Photo (c) Drazen Zigic - Getty ImagesWhile many consumers worry about their coffee intake, recent studies have found that the popular morning beverage could come with countless health benefits, including fighting obesity.
Now,
researchers at Anglia Ruskin University have found that having two to
three cups of coffee per day could help women keep off excess body fat.
“Our
research suggests that there may be bioactive compounds in coffee other
than caffeine that regulate weight which could potentially be used as
antiobesity compounds,” said
researcher Dr. Lee Smith. “It could be that coffee, or its effective
ingredients, could be integrated into a healthy diet strategy to reduce
the burden of chronic conditions related to the obesity epidemic.”
Health benefits of caffeine
To
understand what health benefits consumers can reap from coffee, the
researchers evaluated responses to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
They looked specifically at how coffee consumption affected consumers’
trunk fat and overall body fat.
Overall, greater coffee
consumption was linked with a reduction in body fat, but more
significant changes were seen in women than in men.
The
researchers learned that body fat was nearly three percent lower
overall for women who drank two to three cups of coffee per day, but
older women benefitted even more from the extra boost of caffeine. For
those in the 45-69 year-old age group, having two to three coffees each
day was linked with over four percent lower body fat, whereas for
younger women, body fat was lowered by roughly 3.5 percent.
The
study also found that it didn’t matter whether the participants drank
decaf or fully caffeinated coffee, as the results remained consistent.
Because
caffeine affects everyone differently, it’s important that consumers to
know how much their bodies can handle before upping their coffee intake
each day. However, for those that can manage adding an extra cup or two
each day, coffee could help maintain a healthy weight.
Kristen Dalli is a New York native and recent
graduate of Marist College. She has worked as a writer and editor for
several different companies and publications, including Thought Catalog,
The Oddysey, Thomas Greco Publishing, and several travel blogs.
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One of the largest longitudinal studies to date examined evening consumption of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine among an African-American cohort and objectively measured sleep outcomes in their natural environments instead of laboratory or observatory settings. The study involved 785 participants and totaled 5,164 days of concurrent actigraphy and daily sleep diaries that recorded how much alcohol, caffeine or nicotine they consumed within four hours of bedtime. Results may be good news for coffee lovers, bad news for smokers.
Could coffee do more than
just stimulate alertness and stress out the adrenals? What if there was
more going on to this ritualistic beverage consumed by billions around
the world than just caffeine addiction? What if it was medicine for both
the body and soul?
That coffee possesses 'drug-like' properties, we know quite well.
Some of us, in fact, revel in its addictive properties, as it comes with
a certain -- albeit a tad bit pathological -- industriousness. After
all, is there anyone more disciplined/obsessed than a coffee drinker --
at least, that is, when it comes to acquiring and drinking coffee? You
can set your clocks with exactitude to the performance of their daily
coffee-associated machinations, to the point where some coffee makers
already have built in clocks, so as not to delay or miss any opportunity
for its owner to imbibe. The type of sober religiosity required to
turn drinking a beverage into a ritual is known only by a few Zen tea
drinkers and quite possibly billions of habitual coffee drinkers.
"It
is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical
need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as
some kind of recreational activity." ~ David Barry
Let us also not forget that one of the first documented uses of
coffee over 500 years ago was in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen where coffee was known as qahhwat al-bun, or, the
'wine of the bean,' the phrase which provided the etymological origin
of the word coffee. Once lauded as a "miracle drug" and used as a
sacrament in late-night rituals to invoke the sensation of God within
revelers, still today, coffee drinkers are known to cast themselves into
bouts of coffee-drinking induced reverie and enthusiasm (literally: en "in" + theos "god" or "god-filled") by drinking this strangely intoxicating, and yet somehow still sobering concoction.
It is interesting that even addictions can be viewed as a form of
ritual -- albeit degenerated ones performed semi- or subconsciously.
But that cup of Joe gets many of us up in the morning to perform our
secular duties, which says a lot considering what many of us are forced
or coerced to do for a living.
