetes
More precisely: that of type 2 diabetes, by a whopping 50 percent. But only for those who drink four cups a day. According to a study by the American Chemical Society, every additional cup reduces the risk by another seven percent.
Coffee against help against bad breath
Because some coffee substances have an antibacterial effect, they ensure better breath and less bad breath, according to a study by the Israeli University of Tel Aviv. Coffee with milk, however, makes your breath worse again. Reason: In the oral cavity, bacteria break down milk and coffee back into malodorous substances.
Even the smell of coffee lowers the stress level
In experiments with rats, scientists at Seoul National University observed that those animals exposed to coffee aromas already showed differences in brain proteins, which in turn reduced the feeling of stress and fatigue.
Caffeine and glucose make you smart.
Coffee and cake in the afternoon – a good idea! Josep M. Serra Grabulosa from the University of Barcelona discovered that while we sip an espresso and nibble on a sweet snack, we stimulate our gray matter. In magnetic resonance imaging, brain scans showed that the combination of caffeine and glucose increased the subjects’ cognitive processes, especially attention, memory, and thinking efficiency.
Coffee protects against inflammation
Scientists from the renowned Stanford University come to this conclusion. In particular, chronic inflammation, which is more common in old age, coffee can prevent and protect against heart disease and extend life, say immunologists David Furman and Mark Davis.
Those who drink coffee live longer
This is the result of a Harvard meta-study. To this end, the researchers analyzed more than 200,000 data sets on eating habits for over 30 years. The result: those who drank up to five cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases and diabetes than those who did not drink coffee. Remarkable: the effect also occurs with decaffeinated coffee.
Coffee helps fight depression
According to studies by the National Institute of Health, people who drink four or five cups of coffee a day have a ten percent lower risk of becoming depressed than coffee-reluctant. This is the contained antioxidants, which stimulate serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine and thus trigger a kind of high in the body. The result is also confirmed by a study by the Harvard School of Public Health. After that, just two to four cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of suicide by 50 percent.
How many cups of coffee a day are healthy?
Between three and five cups of coffee a day is entirely harmless to health and can positively affect health – see the reasons above. If you drink more than five cups of coffee a day, you could get hallucinations from it. At least that’s what Australian researchers think. When they examined the effects of caffeine and stress on 92 test subjects, the scientists soon found that a high caffeine level combined with everyday stress leads to an increased risk of hallucinations. For some illnesses, excessive coffee consumption is also not recommended by doctors. But it would help if you discussed this directly with your doctor – or switch to decaffeinated coffee.