9 Benefits of Coffee | Evidence from Medical Studies

Coffee seems like every worker’s beverage of choice when starting their day. A cup of coffee is like a morning ritual, proven to ensure you have a good day. The reason people are so addicted to coffee is more than the unique taste this beverage provides. There are other benefits of coffee. It has an instant perking effect and helps you relax as well.

Coffee contains caffeine and antioxidants in large quantities which is why coffee brings numerous benefits to human health. Recent studies prove that drinking coffee every day increases attention, improves memory, burns fat, improves physical performance, prevents Type II diabetes, and decreases chances of cancer.

Read on to find out more about the benefits of coffee. 

Coffee Increases Attention Level and Boosts Mental Ability

If you’ve ever felt like a cup of coffee instantly improves your mood and increases productivity, it is because you were feeling the effects of caffeine. Caffeine is the miracle component in coffee that helps give you a boost of energy. Caffeine is a mild stimulant, and it increases excitement in the brain. To do this, caffeine acts against Adenosine. Adenosine is a hormone that makes you feel sleepy. It is produced during the hours your brain is awake. The more it stores up, the sleepier you feel.

Caffeine blocks adenosine from acting in the body. As a result, you do not feel sleepy. When adenosine cannot act, other hormones like dopamine and norepinephrine increase.  Dopamine is a hormone related to pleasure and is the reason you feel good after drinking coffee. Norepinephrine increases heart rate. It helps break down fat to release glucose in the blood. This provides your body with an instant increase in energy and improves productivity as well. 

The theory is further proven by an experiment conducted by JMR Research protocols. The experiment was conducted to understand the effects of caffeine on a person’s mental ability. Each volunteer was given 4 sachets of coffee, 2 with caffeine and 2 without. They were each asked to consume a cup of coffee, after an overnight fast. This cup of coffee was followed by a series of tests that judged alertness and attention. The experiment proved that consuming caffeine improved a person’s attention span drastically.

Different types of coffee have different levels of caffeine content. You can read more about it on our guide to caffeine content in a cup of coffee.

Coffee Helps Burn Fat

One of the main benefits of coffee is that it helps in burning extra fat from your body. As discussed above, coffee has the hormone Norepinephrine which breaks down fat. These fat stores are most of our weight and burning them to release energy is an effective method to lose weight. Caffeine in coffee is also very helpful in losing weight as it reduces the desire to eat.

Coffee increases energy use too, even in your sleep, so that the body constantly uses up the consumed calories and burns down stored fat. Weight loss is one benefit of drinking coffee every day, we can’t resist. The trick is to drink 4 or more cups daily.

Coffee Improves Physical Performance

Among our list of coffee benefits, improved physical performance is one of the most important ones. The primary ingredient of Coffee, caffeine, releases adrenaline and is proven to increase physical performance drastically. Caffeine is ergogenic, which means something that increases the capacity to work. This happens because caffeine increases muscle strength and breaks down muscle to release free fatty acids in the blood. 

According to research published by the National Library of Medicine, caffeine increases physical performance by 12.5%. If you are an athlete, we recommend that you consume coffee daily to gain vital health benefits as well as have a better physical performance too.

Coffee Decreases the Chances of Cancer

Coffee contains different types of antioxidants and diterpenes.  Antioxidants such as polyphenols and hydrocinnamic acids are highly beneficial for the body, as they filter free radicals from the blood. Free radicals in the body are not good as they can become a leading reason for cancer and other diseases.

Similarly, other chemicals in coffee are beneficial to health as they contribute towards reducing the risk of cancer. This includes melanoidins and trigonelline which are also useful in preventing and reducing tumors. According to the American Cancer Society, coffee reduces the risk of prostate cancer, liver cancer, endometrial cancer, and some cancers of the mouth and throat.

Coffee Brings a Fresh Start to The Day

One of the main benefits of coffee is that it brings a fresh start to your mornings. This makes it an important reason why you should consume coffee daily. Many people complain of being lazy at work and staying tired even after they have had ample sleep during the night.

