Love your morning cup of joe? You’re about to love it even more. The more coffee is studied, the more research shows that for most people, moderate coffee drinking offers some health benefits while posing minimal risk. More specifically, coffee may offer protection against Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. It also contains some powerful antioxidants, which are thought to be good for overall health.
The cons of coffee? More than 3 cups per day may offer for risks than benefits, not to mention cause symptoms like anxiety, restlessness, irritability, and sleeplessness because of the caffeine, so it’s really moderate coffee drinking that’s considered healthy. We also must be careful with what we add to coffee, because it’s additions — cream, sugar, flavorings, whipped cream — are high in calories and low in nutrients.
Moral of the story: if you follow the old adage “everything in moderation,” you can rest assured that your daily cup or two of coffee is not just a pleasurable routine, but also good for you.
5 Comments
kari
July 16, 2011 at 4:05 pmthanks for providing insight into this sometimes confusing subject! using the adage “everything in moderation” is a good rule of thumb in almost every food situation!
Amelia
July 17, 2011 at 1:56 pmYou got it! Not a fun or interesting adage but it sure does speak the truth!
Meg Gluckman
July 25, 2011 at 7:51 pmI’ve only drank decaf ever since being pregnant with my little munchkin. Do you know if the benefits are still there in decaf? I have no idea how coffee is “decaffeinated.” Are some processes better/healthier than others?
Amelia
July 26, 2011 at 12:17 pmGood question! Studies mostly focus on regular coffee, so the research on decaf is less persuasive. The process of decaffeinating is controversial — some people think that unnatural nature of decaffeinating coffee results in a less healthy product. I’ll do some more research for you on this. Until then, look for coffee that says “naturally decaffeinated” (organic coffee might be more likely to display a label like this) to be sure you’re getting the best possible product.
Emilse
September 6, 2011 at 3:30 pmHi My name is Emilse and I’m studying at Bauman College, Hoistic Nutrition Consultant. I was wondering where do you get this information. It seems that moderation for so many people is like 1 coffee a day. I don’t support drinking coffee, I think there are many other ways to get “protection against Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s and some powerful antioxidants”
I’m also interested in your answer to Gluckman.