
I love coffee! It's a beautiful, natural phenomenon which brings with it a soothing ritual & many health benefits. But there are some cons... So let's take a look at all angles, so that you can make your own decision.
It's no secret that coffee is a stimulant which can boost mood (& brain function), give you energy, help with weight loss & fuel a higher intensity workout, all sounds good to me. But there is a limit which, when crossed, can lead to anxiety, insomnia & caffeine addiction (with some unpleasant withdrawal symptoms).
Now it's important for me to stress that most of the health benefits aren't as a result of the coffee itself, they are down to the caffeine. For example coffee's association with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes is really as simple as caffiene raises your heart rate, energy levels & therefore desire to move more! Moving more means burning more calories, which means a calorie surplus & the resulting weight gain is less likely. This also explains its association with weight loss, higher metabolism & reduced risk of liver disease. This is no bad thing, but as with anything, can have the opposite effect when over consumed.
Coffee can be great for mental health when drunk in reasonable doses (roughly 2-4 cups daily), especially due to the mood boosting counter effects it has on depression & similar mental health conditions. The exception to this is anxiety which, understandably, has a generally negative reaction to the overstimulation caffeine can cause.
However there are some benefits beyond the caffeine. One big benefit I want to focus on is coffee's high antioxidant content (plus some other essential nutrients). Antioxidants help detoxify, reduce the damage of the bodies daily oxidation processes & fight off free radicals (harmful bodily chemicals). This contributes to all round health & feeling good, as well as being linked with reduced risk of all types of cancer. There have even been studies proving coffee can reduce risk of Alzheimer's & Parkinson's by up to 60%. The good news for some is that these antioxidants are just as prevelent in decaf coffee as caffeinated!
One trap people fall into is adding sugar to their coffee which can nullify many of the benefits of coffee, so watch out for that. When drinking coffee with milk, calories consumed increase, however milk is nothing to be scared of as long as you are happy to offset the calories to fit with your goals.
So in summary, coffee is not something I would ever suggest you need to avoid. It is the same story with coffee as with most other luxuries in life, it's a wonderful thing with some amazing benefits, just don't have too much of a good thing! See you next Sunday for another dive into some interesting fitness, nutrition & wellbeing.
Elliot Hutchinson // 05.05.2024
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