As parts of the busy and always moving society, chances are we turn to black coffee for our daily energy jolt or just the general pick-me-up feelings. Some swear by it as their irreplaceable daily need, some other are skeptical and often bemoan about the addictive of caffeine in it. Be it as it may, we can never deny the fact that caffeine is the most widely used stimulant throughout the world. Amidst the controversy, wide range of researches have been finding more and more health benefits that comes with the cup of coffee.
While some might disagree, we daresay that coffee is one of the best beverages in the world. It has so many benefits on so many aspects that some people would go at such a length to dub it “elixir of life”, “heaven in a cup” and some other nicknames. Truth to be told, coffee is really that good, and even more so when it is savored in its glorious, no-sugar, black form.
In fact, without sugar, the benefits of black coffee are even more numerous. That’s because the bad things caused by sugar are completely non-existent, leaving only the pure goodness of the black coffee itself. Added sugar have been known to be linked to some serious health problems such as diabetes, teeth problems, liver problems, obesity, and even heart diseases. Therefore, in the following paragraphs we will discuss the health benefits of black coffee without sugar.
Also read:
1. Boosts Our Memories
Ever wondered why is coffee shop such a great place to discuss ideas and do some memory-dependant works such as writing? Turns out, numerous studies have shown that caffeine has positive effects on long-term memories. The studies also found that caffeine also helps boosting working memory in higher dose.
The slight boosts in long term memories are mainly shown in the context of recalling tip-of-the-tongue words. Those who consume black coffee on daily basis for an extended period of time have shown to have less tip-of-the-tongue issues than those who don’t drink black coffee or drink it for shorter time period. While the working memory boost is shown in the test whose subjects are required to recall several set of words. Indeed, that is the health benefits of black coffee without sugar.
Also read:
2. Greatly Helps in Weight Loss
Still thinking that tea is the best beverages to enhance your diet? Well, you’re in for some surprise. Many studies suggested that caffeine can enhance our metabolism by stimulating the fat oxidation in our bodies, thus significantly speed up the fat-burning processes.
Drinking black coffee can also slightly increase the calories expenditure. The increase in energy consumption causes the overall energetic feelings and prompting the body to burn fat as the main energy stores to fulfill the increasing calories requirement.
Also read:
3. Keep the Heart Healthy
If you want to maintain your cardiovascular health as well as protecting your heart from any problems later in life, you can never go wrong with drinking black coffee. With the increased metabolism, few of the main causes of heart diseases can be eliminated. Black coffee drinkers also fully benefits from the caffeine contents which help stimulating and maintaining regular heartbeat and thus keeping the blood circulation in check.
In maintaining the cardiovascular health, caffeine works by decreasing the level of inflammation which might harm the heart. Caffeine also boosts metabolism which prevent fat and cholesterol from clogging up the arteries and causing more serious problems such as stroke and heart attack.
Also read:
4. Give Significant Energy Boost
Caffeine has become one of the main ingredients of performance-boosting supplements mainly used by gym-goers. The reason is clear, caffeine has been proven to boost physical performance by about 11-12%. It works by increasing the adrenaline levels in the blood, which priming the overall physique for more exertion. Increased adrenaline level also associated with better concentration and improved reaction times.
Moreover, as discussed in the earlier paragraphs, the increased metabolism also plays part in energy boosting. By enhancing the fat-burning processes, caffeine helps stimulating the bodies to prepare more energy which is ready to use for supporting our performances.
Also read:
5. Lowers the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
The effect of caffeine is also shown in the changes of insulin levels, which plays direct part in blood sugar level regulations. By balancing the insulin doses in our bodies, the amount of blood sugar both stored and used as energy consequently get more controllable.
Interestingly enough, some studies suggested that regular caffeine intake eventually induces insulin resistance in the body, which is further related to sugar cravings. Meanwhile, n some other studies, the magnesium and potassium contained in coffee are found to reduce the sugar craving by stimulating the usage of insulin.
Also read:
6. Contains Potent Antioxidants
People might not be aware that coffee does indeed contain some antioxidants, similar to tea. It is even recorded that coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the US diet, although it should be noted that the number one status was mainly due to the fact that the Americans drink coffee more than any other antioxidant sources.
Being originated from plants, coffee naturally inherit the antioxidant properties commonly found in some plant-based compounds. The most prominent antioxidants found in coffee are hydrocinnamic acid and polyphenols. Which is why, starting your day with coffee might help protecting your body against free radicals throughout the day.
Also read:
7. Cleansing the Digestive System
One of the most common deal-breaker with coffee is how diuretic it is towards our body. Having diuretic properties means it stimulates the discharge of excess liquid from urination, which drives us to urinate more often. However, diuretic substances prove to be beneficial to our body health.
By stimulating the discharge of various bodily wastes, coffee can help cleansing the digestive system from various bacteria and thus preventing some parasites to grow and causing trouble in our bodies. In additions, by increasing the frequency of urination, diuretics also help in maintaining the kidneys’ health.
