Pretty much everyone who drinks coffee has had someone tell them at least once in their life that they “shouldn’t drink that stuff — it’s bad for you!” Well, coffee genuinely is addicting, but that doesn’t mean it is bad for you. In fact, there is quite a lot of evidence that coffee actually has some major health benefits. Doctors don’t even always understand why coffee has the effects it does, but they are undeniable.
Here are a few things you can share with the next person who tells you that coffee is bad for you:
- Coffee improves digestion. Much like getting enough fiber, coffee tends to improve your body’s digestive function. The drink is a mild laxative, so drinking coffee every morning actually helps keep you “regular.
- Coffee lowers your risk of colon cancer. Partly because it helps to keep your bowel movements regular, coffee also decreases the risk of colon cancer. Diets that include lots of fiber have also been shown to have this effect — basically anything that keeps things moving in your intestines helps protect you against colon cancer.
- Coffee can eliminate a headache. You may have noticed that drinking your morning cup of coffee sometimes results in a headache you already had going away. Sometimes this is because you are addicted to caffeine, and the headache is because you need your next fix. However, this is not always the case. Caffeine also constricts your blood vessels, minimizing pain so that you no longer feel the headache.
- Coffee protects you from heart attack. Medical science has identified LDL cholesterol as leading to heart attacks. While HDL cholesterol seems to protect the heart, LDL is the stuff that clogs arteries and causes problems. Coffee, however, contains antioxidants that prevent LDL cholesterol from causing damage to the heart.
- Coffee makes you less likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes. Studies on people who drink a lot of coffee have shown a significantly reduced risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. You will have to drink quite a bit of coffee in order to reap this particular benefit — six cups a day, minimum — but the end result may be well worth it, as you will be a third less likely to get Type 2 Diabetes.
- Coffee makes certain diseases of the brain less likely. Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects the brain’s memory functions, usually as people age. Parkinson’s is another disease of the brain that you may have heard of, affecting the motion control center of the brain. The good news is that heavy coffee drinkers appear to have some protection against both of these scary diseases. For instance, they are 65 percent less likely to develop dementia.
Coffee is really an amazing drink. Not only does it help us wake up in the morning and give us the energy we need to face our busy days, but it also offers a wide range of health benefits, some of them quite substantial. Who wouldn’t want to lower their risk of developing dementia by two-thirds, or make themselves a third less likely of getting Type 2 Diabetes? The fountain of eternal youth is just a legend, but coffee may come the closest of any drink we have to offering that mythical drink.
About the Author
Vern Marker is a writer on a variety of topics including the health benefits of coffee. She is well-versed on everything related to coffee, from coffee makers to coffee beans.
Related posts:
Just about everyone has heard of cataracts but they act...
There is something fundamentally wrong with talking a...
Wheelchair users face day-to-day difficulties that pe...