While many attribute coffee's vise-like hold on their physiology to
its caffeine content, there is much more going on than simply a fixation
on a 'stimulant.' It has been known for over a quarter of a century
that coffee contains a compound known as cafestrol with significant opiate-like properties and which is found within both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee
forms. The 'narcotic' properties of coffee, therefore, are no doubt due
to a complex interplay between a wide range of compounds -- not just a
stimulant, but an opioid agonist as well.
Coffee is also a 'brain-booster' and contains a compound called trigonelline
which in vitro research both stimulates the release of dopamine (not
unlike cocaine), and stimulates neurite outgrowth, which involves the
extension of dendrites and axons in neurons and which may compensate and
rescue damaged neuronal networks in the aging brain.
One of history's greatest nutrition philosophers, Rudolf Hauschka, described coffee's action on our body-mind as follows:
"Coffee makes us more aware of our bodily structure. And
since this structure is so wise and logical, our thoughts become logical
in their awareness of it. Coffee thus helps thinking to find a firm
foundation. The connection between bodily being and thinking, keeps
calling itself to our attention. Coffee has the same effect on digestion
that thought has on our upper man, i.e., a properly ordered metabolism
goes hand in hand with orderly thinking. Both are founded on a properly
ordered physical structure." ~ Rudolf Hauschka, Nutrition: A Holistic Approach
Coffee is also one of the only sources of "bitters" remaining in the
sweet-fixated Western diet, which sadly comes with a certificate of
guarantee that the bearer will likely develop type 2 diabetes, heart
disease or a receive a cancer diagnosis at some point in their life.
Could the extreme bitterness of coffee be the reason why it has been repeatedly shown to reduce type 2 diabetes risk,
as it is one of the only ways we can balance out the highly
inappropriate excesses of carbohydrate in our modern dietary
configuration?
We don't normally think of grains as sweet, but they are on the
glycemic index. Puffed rice, for instance, can make the blood sweeter
than white sugar which is why 'complex' carbs are known as "crouching
diabetes, hidden sugar." Coffee contains a wide range of blood-glucose
and insulin sensitizing compounds, making it an ideal complement to a
carbohydrate-deranged diet.
Coffee also awakens and stimulates the Qi, as it is known in the
Chinese medical tradition. This was recently discussed in an article
entitled "Similarity between the effects of coffee and qi stimulating events".
While raising Qi through exercise and energy work is the ideal
situation, coffee provides a short-cut which is the modus operandi in
the modern world: instant gratification in exchange for (energy)
indebtedness.
When used responsibly,* however, coffee may be a great boon to health, and has even been studied to provide an alternative to commonly prescribed drugs with serious side effects like prednisolone. There are, in fact, over 100 potential health applications of coffee as documented on our coffee research database node.
We have also identified 33 distinct 'pharmacological actions' coffee
may activate to produce positive health results. Just make sure its
organic and prepared with clean, toxicant-free water. Learn more about
coffee's potential health benefits by clicking the image below:
Disclaimer:
This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or
treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of
GreenMedInfo or its staff.
Newswise — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A study by Indiana University researchers has identified 24 compounds -- including caffeine -- with the potential to boost an enzyme in the brain shown to protect against dementia.
The protective effect of the enzyme, called NMNAT2, was discovered last year through research conducted at IU Bloomington. The new study appears today in the journal Scientific Reports.
"This work could help advance efforts to develop drugs that increase levels of this enzyme in the brain, creating a chemical 'blockade' against the debilitating effects of neurodegenerative disorders," said Hui-Chen Lu, who led the study. Lu is a Gill Professor in the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, a part of the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.
Previously, Lu and colleagues found that NMNAT2 plays two roles in the brain: a protective function to guard neurons from stress and a “chaperone function” to combat misfolded proteins called tau, which accumulate in the brain as "plaques" due to aging. The study was the first to reveal the "chaperone function" in the enzyme.
Coffee lovers will welcome this news that Coffee enhances Memory. As most plants have some medicinal benefits this comes as no surprise. Enjoy the article below:
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