Health Benefits of Coffee

We usually drink our first morning cup of coffee out of necessity to wake up and start the day. The delicious flavor doesn’t hurt either. But it turns out that regarding overall health, drinking coffee has many wonderful effects. For this post we’ve summarized our favorite health benefits of coffee.

• Fat Burning •
Look at the ingredients of most commercial fat burning supplements and you will likely find caffeine. Drinking a cup of coffee energizes you. It makes you want to get up, move around and be active. This translates to burning calories and speeding up your metabolism. Studies show that drinking coffee can increase our metabolic rate by 3-11%.

• Protect Your Liver •
After having a few too many cocktails the night before, it might seem counterintuitive to drink coffee - it’s dehydrating, right? Not exactly. Drinking coffee can actually help to lessen liver damage caused by alcohol consumption. Overall, studies show that drinking 2 cups of coffee per day reduces liver cirrhosis by 44%. Even though drinking coffee can protect your liver, it cannot undo damage caused by excessive boozing.

• Lower Risk of Depression and Anxiety •
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that’s in charge of our pleasure-reward system. People with depression and anxiety typically have low levels of dopamine. Caffeine helps the brain release and store dopamine. In a research study of 50,000 women, those who drank 2-3 cups of coffee per day had a 15% decreased risk of depression and those who drank 4+ cups per day had a 20% decreased risk.

• Huge Source of Antioxidants •
It’s easy to forget, but our beloved beans actually come from fruit. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that coffee is a huge source of disease-fighting antioxidants. It actually has more antioxidants than both black and green tea and red wine. Coffee’s antioxidant properties help to flush out toxins and harmful free radicals.

• May Lower Risk of Heart Disease •
There’s a growing body of research surrounding the beneficial effects of drinking coffee on cardiovascular health. Studies show that drinking 3-5 cups per day lowers the risk of having calcium deposits in coronary arteries by 40%. Calcium deposits in the coronary arteries, aka clogged arteries, are an indicator of heart disease. While the correlation is strong, the direct cause and effect relationship is still being debated.

It’s important to drink organic coffee, especially if you want to garner the benefits beyond your morning pick-me-up. We also recommend buying freshly roasted whole bean coffee and grinding at home. The antioxidants in coffee start oxidizing immediately after roasting and grinding. With every week that passes, coffee loses a significant percentage of its antioxidant content. When you grind freshly roasted coffee at home, it’s better for your health as well as the taste.

♥ Peace Love and Coffee, Joan & David

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