Also read:
8. Helps Preventing Cancer
A handful of researches suggested that drinking black coffee minus the sugar can protect us from many types of cancer. It is said that drinking coffee regularly, about four cups a day, might decrease the risk of prostate cancer in men by 20% and endometrial cancer in women by 25%.
Several studies also shown that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of colon cancer which is associated with type-II diabetes, while even more researches also found that coffee contains many compounds which play parts in inhibiting the multiple pathways for cancer cell to grow. Lastly, the findings show staggering amount of decrease in liver cancer risk, about 40 percent, in regular coffee drinkers.
Also read:
9. Protecting from Old Age Disease
As we get older, we are more exposed to some risks of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Those conditions are met with dreads by most of us, which is why growing old is scary in many ways. Fortunately, drinking coffee is said to decrease the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 25% and might protect our brain from Alzheimer disease.
Caffeine as stimulants are known to increase the dopamine secretions in our bodies. Dopamine is known for its role in producing “rewarded” feelings in our brains. Thanks to dopamine, the parts which are commonly affected by Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions are activated, in turn regenerates the neurons and slows down the decay. Caffeine also suppress the production of cytokines, which are the main cause of inflammations commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Also read:
10. Lighten Up the Mood
There are many ways for us to be happy, one of the most easiest ways is probably by starting our days with a cup of coffee. As discussed form earlier paragraphs, caffeine stimulates the productions of many neurotransmitter such as dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline, which are associated with the feeling of security, joy and alertness.
Those neurotransmitters, besides protecting our brains from many diseases, can do wonder when they work together. Dopamine activates the “reward system” in our brains, gives us motivated feelings to start the day. While serotonin mainly works in maintaining the mood balance. Those two combined with noradrenaline, can make us focused, motivated and feeling secure to face the daily challenges.
Also read:
11. Promotes Focus and Alertness
The main reasons why people drink coffee is that they need the focus and good kicks to start their day. Which is why coffee is so popular among writers, artists and computer programmers. Admittedly, it is not easy to sit all day while keeping ourselves on our works and from getting distracted.
The magical substance known as caffeine is the main cause of it all. By stimulating the heartbeats, activating some neurotransmitters, and boosting the metabolism, caffeine does all the hard work to give us the vigilance and focus we need to plow through all the backlogs.
Also read:
12. Might Prolong Our Lifespan
People might not be messing with us at all when they dub coffee as “elixir of life”. That is thanks to some researches that discovered the potentials of coffee to allow us living longer lives. As it turned out, coffee is found to have the effects on reducing the risks of early deaths.
Early deaths can happen in many ways, whether it’s caused by physical diseases or the mental ones. Coffee is known to protects us against many types of cancers, cardiovascular problems, and complications caused by diabetes, which are prominent causes of premature death. Not only physically, coffee can also treat depressions which are more often than not followed by suicide. Drinking coffee greatly reduces the chances of suicide by 50 percent.
Also read:
13. Makes Us Smarter
Many tests have concluded that caffeine has positive impacts towards our working memories. Working memory itself plays the part of how we remember details and the speed of retaining them. Therefore improved working memories are mostly associated with improved performances in academic tests and some activities where fast decision making and deductions are required.
The explanation of this might lie in how caffeine works. Turns out, one of the caffeine’s effect to the brain is the blockage of adenosine. While adenosine itself is beneficial to maintain the stable heart beats and relieve nervous agitations, the amount of adenosine in our bodies also slows us down and makes us drowsy. Therefore, to get rid of our laziness, caffeine puts the very cause of it to sleep for a while.
Also read:
14. Provides Essential Nutrients
What’s really nice about coffee is that it prove not to be just another stimulants. In fact, many nutrients are reported to be contained in a cup of coffee. The nutrients includes Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Manganese, Potassium and Magnesium.
While the nutritional amounts per cup might not be so impressive (about 2-11% of the RDA), multiple consumptions of coffee is quite common among most people and thus the effects are easily added up to some significance.
Also read:
15. Protects Our Liver
The curative powers of coffee is not to be underestimated. Turns out, coffee has protective properties towards our livers. There are many diseases that might affect the liver. One of the severe liver conditions is called cirrhosis, in which the liver is wounded and replaced by scar tissues. Turns out, drinking coffee might protect from cirrhosis by reducing the risk to about 80 percent.
Also read:
Alright, so those are the tested and true benefits of consuming black coffee without sugar. It is wonderful how as the time changes, sciences have been discovering more and more good things about the miraculous beverage. It is even possible that there might be more health benefits left to be discovered in the future. The point is, withdrawal syndrome aside, the health benefits of black coffee without sugar are so perceivable, so numerous it far outweighs the drawbacks inherent to it.
Finally, if you never really drink coffee before, we hope that reading this article might convince you to start having a cup. Don’t wait until you’re ready to delve in the energetic and joyful world of caffeine, because the next time you know, you’d miss out a lot. Anyway, we thank you for reading, hopefully this article will give you insight about how good black coffee really is. Keep the positive and health-conscious spirit.
Also read: