Drinking coffee in the morning is a common habit for many people all over the world, but just few of us know all the benefits and disadvantages that the beverage causes for our health. It’s important to pay attention to them especially if you are drinking coffee on a daily basis because of some unexpected effects that it might cause.
So here are the interesting benefits and disadvantages of coffee that you might be surprised about.
Benefits of coffee:
- Good for brain performance
Coffee contains some antioxidants that lower the risk of having brain diseases. Having coffee regularly improves your short-term performance and helps to avoid depression. So that’s where the feeling of boost after a cup of coffee comes from and gives you the energy for the whole.
- Weight loss and good nutrients
Coffee plays a good role in your digestion and boosts your metabolism naturally. It makes the calories burn faster, so you may consider it as an additional factor if you are struggling to lose some weight. In addition to that, it contains some essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals (B2, B3, B5, potassium, magnesium, manganese) that make your diet more balanced.
- Detoxification
Some of the coffee antioxidants are involved in helping our bodies to get rid of harmful toxins. That is a thing to consider for those who want to improve the look of the skin as the acne can be slightly treated by the coffee’s anti-inflammatory properties.
- Makes your workouts more effective
The caffeine keeps your body alert and gives it enough energy to go through the physical challenges of the long workouts. Drink coffee 45-60 mins before the beginning of the workout to give yourself some additional boost. It’s important to control how much caffeine you take, so you can find the right dosage for yourself. In this case using the same coffee maker at home would be very handy because an average person needs 1-2 cups of espresso to get 100 mg of caffeine. That will be enough for the long workout.
- Reduces the chance of Type 2 Diabetes
Coffee contains compounds called chlorogenic acid and quinides. Those are very strong antioxidants that help our bodies to control the level of the blood sugar. That causes the glucose to be processed better. If you want to get more benefits from it, it’s better to switch to decaf coffee because the caffeine lowers the effects of this benefit.
Disadvantages of coffee:
- It takes time to make coffee
The daily ritual of making coffee might be a struggle for some of us. It’s very time-consuming, especially if you have to do the grinding and roasting at home. The option of buying ready-made coffee outside is a good option for those who are always in a rush, but that doesn’t always give you the chance to try the wide variety of the tastes that the coffee can offer.
- Coffee may be the reason for your anxiety or insomnia
Over-consumption is a common problem for many coffee lovers. It might get you into a vicious circle of need for coffee if you make this beverage the main source of your daily energy. Too much caffeine has a drastic effect on your blood pressure, causes additional stress, irritability and insomnia. Pay attention to how you are feeling and reduce the amount of coffee if you feel like something is bothering you all the time for no reason.
- Caffeine sensitivity and health problems
Some people are allergic or intolerant to caffeine. The consequences of that might show up in different ways from slight digestive issues to more serious ones like pain or breaking out in hives. In this case you should definitely see your doctor and follow the recommendations. You might need to exclude coffee from your diet completely.
- Bad environmental impact
The cheap kinds of coffee that you can see in the regular grocery stores are made of the beans that were grown in an unnatural way. A huge number of farms that grow coffee don’t give much care about what their business does to the environment. The process of deforestation for coffee plantations grows rapidly and makes the soil devastated. In these conditions it takes 15 years to make those territories unsuitable for any cultivation.
- Levels up cholesterol
Coffee lovers who prefer to drink French press coffee should pay special attention to this disadvantage. The consumption of unfiltered coffee raises the level of “bad” cholesterol. That is definitely a serious thing to consider and talk to your doctor about. Different coffee brewing methods offer better options with filtration that don't cause such a bad impact on your health. Brewing coffee using paper filters is much better because it helps to reduce the amount of that cholesterol and keeps you healthier.
So here are 5 benefits and 5 disadvantages of drinking coffee that you should pay attention to. Keeping this information in your mind will help you to take into consideration the factors that might negatively impact on your health as well as get the best from this common beverage on the other hand.