Is coffee actually good for you?

Coffee is a staple for most people; especially all you shift workers out there.  With more and more neighbourhoods welcoming the rise and rise of quirky, fashionista coffee houses, it’s no surprise that Americans, astonishingly, can drink around 280 million cups per day, whereas the Brits can drink around 55 million cups a day – yes, a day!  Anyone fancy opening a coffee shop up with me?

However, with coffee being such a key factor within our diet, is it actually good for your health?

How healthy coffee is has been a controversial subject for years.  It really does depend on who you ask.  You have the die hard coffee fans, who will claim it is the key to life, and then the opposite,  who claim it is the drink of the devil.

So here we have it, and before you run out and buy gallons of the stuff, drinking in healthy quantities, coffee can be good for your health!  Like everything, too much of a good thing can be bad for you; not houmous though, you can never have too much houmous!

Coffee has, for many years, been a mood booster.  If you feel tired or lethargic, what do you do? A quick answer to many is to drink coffee.  It’s not rocket science; with all the advertisements and products out there, caffeine is a stimulant.  Caffeine perks you up by blocking the function of an inhibitory neurotransmitter, a hormone in the brain, called adenosine.

Blocking adenosine allows caffeine to increase brain activity, releasing other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine.  These are a god send as they help to reduce tiredness, make us feel alert, increase attention and decrease fatigue.

Coffee is not only just rocket fuel to wake you up, it’s also packed full of nutrients and vitamins – vitamins B2, B5, B1, B3, folate, magnesium, potassium and phosphorous.  All of these vitamins are essential for a healthy body.

Surprisingly, the benefits don’t just stop there.  You can reap the rewards by getting more antioxidants from drinking coffee than from eating fruit and vegetables.  Antioxidants protect the body from damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.  Free radicals are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

So there you have it, coffee, in moderation, can benefit your health! Macchiato anyone?

 

Cx. for My Healthcare Rewards