Attention all coffee lovers! Just when you thought you couldn’t love coffee any more than you already do! Start the brewing pot now because you will be wanting a steaming, generous cup of coffee after you are finished reading this, my friend! Because I am bringing you the top 11 interesting health benefits of coffee!
Along with that delightful taste, morning energy boost, and magical ability to make you a nicer person, you may not be aware of the numerous health benefits that are in your morning cup of coffee.
Did you know that Americans spend an average of more than a $1000 a year on coffee?! Well, I am definitely a contributor to that, no shame! However, little do you may know that your money is going towards so much more than just a cup of your favorite coffee blend.
Aside from being oh so delicious, coffee has incredible health benefits that you need to know!
Not only can your daily cup(s) of coffee burn fat and improve your overall physical performance, but it can also make you feel more energized, happier, and live longer. It can also aid in lowering the risk of various conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease.
That will have you reaching towards the coffee pot for a second, third, or fourth cup!
Here are the Top 11 Scientifically Proven Health Benefits of Coffee
1. Coffee Can Improve Energy Levels and Boost Long-Term Memory.
Due to the stimulant in coffee called caffeine, coffee has a beneficial effect on alertness and energy both during the day and night, allowing people to feel less tired and foggy. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that helps you stay alert. In fact, a single brewed cup provides approximately 95 mg of caffeine!
When the caffeine is absorbed in the bloodstream it then makes its way to the brain to enhance and fire up the neurons, which essentially wakes you up! Many of the alerting effects of caffeine may be related to the action of the methylxanthine on serotonin neurons. (study).
Caffeine activates noradrenaline neurons and seems to affect the local release of dopamine (i.e: the “feel good” hormone) and intensifies brainpower!
Furthermore, whenever caffeine is consumed in the bloodstream, it blocks a specific inhibitory neurotransmitter called adenosine. The process of blocking adenosine prevents it from stopping the function of norepinephrine, which is a hormone that has been shown to have positive, beneficial effects on long-term memory and overall cognitive function! (study)
Related Post: “5 Easy Ways to Naturally Boost Your Energy and Mood”
2. Caffeine Can Stimulate Fat Loss and Boost Your Metabolism
Sure, caffeine can do magical things to begin your morning, but can it also aid in weight loss and fat burning??
Most definitely! Caffeine has been proven to stimulate fat loss, enhance your exercise and performance levels and help manage your weight.
Not only is caffeine a powerful stimulate, but it is also a great appetite suppressant!
Caffeine increases levels of energetic hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine in your bloodstream, and in the result, this stimulates the bodies fat-burning process called lipolysis.
Once lipolysis is in effect, and the fatty acids are freed from their storage form, the fat can then be used (or burned) for energy! It is also a major compound that stimulates our metabolisms to burn more energy! Just look at the ingredients on the most popular fat-burning supplements…caffeine is at the top of that ingredient list!
This process of revving up the metabolism and creating that metabolic burn is called thermogenesis. Caffeine increases metabolic burn and basically tells your brain and body to burn more calories! So cool!
3. Can Improve Physical Performance and Health
Did you know that a cup of coffee is a great, and more natural, pre-workout source?!
Not only does caffeine stimulate your brain and metabolism, but this powerful compound also stimulates your nervous system. Your nervous system then signals the fat cells within your body to break down the stored body fat. By doing this, caffeine sparks the epinephrine hormone which causes a rush of adrenaline to be released in your blood.
I’m sure you have heard of the flight or fight hormone, the bodies response to prepare you for physical exertion, well caffeine breaks down the fat cells in your body allowing those fatty acids to become available as fuel for your body to burn off while exercising.
4. Can Be a Natural Laxative for Many People and Keep You Regular
A 1990 study found that 29% of people stated that they have to go to the bathroom soon after drinking coffee, and the people who reported this also had increased movement in the colon for at least 30 minutes after they drank their cup of coffee.
So for some people, coffee makes things ‘hurry along’ more quickly.
Caffeine has also shown to activate contractions in your colon and intestinal muscles, and ultimately help your body push food quickly to the rectum.
Note that if you have the urge to poop every day, caffeine may not be the only leading factor in keeping you regular and stimulating the urge to poop. Studies have also shown that decaffeinated coffee can also stimulate the urge to poop. This indicates that other compounds or factors are also responsible…
Chlorogenic acids and N-alkanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamine are both compounds that are considered to be the cause of keeping you regular in the morning. Studies have found that they can stimulate the production of stomach acid.
Stomach acid helps churn food and move it quickly through the gut, which is possibly the reason why you have to quickly run to the bathroom after you enjoy your morning cup of joe. (study)
Your bowels are also twice as active when you first wake up. Additionally, your circadian rhythm, your body’s internal clock, helps regulate your bowel movement. So if you drink your morning cup of coffee and have a bowel movement shortly after, it could be many factors such as caffeine, chlorogenic acids, and N-alkanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamine, your gastrocolic reflex activating your colon and your body’s internal clock could be the cause of your bowel activity.
I want to also point out that it is so very important to have an adequate amount of water (64 fluid ounces) that your body needs to thrive on each day along with your cup(s) of coffee!
5. Lowers the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes affects around 300 million people and has unfortunately increased within the past few decades, leading to diseases becoming epidemic proportions.
Type 2 diabetes is generated by levels of high glucose which is due to insulin resistance, or the body’s inability to produce insulin. This disease generally arises when the body is no longer to produce the needed amounts of insulin or effectively use the hormone, which results in high blood glucose levels.
