Pour More in Your Mug
September is the time to celebrate everyone’s favorite beverage, coffee. September 29th is National Coffee Day, right in the heart of the transition between cold brew and hot brew. While the USDA MyPlate hasn’t yet identified coffee as a piece of the puzzle, many people include coffee in their regular day. With more information out there, researchers are finding increasing evidence of the health benefits of coffee.
Why the Bad Rap?
A regular cup of coffee has only 2 calories in a cup but it continues to get a bad rap. The problem is in the perks. If you dress up your coffee with milk, sugar and syrups the calories can really add up. Add whipped cream at your favorite coffee house and before you know it that jazzed up coffee can total as much as 500 calories! If you opt for nonfat milk and forget the other add-ins, you can enjoy your cup of Joe without the added calories and fat.
Misleading Information
Years ago the media portrayed coffee as a major risk factor for heart disease and cancer. However recent studies find that coffee consumption can actually decrease the risk of these two diseases. Why the change of heart? During preliminary studies, researchers didn’t account for other high-risk behaviors like physical activity and smoking that were typical of heavy coffee drinkers at the time. These factors were likely the culprits of the risk of disease and perhaps not the coffee.
Health Benefits
It’s likely that your doctor has told you to cut back on your coffee consumption. But coffee, when taken black, provides a number of health benefits and can reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. The Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently published a study which found that after a few cups of coffee, a person’s risk of diabetes was reduced by 30%. Decaffeinated coffee provided the same benefits because both contain the same amount of antioxidants and magnesium.
Harvard’s school of Public Health found that coffee cut suicide rates. Their 2013 study found that students who consumed more than two cups of coffee a day reduced their risk by 45%. This is likely due to caffeine having mood-boosting effects.
Along with diabetes, a Swedish study recently found that two cups of coffee a day reduces a person’s risk of liver cancer by a whopping 40%. It also showed that moderate consumption of coffee for patients had milder progression of liver cancer.
On top of diabetes and cancer, The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease published a study that claims 100% of patients with mild cognitive impairment delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s when there were high levels of caffeine in their blood. That’s a pretty powerful statistic and something that should be considered with dementia patients.
Caffeine has also been shown to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease and strokes. However, it is not the be-all, end-all solution. It would be a lot easier if labels indicated how much caffeine is in a product so you could monitor how much caffeine you’re getting. At the moment that isn’t possible so it’s important to remember that too much caffeine can raise blood pressure as well as increase anxiety and insomnia. It should be consumed in moderation.
It’s fall, which makes it pretty hard to resist that pumpkin spice latte. Remember that the occasional indulgence is fine but if you’re trying to lose weight, try to limit your liquid calories as much as possible. In the meantime, if you drink a cup of coffee every morning try to limit the amount of additional ingredients to reap the benefits of coffee without the unwanted calories.
Sources:
http://food.unl.edu/september-food-calendar#coffee
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/calories/faq-20058100
http://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-10-2013/coffee-for-health.html
http://coffeeandhealth.org/hcp-resources/1604-2/
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