10 Unexpected Health Benefits of Coffee
Many people can’t get through the day without their morning cup of coffee. Over the years many claims have been made about coffee – it’s been touted as everything from a hangover cure to a weight loss aid.
I decided to investigate the facts about coffee’s health benefits. Like any other substance, consuming too much coffee is not healthy. That said, coffee is a powerful herb with medicinal properties. In fact, as a nurse, I have recommended drinking a cup of coffee as an emergency aid for the relief of breathing problems.
Let’s take a look at some of coffee’s medicinal uses, including some interesting research about possible disease prevention.
1. Coffee Can Aid Weight Loss
Some people do lose weight when they drink coffee. Coffee contains caffeine and other stimulating compounds, so it speeds up your metabolism and can help you to lose weight. My sister used to fill up on coffee, so she did not eat as much. She did maintain a healthy weight, but she was anxious and had an upset stomach frequently.
That said, some people may notice they gain weight drinking coffee – especially if the ritual of having a cup of coffee means eating a donut simultaneously.
Green coffee beans and their extract are useful as weight loss aids. I do not believe that they are the “miracle” many advertisers promote them to be, but green coffee extracts can be helpful adjuncts to a well-balanced diet and exercise program for weight loss.
Resources
NCBI (Effects of tea and coffee on cardiovascular disease risk)NCBI (Current evidence for the use of coffee and caffeine to prevent age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease)NCBI (Coffee and tea consumption and risk of stroke subtypes in male smokers)NCBI (Modulatory effect of coffee fruit extract on plasma levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in healthy subjects)Nutrition Journal (Coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk: further evidence for inverse relationship)NCBI (Inverse correlation between coffee consumption and prevalence of metabolic syndrome: baseline survey of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study in Tokushima, Japan)Kyushu University (Intake of Japanese and Chinese teas reduces risk of Parkinson's disease)NCBI (Effects of green tea, black tea, and coffee consumption on the risk of esophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies)
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