The benefits of coffee have been a topic of many reports about health news lately. Not only black water with caffeine. More and more research shows that coffee has many extraordinary health benefits outside of caffeine.
Is coffee good for you? Yes! Research has shown that drinking coffee every day can help reduce the risk of many serious health conditions and even help you feel better.
Here are 7 reasons why coffee can actually be one health drink.
1. Coffee Can Make You Smarter
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Coffee not only keeps you awake - it also makes you smarter. The active ingredients in coffee are caffeine, which is the most consumed stimulant and psychoactive substance in the world. Caffeine works in your brain by blocking the effect of inhibitory neurotransmitters called adenosine.
By blocking the inhibitory effect of adenosine, caffeine actually increases neuronal firing in the brain and releases other neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine.
Many controlled studies have examined the effects of caffeine on the brain, suggesting that caffeine can improve mood, reaction time, memory, alertness and general brain function.
2. Coffee Can Help You Burn Fat and Improve Physical Performance
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There are good reasons why you will find caffeine in most commercial fat-burning supplements. Caffeine, partly because of its stimulant effects on the central nervous system, both increase metabolism and increase fatty acid oxidation.
3. Coffee Can Drastically Reduce Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
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Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle related disease that has reached epidemic proportions. This has increased 10-fold in decades and now affects around 300 million people.
This disease is characterized by high blood glucose levels due to insulin resistance or the inability to produce insulin.
In observational studies, coffee has been repeatedly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Risk reduction ranges from 23% along the way to 67%.
A massive review article looked at 18 studies with a total of 457,922 participants. Every cup of extra coffee per day lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 7%. The more people drink coffee, the lower the risk.
4. Coffee Can Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease
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Coffee can not only make you smarter in the short term, but it can also protect your brain in old age. Alzheimer's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world and a major cause of dementia.
In a prospective study, coffee drinkers had a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer's and dementia.
Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by the death of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. Coffee can reduce Parkinson's risk by 32-60%.
5. Coffee May Be Very Good for Your Heart
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The liver is an amazing organ that performs hundreds of vital functions in your body. It is vulnerable to the traps of modern diets, such as consuming too much alcohol or fructose.
Cirrhosis is the final stage of liver damage caused by diseases such as alcoholism and hepatitis, where liver tissue has been replaced by scar tissue.
Some studies show that coffee can reduce the risk of cirrhosis by 80%. Those who drink 4 cups or more per day feel the strongest effect. Coffee can also reduce the risk of liver cancer by about 40%.
6. Coffee Can Reduce Your Risk of Death
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Many people still think that coffee is unhealthy. This is not surprising, because general wisdom for conventional wisdom is contrary to what the study says. But coffee can actually help you live longer.
In a large prospective observational study, drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of death by all causes.
This effect is very profound in people with type 2 diabetes. One study showed that coffee drinkers had a 30% lower risk of death over a period of 20 years.
7. Coffee Contains Nutrients and Antioxidants
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Coffee is not only black water. Many nutrients in coffee beans make it the last drink, which actually contains lots of vitamins and minerals.
One cup of coffee contains:
6% of the RDA for pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)
11% of RDA for riboflavin (vitamin B2)
2% of RDA for niacin (B3) and thiamine (B1)
3% of RDA for potassium and manganese
This may not seem like much, but if you drink a few cups of coffee per day, it quickly increases. But that's not all. Coffee also contains large amounts of antioxidants.
In fact, coffee is one of the biggest sources of antioxidants in die