The Surprising Health Benefits of Coffee, Backed by Science

If you’re like most of us, you love having a cup of coffee to kickstart your morning. It helps you feel focused, wakes up your brain, and gets you feeling just a tad more excited about your busy day.

But did you know that drinking coffee every morning has astounding health benefits?

Keep reading to check out some of the ways coffee boosts your health and well-being.

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It’s Packed with Antioxidants

Antioxidants are key in protecting your body from aging, oxidative damage, and even cancer. You may think of leafy greens or colorful fruits when you hear someone talking about antioxidants. But those aren’t the only foods packed with these nutrients.

One of the incredible health benefits of coffee is that it’s rich in antioxidants.

Just one cup every day gives you a flood of these protective molecules. In fact, this study published in 2013 found that naturally roasted coffee is packed with as many antioxidants as green tea!

So, don’t panic too much if you’re someone who struggles getting enough fruits and vegetables every day. Your coffee habit is helping you out when it comes to meeting your daily antioxidant intake.

Helps You Maintain a Healthy Weight

There are conflicting opinions out there about coffee and weight loss. And if you’re someone who wants to be at a healthy weight, but also loves coffee, you might be wondering what science has to say about it.

Well, we’ve got good news. Coffee can speed up your metabolism and help you keep off those extra pounds.

According to a study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, drinking coffee can help you reach your weight loss goals. Specifically, this study found that four cups of coffee a day reduced body fat by about 4%.

That means that wonderful cup of java you look forward to each day is keeping you leaner, too!

 

Improves Brain Power

We all drink coffee for that caffeine-kick to fuel us through our days. Too much caffeine can be a bad thing, but moderate amounts of caffeine boost your mood and brain power.

Caffeine has significant short-term benefits, which is probably why we gravitate towards it in our groggy-morning state.

This study found that caffeine boosts memory in young adults in their non-optimal time of the day: the early morning, when we all need it most.

But is a long-term boost in brain function also a health benefit of coffee?

This review out of Practical Neurology notes that lifelong coffee consumption has been associated with prevention of cognitive decline. This includes a lower risk of developing stroke, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease.

All this to say that your coffee habit, along with a healthy diet, can make you more focused, increase your memory, and boost your brain health in the long run.

Powers You Through Your Workouts

You probably know that fitness is an important part of lifelong health. And if you’re reading this article, chances are you love coffee just as much (or more) than you love your workout routine.

Remarkably, coffee can help you reach and go beyond your fitness goals.

This study from the Journal of Sports medicine found that low doses of caffeine (less than 200mg) before exercise can improve short-term high intensity training. It also notes that low or very low doses of caffeine can boost performance in prolonged exercise.

This means you don’t need to overload on caffeine before you work out. But a regular-sized cup of coffee offers amazing benefits when it comes to your fitness routine.

Coffee Protects Your Liver

Our livers work hard for us every single day. They’re arguably the hardest working organ in our bodies, with their main job being cleaning our blood.

Surprisingly, coffee offers significant health benefits for your liver.

This study in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology took a closer look at how coffee protects against certain liver diseases.

The researchers found that drinking two or more cups of coffee a day is associated with “lower incidence of fibrosis and cirrhosis, lower hepatocellular carcinoma rates, as well as decreased mortality.”

The reasons for this astonishing health benefit of coffee are not exactly known. But one thing is for sure: coffee is a healthy addition to your diet if you want to boost your liver health.

Coffee Can Help You Liver Longer

A mind-blowing benefit of coffee is that it can actually help you live longer. This might not come as much of a surprise if you’ve read this far. Coffee clearly has a host of extraordinary benefits when it comes to your well-being. But for many, this is staggering news.

A meta-analysis by the European Journal of Epidemiology looked at previous research linking coffee consumption to lower rates of mortality.  They concluded that moderate coffee consumption, or two-to-four cups a day, is linked to lower rates of all-cause mortality compared to people who drank no coffee at all.

Another interesting fact is that it doesn’t seem to matter if the coffee is caffeinated or not. This means that even if you’re trying to cut back on the caffeine, your decaf coffee is still helping you live a longer, healthier life.

Choose Cold Brew for Even Healthier Coffee

Cold brew coffee has all the benefits of regular coffee but is steeped at room temperature or in the fridge over several hours, instead of brewed quickly with hot water.

This means the coffee is smoother, more full-flavored, and less acidic. And this makes it easier on the stomach. Cold brew, like regular coffee, is still packed with antioxidants and has even been linked to immune health.

If you want to add the boosted health benefits of cold brew into your routine, check out our specialty grade, artisan roasted cold brew growlers.

And because cold brew is naturally sweeter, so you can skip the sugar and still enjoy a delicious cup of coffee.

The Takeaway

The health benefits of coffee make it an unlikely hero. It’s packed with antioxidants, helps you maintain a healthy weight, protects your liver, fuels your workouts, and improves your brain power.

Most of us would never think our coffee habit could have so many benefits. But the research says otherwise.

Of course, drinking excessive amounts of anything isn’t good for you. But enjoying a moderate amount of coffee can boost your well-being and make you a happier, heathier person.