However, just a cup of coffee will ensure that you are active. If you have seen pretty energetic people in your office early in the morning, there are chances that they are on a regular coffee dose at breakfast. Good mornings are definitely one of the benefits of coffee we would all appreciate. The main reason for this is the dose of caffeine that causes an increase in the blood rate as well as kicks in the adrenaline levels.

Coffee Reduces Depression

According to The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, coffee reduces the risk of depression. Data was obtained from 330,677 participants, and the results showed that coffee consumption decreases depression to a major extent. Further studies prove caffeine in coffee has a more productive effect on depression as compared to caffeine in tea. As validated by theories, this is because coffee contains chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid. These acids reduce the irritation of nerve cells, and so stabilize the effects of depression. The benefits of coffee don’t just end, do they?

Coffee Reduces the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and usually expresses itself in the later stages of life. It affects memory, behavior, and thinking, and can grow so serious that people are unable to lead normal lives.  Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the unusual buildup of protein around the brain. This affects the memory sector of the brain first, and this is why people usually start forgetting things.

People who specifically have any kind of memory-related issues should be consuming coffee every day.  As theorized by the National Library of Medicine, consuming 3-5 cups of coffee a day helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 65%, later in life. If you’re looking for ways to improve learning, coffee can be a great solution.

Coffee Protects Against Liver Damage

One reason why doctors claim that drinking 1-3 cups of coffee a day is that it helps prevent liver damage. “We have a lot of evidence that coffee is good for the liver”, says liver specialist Jamile Wakim-Fleming, MD.

With age, the liver of a person starts to give up. It simply does not have the strength it once did. However, there are cases where the liver can give up early in life. The liver can develop scar tissue, as a result of various medical problems. Protection against liver damage is one of the most important health benefits of coffee.

When caffeine is digested, it releases chemicals that stop the liver from scarring. When the scarring becomes too much, the liver has a hard time functioning normally.  Coffee prevents this from happening and makes sure the liver is healthy and safe.

Another benefit of coffee is that it also prevents the liver from storing too much fat. Storing a lot of fat results in a condition called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. One research found the acids in coffee work against the hepatitis B virus as well. This means drinking coffee daily helps Hepatitis patients improve their unstable health condition.

Coffee Is Beneficial in Preventing Type II Diabetes

One reason why you should drink coffee daily is that it helps in the prevention of diabetes. The idea that coffee may help prevent diabetes, has been floating around medical circles for a while now. Drinking black coffee is known to help prevent diabetes because it contains no sugar. There has been recent research that proves people who cannot produce enough insulin, can prevent diabetes by drinking coffee. Chemicals in coffee assist the body in producing insulin.

People who drink 4+ cups a day, lower their chances of diabetes by 50%. Caffeic acid in coffee has been shown to inhibit the production of hlAPP. hlAPP is a protein that gathers in the pancreas. This prevents the pancreas from producing insulin correctly. Caffeic acid stops hlAPP production and protects the pancreatic cells. There are a lot of benefits of coffee for the diabetic.  However, you should not drink more than 4 cups of coffee a day unless it has been advised by your doctor. Excessive consumption of coffee has its drawbacks too.

Why Should You Drink Coffee Daily? – Summary

• Coffee improves mental health and attention span
• Helps in burning fat
• Improves physical performance
• Significantly reduces the risk of cancer
• Gives you a fresh and active start to the mornings
• Reduces depression
• Aids in improved memory function
• Protects against liver damage
• Prevents Type II Diabetes

Conclusion

Coffee is scientifically proven to have chemicals that prevent a diverse bank of diseases and can increase a person’s life span because of the numerous health benefits of coffee. However, like with everything else, coffee must also be taken in moderation. If your coffee consumption is above 3-5 cups a day, you should think of switching to Decaf. This will ensure your lifestyle is not disturbed, and you can still enjoy the benefits of coffee. You can enjoy all the coffee you want, and still, keep your caffeine intake moderate.