However, coffee has shown to decrease insulin sensitivity and raise blood sugar levels! (study)
Men who have reported to drinking about 6 cups (8 fluid ounces each) of caffeinated, black coffee per day, cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes in 50% compared to those who do not drink coffee.
Women, on the other hand, who have reported drinking the same amount of coffee per day have seen a 30% cut in risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Although the results are lower, decaffeinated coffee also showed benefits in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes!
6. Coffee Contains Essential Nutrients the Body Needs to Succeed!
Did you know 1 cup of coffee contains so many vitamins and minerals that the body needs every single day?
Vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, choline, folate, and others. And minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous and others are all found in your freshly brewed morning cup of coffee. The total amounts of each vitamin and mineral in a single serving a coffee may be small, but most people enjoy multiple cups per day which easily and quickly increases the total amount of vitamins and minerals you receive from coffee each day.
Which is awesome because I am drinking my 4th cup of coffee this morning as I am writing this! 🙂
7. Coffee is Healthy for Your Heart and Liver (Lowers the Risk of Diseases)
According to this study, it has shown that drinking 2 cups of coffee per day can reduce the risk of heart failure by 11%! Did you know that approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke each year? To a coffee drinkers advantage, studies have shown that coffee drinkers have a 20% lower risk of having a stroke (study).
Coffee also makes your liver happy! Recently, a published report stated that coffee may reduce the risk of liver disease by 70 percent!
Your liver is a vital organ in your body and it does some amazing things! However, chronic liver disease is one of the most common disease-related causes of death in the United States. It is estimated that 31,000 Americans die each year from cirrhosis, and it is on the rise (study).
The research findings suggest that coffee drinkers versus non-coffee drinkers reduce their risk of liver cancer by 40 percent! It is also discussed that there is a 20-70 percent reduction in risk of cirrhosis for those that enjoy a delightful cup of coffee to start their day!
8. Coffee Has Powerful Antioxidants that Help Fight Signs of Aging
Anti-aging! Seriously!
Just when you thought you couldn’t count on the magical, liquid gold that is coffee anymore! Did you know that coffee has more antioxidants than berries and kale and it surpasses every other source?? It just keeps surprising us with all of these health benefits!
So what are antioxidants and what do they do to benefit the body?
Antioxidants help ward off cell damage by “cleaning up” or eliminating waste products in our cells, called free radicals before they can do harm. Free radicals do harm to the body since they are molecules that are missing electrons, which can lead to premature aging and be the cause of many diseases.
In addition, antioxidants in coffee can help reduce the danger that ultra-violet rays pose to the skin. With that, drinking coffee may help prevent skin cancer and signs of aging.
While you may believe that you can only get these antioxidants from minerals and colored fruits and vegetables, you can most definitely find these 6 antioxidants in coffee beverages.
- Cafestol
- Trigonelline
- Chlorogenic Acid and other Phenols (the three most abundant are 3-Caffeoylquinic acid, 4-Caffeoylquinic acid, and 5-Caffeoylquinic acid)
- Melanoidins
- Quinine
- And of course, Caffeine
Read more in-depth about what these amazing antioxidants found in coffee can do for your health!! And I promise you will be pouring yourself another cup of coffee after you are done!
9. Plain, Black Coffee Can Prevent Tooth Cavities
What!?
You guys, I have to admit, I have been drinking black coffee since I was 12! Crazy I know, I blame my coffee-addicted but still very loving mother for passing her chronic love of coffee on to me. Nonetheless, to this day, I have never had a cavity *knocks on wood.* Coincidence? Maybe. Did I just possibly jinx myself? Also, a maybe.
Without the common additives found in popular coffee beverages such as sugar, creamers, and milk this study proves that coffee, if consumed plain, had actions to prevent caries (tooth decay), but in the presence of additives the antibacterial and anticaries action was minimized.
So drink your coffee black to prevent cavities!
10. Coffee Can Fight Against Depression and Make You Happy
Depression is a serious mental disorder that affects people of all ages no matter their background. According to the World Health Organization, 300 million people around the world live and struggle with forms of depression.
However, did you know that a Harvard study, published in 2011, shown that women who drank 4 or more cups of coffee per day had a 20% lower risk of becoming depressed?
While coffee is not the cure for depression, it has proven to definitely be a helpful tool for those suffering from depression. And coffee can be a useful tool for those looking for a morning boost of positivity who may have woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
11. Coffee Drinkers Tend to Live Longer Than Non-Coffee Drinkers
Having shown that coffee can lower the risk of so many diseases such as heart and liver disease, prevent cancer, prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, and be leading source of essential antioxidants, it is no surprise that those who drink coffee tend to live longer!
In two major studies, drinking coffee was associated with a 20% reduced risk of death in men and a 26% decreased the risk of death in women. This was during an 18 year follow up in men and a 24 year follow up in women. (study)
I hope your coffee is done or is almost done brewing so that you can now enjoy a big, hot cup of it!
If you love the delightful taste of coffee and can tolerate the caffeine content, do not hesitate to pour yourself a cup or 5 throughout the day. 😉 Because now you know just how much your coffee loves you back! ❤️I’m excited to know what fact about coffee that you found most surprising, please tell me in the comments! Until then, I will talk to you soon!
xo, Cydney
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
Oh, awesome! Thank you, Dorine! 🤗