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14 Impressive Health Benefits of Coffee, All Science-Backed

14 Impressive Health Benefits of Coffee, All Science-Backed

Clark Clark
10 minute read

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The benefits of coffee are well-documented, and in most healthy adults, coffee is good for your health. It’s full of antioxidants and essential nutrients (magnesium and potassium to start), creating a near-perfect beverage that can keep you living healthier, longer.

While too much coffee can give you the jitters or aggravate intestinal issues, coffee isn’t bad for you when consumed in moderation.

How much coffee should you drink? You should drink no more than 400 mg of coffee per day, according to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). That comes out to about four daily cups of coffee.

Now that you know how much of the good stuff you should be consuming, let’s get on to all of the delicious reasons why coffee is good for your health. There’s plenty of science to back up these incredible health benefits of coffee.

1. Boosts Energy Levels

The caffeine in coffee is well-known as an energy booster, and one of the main reasons people reach for that daily cup of morning joe.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant, and the effects of caffeine and its energy-enhancing properties hit within an hour after consumption. Caffeine’s effects can also make you feel more alert and improve reaction times, even in smaller quantities.

As far as how long you’ll enjoy that energy boost, the half-life of caffeine is about five hours. (If you’re a caffeine fan, our gold roast contains 5 times the amount of caffeine of traditional coffee.)

2. Increases Mental Focus

The caffeine in your coffee intake improves mental sharpness and focus. Those needing to perk up following shift work, loss of sleep, or just that post-lunch slog at the office may benefit from a cup to feel more alert.

As a natural stimulant, caffeine can work to improve concentration and even improve your mood while enhancing your cognition.

3. Supports Weight Loss

Studies show that coffee can help in the breakdown of fats, boost your metabolism, even control your appetite, all in support of weight loss.

That natural energy boost you’ll get may also be a motivator to get more active, another key component in weight loss. 

Keep in mind that additives like sweeteners and heavy creamers can mess with your weight loss goals, and turn your healthy coffee into a dessert drink.

4. Protects The Liver

Coffee has been linked to a decreased risk of liver cancer and other liver diseases, including cirrhosis. Outside of lowered risk, caffeinated coffee is also a powerful tool in the fight against liver diseases like fatty liver disease and hepatitis C. 

Coffee won’t take the place of doctor-recommended treatment plans for either, but it has been linked to better outcomes for those suffering from both.

5. Promotes Heart Health

Too much caffeine can lead to jitters, sleep problems, even heart palpitations, all symptoms that may seem like they’d put you at risk for a heart attack down the line. Surprisingly, studies show the opposite.

A meta-analysis of the role of coffee in the risk of heart disease found that there was a 21% reduction in fatal cardiovascular disease in coffee drinkers vs. non-coffee drinkers. (The study looked at moderate coffee drinkers who were indulging in about 3 cups per day.)

A quick note: The style of coffee does matter some when it comes to your blood pressure and cholesterol, key components in heart health. French press coffee is typically higher in cafestol, a compound that can raise your cholesterol.

6. Improves Mood

Coffee beans may even have an influence on your mood. Coffee has the potential to lift our spirits thanks to those energy-boosting effects from caffeine, and may even lead to more positive outcomes for those suffering from depression

A study out of Harvard showed that depression risk in women decreased as the women consumed more coffee. 

Even more importantly, it’s been to shown to decrease suicide risk by 45-53%, depending on how much coffee was consumed. For your mental as well as physical health, the benefits of coffee range far and wide.

7. Provides an Antioxidant Boost

Is coffee a good source ofantioxidants? Yes, coffee is one of the best sources of antioxidants available. Antioxidants in coffee like polyphenols are important for their disease-fighting ways, reducing your risk of everything from cancer to heart failure.

In fact, Americans get more antioxidants from their daily coffee habits than fruits and veggies. While you can’t swap coffee for the recommended dose of produce, it certainly complements it well.

8. Lowers Cancer Risk

Your coffee habit could lower your risk of a number of cancers, including the risk of liver cancer, oral/pharyngeal cancer, endometrial cancer, and advanced prostate cancer

There are positive signs that it may also lead to a lower risk of colorectal cancer, including colon cancer, and the skin cancer basal cell carcinoma in both men and women.

Researchers point to a few different reasons as to why coffee and, in many cases, caffeine consumption, is so good at reducing cancer risk:

  • Coffee speeds up digestion, reducing the chance of carcinogens lingering in the colon that can cause cancers to form down the line.
  • Coffee may reduce estrogen, which is linked to some types of cancer in women.
  • Coffee has anti-inflammatory properties, and inflammation is a known cause of many types of cancer. 

9. Enhances Physical Performance

Coffee doesn’t just give you energy, but it can even enhance physical performance to drink a cup before a workout.

Regular coffee has connections to how your body recovers after a workout, your endurance on those long runs, and your circulation. It’s good for intense exercise, especially when you add it to your carb-loading plan

Coffee doesn’t even have a dehydrating effect, either, long-considered a drawback of the beverage. Common sense applies with exercise, though. It’s still important to drink more water during and after intense activity.

10. Lowers Diabetes Risk

A meta-analysis and review analyzing regular coffee drinkers—this even included those drinking decaffeinated coffee—found a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes across participants.

Lighter roasts are the best in this case for their higher concentration of something called chlorogenic acid

These phenolic acids, or polyphenols, play a part in regulating the glucose in your body, all good stuff for those with a family history of diabetes. 

Coffee can raise your blood sugar in the short term, though, so it is important that if you’re watching your sugars, you consult with your doctor about the long-term benefits of coffee.

11. Reduces Parkinson’s Disease Risk

There isn’t enough evidence out there to say that drinking coffee will prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease, but there has been positive data for reducing the risk of Parkinson’s in men.

One study showed that there were fewer cases of Parkinson’s disease in regular coffee drinkers. The positive effects may be linked to the caffeine in your cup, as the same wasn’t true with decaf coffee. 

12. Reduces Stroke Risk

Evidence suggests that your regular coffee habit may decrease your stroke risk.

A study focused on women showed that women had a 20% lower risk of stroke with 4 cups of coffee per day. It was the coffee specifically that was linked to the decrease, and not simply caffeine. 

13. May Lessen Cognitive Decline

There have been several studies looking at whether there is a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia later in life among regular coffee drinkers.

While the consensus has generally been that more studies are needed, there is some positive news about a potential link between coffee and how cognitive decline progresses in the elderly.

This may be related to the effects of caffeine content on your mental sharpness, or point to new links altogether. These effects seem to be especially prominent in women.

14. Increases Longevity

All of that good stuff in coffee, the antioxidants, essential nutrients, and disease-fighting properties, may support your quest to live a longer, healthier life.

The big way that it can contribute to a long life is through supporting cardiovascular health, but regular coffee consumption is linked to reduced mortality overall. 

If you consider all of the health benefits of coffee and how it reduces your risk of developing all kinds of ailments, regular coffee consumption seems like a no-brainer for most. We’ll drink to that!

What are you waiting for?

The advantages of coffee include an immediate boost of energy, reduced risk for a whole host of diseases, and a longer life. 

If you’re struggling with gut issues after that morning cup but don’t want to lose the energy boost, there’s a solution. A low-acid coffee will let you keep the coffee and the associated health benefits.

Our gold coffee is low-acid, with a smoother taste than traditional black coffee. It’ll leave you feeling energized and good about the choices you’re making first thing. The bottom line is simple: Enjoy the health benefits without the unpleasant side effects.

Sources

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  6. Caffeine, coffee, and appetite control: a review
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