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Is Coffee Good for Your Health?
Advantages and disadvantages of drinking coffee
Published January 3, 2022
Tanya Nanetti
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
Is coffee good for your health?
Old school myths and legends told us that coffee is not a healthy beverage.
“It’s the devil’s drink!” was said two centuries ago by the Catholic Church; “It’s bad for your health!” it’s still said more time than it should.
But where lies the truth?
Well, simple as fact, the truth is that coffee is not bad at all, but actually quite the contrary. What follows is just a short list of benefits you can get from drinking your daily cup (or cups) of coffee.
To be clear however, this list regards a simple, nice cup of black coffee, with no sugar and no milk added. This is not because sugar and milk would cancel the benefits of coffee, but rather because sugar and milk can actually be not so good for your health if consumed too much, and excess intake of sugar has been linked to health issues like diabetes and obesity.
Coffee helps your heart
One of the false – and most famous – myths historically associated with coffee, is that it’s bad for your heart.
Luckily, this is not true. Studies discovered that the human body get accustomed to caffeine, and that it helps protect the body from cardiovascular diseases, reducing the risk of stroke. Of course, in case of elevated blood pressure it’s best to not drink too much coffee, but a couple of cups a day are perfectly fine for everyone. Most people with no preexisting health conditions can safely tolerate 3 or 4 cups a day.
Increases the metabolism helping burning fat
Coffee is the perfect help if you’re on a diet: it increases your metabolism helping your body to burn fat, converting it into the energy the body needs. That’s why coffee will help you losing weight.
Coffee boosts energy levels, and helps you being more focused
As everyone knows, coffee contains caffeine which is a natural stimulant that helps keep the mind alert and the body energized. How does it work? The caffeine is absorbed in the bloodstream, that helps it reaching the brain. In the brain, caffeine blocks a neurotransmitter called adenosine which causes tiredness. By blocking this action, caffeine induces alertness and a feeling of being energized. It may also boost serotonin and dopamine which gives you a rush of energy and satisfaction.
Plus, coffee is also good for your mind: it helps your concentration, your mood, your reaction time, and your memory. It will for sure help you being more focused… and helps you to not fall asleep during a really boring day at work!
Coffee contains various micro-nutrients valuable for the human body
Even if some of the micro-nutrients naturally presents in the coffee disappear during the roasting process, some others remain. In your average cup of coffee, you’ll find some vitamins of the B group, together with potassium, magnesium and manganese.
It can help protecting against Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer's
Recent studies show that regular coffee drinkers have between 60% (for Parkinson’s) and 65% (for Alzheimer’s) lower risk of developing these really serious diseases. In both cases is still not really clear why, but the results are quite certain.
Can help protect against diabetes
Coffee contains a powerful antioxidant (chlorogenic acid) that helps in protecting the liver, while at the same time inhibiting the excessive production of insulin. This is why coffee drastically lowers the risk of developing diabetes.
Can help protecting against some type of cancer
In recent years, studies discovered that coffee can also help protecting from some types of cancer, reducing the risk of liver cancer up to 40%, and the risk of colorectal cancer up to 15%.
So here you have plenty of reasons to keep drinking your daily cup of coffee! For the best health results, try to avoid excessive sugar and milk in your coffee and avoid exceeding the daily recommended limit of 4 cups.
About the author
Tanya Nanetti
I'm Tanya, originally from Italy but citizen of the world. I'm a specialty coffee barista (based in Portugal, at the moment) and a freelance writer (check out my articles on Barista Magazine!). Plus, I'm half of the team behind Coffee Insurrection, a website about specialty coffee with a focus on the community: I'm co-creator, SMM and content writer. I'm available for coffee consulting (both online and in house) and for writing work.
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