The Health Benefits of Coffee

A cup of coffee from Unsplash

Across the globe, coffee has been one of the most highly consumed beverages that people from all walks of life have been drinking. I have been a coffee connoisseur for many years myself.

It has been documented over and over again that coffee has many amazing benefits for the human body especially the brain. Here are five interesting facts about how coffee can be great for your body.

• Coffee may help you lose weight. Coffee contains magnesium and potassium, which helps the human body use insulin, regulating blood sugar levels, and reducing your craving for sugary treats and snacks.
• Coffee protects your body. Coffee contains a lot of antioxidants, that work as little warriors fighting and protecting against free radicals within your body.
• Coffee protects your brain. High caffeine levels in your blood reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. It also lowers the risk of dementia.
• Coffee may lower the risk of Type II diabetes. Caffeine decreases your insulin sensitivity and impairs glucose tolerance, therefore reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Coffee lowers the risk of death. Studies have shown that coffee drinker’s overall risk of premature death is 25% lower than those who don’t drink coffee.

Coffee contains a variety of properties and compounds such as magnesium, potassium, antioxidants, chlorogenic acids, and the major pharmacologically compound found in coffee is caffeine.

Research has proven that there are several benefits of caffeine in a person’s diet. The beneficial effects would be;

• Caffeine can help prevent cataracts.
• Caffeine can improve energy levels.
• Caffeine will assist in burning off fat.
• Caffeine will boost your metabolism.
• Caffeine will lower the risk of liver cancer.
• Caffeine can curb dementia and Alzheimer’s.

But of course, with every good thing, there is always going to be some adverse effects that come along with it, and with coffee, these would be:

• Disturb your sleep patterns.
• Cause anxiety in some people.
• Coffee can cause a rapid heart rate.
• Coffee could cause nausea or vomiting.
• Coffee could play an effect on your blood pressure.

What effects does coffee have on the brain?

First off Coffee is a very healthy beverage for the whole body. Coffee contains hundreds of thousands of different forms of compounds and antioxidants that contribute to its benefits to the human body. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of these compounds and how they affect the body.

Chlorogenic Acid — Chlorogenic acid is a natural compound found in coffee beans that helps to reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Another way chlorogenic acid affects the body is that it helps to reduce blood pressure and weight loss and in some studies, it has shown to reduce blood sugar levels.

Magnesium — each cup of coffee contains about 7 mg of magnesium. Because Americans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables we do not take in enough magnesium for our bodies. This is where coffee comes to help us with our magnesium intake.

Potassium — now each cup of coffee does contain about 116 mg of potassium. Our body needs about 4700 mg of potassium every day. So coffee does not give us enough potassium but it does help to fill in the need and get us closer to our mark of what we need.

Caffeine — caffeine itself is an antioxidant. Caffeine can help cure headaches help with losing weight and help with preventing diabetes.

Overall coffee has more antioxidants then both green and black teas and red wine, Coffee is the world's largest source of antioxidants.

The health benefits of coffee.

Reduces the risk of cancer — the antioxidant properties in coffee have been linked in several studies to help flush out toxins that may lead to protein and DNA damage by free radicals.

Coffee curves premature aging — the antioxidants and coffee help alleviate the danger from ultraviolet rays and helps prevent skin cancer.

Coffee helps prevent cognitive decline — drinking coffee helps prevent mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and some other forms of dementia.

What does caffeine do for the brain?

Caffeine being the one main antioxidant in coffee that helps to boost brain function. One caffeine hits the brain it changes our Nero-transmitter’s. The change of these transmitters helps to improve her mood, attention span, reaction time, and overall mental function.

According to Alzheimer’s.net Coffee is linked to delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and some other forms of dementia. Caffeine is noted to block inflammation in the brain specifically adenosine receptors.

Also according to Alzheimer’s.net adults over the age of 65 who had high levels of caffeine in their blood were prone to avoid or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.

How long does caffeine state active in your system?

According to healthline.com reports that caffeine can stay active in the body for 5 to 6 hours but the peak effects are within 30 to 60 minutes after the consumption of the caffeine.

But since caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant it only takes about 15 minutes to reach your brain and give you any noticeable effect on your alertness. At this point, you should feel more awake and less tired and also help with headaches and migraines.

When it comes to drinking coffee moderation is the key. If coffee is consumed late in the day it could cause problems for your sleep. Also if coffee is consumed in excess the caffeine and coffee can cause anxiety heart palpitations and the jitters.

Also, Women that are pregnant children, and adolescents need to limit the amount of caffeine they take in.

Conclusion

People all over the world consume millions of cups of coffee every day. But there are also many people that do not tolerate the taste of the coffee. For these people drinking tea can you also give you the same health benefits as coffee.

But just like everything else we need to consume coffee and tea in moderation.