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7 reasons why coffee can improve your health

That first coffee in the morning is more than just a treat – it has become a deeply ingrained ritual and many of us can’t imagine how we would start our day without it.

From soy lattes to long blacks, coffee spending in the average Australian household has risen from sixty pence a week in the mid-1970s to $5.77 a week between 2009 and 2010. While the price of coffee has increased during this time, there is no doubt that the Australians’ love affair with coffee is more than just a fling.

We’ve listed seven reasons below that will help keep your coffee dream alive, and they’ll be easy to remember, because coffee is good that way.

COFFEE IS FULL OF ANTIOXIDANTS

Coffee is the largest source of antioxidants in the Western diet, surpassing fresh fruits and vegetables. You would need to eat large amounts of berries to get the amount of antioxidants consumed in a couple of cups of coffee.

Antioxidants are friendly little molecules. They donate electrons to free radicals. Free radicals constantly attack our bodies with unpaired electrons that can interfere with cell structures like proteins and DNA. Delivering electrons to free radicals is the same as giving them a “chill pill” and can result in better overall health.

COFFEE HELPS WITH YOUR MEMORY

Coffee is a well known stimulant. You know that buzz you get when you take your first sip…or even when you smell the coffee? Well, that’s the active ingredient caffeine. In addition to the obvious stimulant effects of caffeine, some studies show that it helps improve the brain’s capacity for memory.

A group of participants took part in a study in which they were asked to recall images displayed on a screen. Some were given a strong caffeine tablet and others were given a placebo. The research showed that those who were given the caffeine tablet were able to recall the images better than those who were given the placebo.

COFFEE CAN HELP WITH DEPRESSION

Have you ever had a coffee and felt your mood improve? A study of more than 50,000 older women over ten years found that those who drank little or no coffee were 15% more likely to experience depression than those who drank coffee every other day or more. Why is that?

Well, coffee helps the brain release dopamine, which sends signals to other nerve cells. But not just any old boring cues… dopamine is related to reward and is responsible for feelings of being in love, happy and motivated.

COFFEE CAN HELP YOU LIVE LONGER

While coffee isn’t a magic elixir that will keep you young, it does have far-reaching health effects, which can help you live longer. Because coffee has been shown to reduce cardiovascular and neurological disease, as well as lower the risk of suicide, studies have shown that it reduces the risk of mortality among coffee drinkers for those reasons.

COFFEE MAY LOWER THE RISK OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

Energy is created in our body thanks to insulin. When your body doesn’t have enough insulin, you risk developing type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes.

Some researchers believe that type 2 diabetes is caused by a buildup of a protein called HIAPP, which in turn can cause cells in the pancreas to die. Three compounds found in a regular cup of coffee helped stop this toxic buildup, protecting the pancreas and lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes.

COFFEE MAY REDUCE THE RISK OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, there is some speculation about what causes the disease. Accumulation of amyloid beta is suspected to cause Alzheimer’s disease, a protein in the brain, and is found to be more consistently increased in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Your friend coffee can reduce beta amyloid levels, and studies have shown that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than their non-coffee-drinking counterparts.

YOUR LIVER LOVES COFFEE

We’ve probably saved the best for last: drinking more coffee can help reduce the damage caused by overindulging in food and alcohol.

Using more than 430,000 study participants and data from previous studies, the researchers found that those who drank two or more cups of coffee per day were 44% less likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver among those surveyed. It all goes back to the high level of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties in coffee. But be careful… adding sugars, syrups or whiskey to coffee is not recommended as they can cause stress on the liver.

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