I love coffee. I am not a connoisseur, but I love it. In the August 2009 copy of Self they touted that coffee has some amazing benefits.
The article, well, it is not so much an article as a few pages filled with pictures and facts, has one statement that says that if you want the healthiest coffee you should stick to the home brewed kind because the paper filters catch coffee compounds that can raise cholesterol.
Here are some highlights from that article. The information suggests that coffee MAY:
- assist in the prevention of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
- help your teeth with its “antibacterial and antiadhesive powers”
- reduce the risk of oral cancer by half
- help in limited cancer cell growth and DNA damage
- reduce the risk of breast cancer (in premenopausal women that drink 4 cups of regular coffee a day)
- help prevent gallstones
- reduce risk of nonmelanoma
- reduce chances of diabetes for people who drink 3 to 4 cups of regular or decaf
Information also states that drinking from 300 mg (3 cups of home brew) to 500 mg (16 oz Starbucks Pike Place Roast) in an hour could possibly make you panicky, increase stress hormones, and raise blood pressure.
Way surprising to me, it says that a shot of espresso “has less caffeine than a cup of drip does. Plus, one downside of espresso is that it may raise cholesterol.”
It also suggests to eat your cereal and dairy later, after your coffee because coffee might block the absorption of iron from fortified grains and could lower calcium uptake.
The pages reveal, along with a lot of other publications I’ve been seeing recently, that coffee helps you get through your workout. Not only does it give you a zing, it seems to block your brain from knowing your muscles are tired.
Those are just some highlights that somewhat focus on the health benefits.
Even though I teach my morning Nia classes in Willow Glen not too far from where I live, so I don’t have to get up super early, I still think I have more energy in the morning when I drink coffee. I don’t have any before I teach my evening class in San Jose, nor my late afternoon one in Los Gatos. But I feel like I need that extra “wake-up” in the morning. Do you drink coffee before your workout?
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