Why You Should Drink More Coffee
While once deemed a not-so-good-for-you-beverage, coffee actually has some great benefits.
“The overall evidence has been pretty convincing that coffee has been more healthful than harmful,” said Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Here’s how coffee works in your favor:
✔️Contains polyphenols, aka antioxidants, that fight inflammation and protect against disease
✔️A natural stimulant, caffeine, helps energize our system and keep us alert
✔️Plant compounds (like chlorogenic acids, kahweol, & cafestol) support our immune systems
So what are these elusive compounds and how do they work?
Chlorogenic acids — A polyphenol and the ester of caffeic acid and quinic acid that is found in coffee and black tea, with potential antioxidant and chemopreventive activities. Chlorogenic acid scavenges free radicals, which inhibits DNA damage and may protect against the induction of carcinogenesis. In addition, this agent may upregulate the expression of genes involved in the activation of the immune system and enhance activation and proliferation of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells. *
Kahweol - Kahweol is a diterpenoid with formula C20H26O3, isolated from the beans of Coffea arabica. It exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenesis and anti-proliferative properties. It has a role as an angiogenesis inhibitor, an apoptosis inducer, an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory agent, an antineoplastic agent and a plant metabolite. *
Cafestol - Cafestol is an organic heteropentacyclic compound and furan diterpenoid with formula C20H28O3 obtained from the unsaponifiable fraction of coffee oil (a lipid fraction obtained from coffee beans by organic solvent extraction). It has a role as a plant metabolite, an apoptosis inducer, a hypoglycemic agent, an angiogenesis inhibitor, an antineoplastic agent, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent.