There is no doubt that coffee is one of the most popular and sought-after beverages in the world. Every morning, thousands of people wake up and reach out for their favorite cuppa joe to kickstart the day. Many health experts also believe that coffee is one of the healthiest drinks to have, and for most people, it is usually the largest, and often the only, source of antioxidants in their diet considering how few people like to have vegetables and fruits today. Keeping in mind the popularity of coffee, it is a great idea to transform your regular coffee into a super healthy cup of coffee by with just a few tweaks here and there. Here are some easy ways to make your coffee super healthy.
5 Easy Ways to Make Your Coffee Super Healthy
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Cut Back On The Sugar
Even though coffee is a healthy beverage, we often end up turning it into a harmful drink by mixing a whole bunch of sugar into it. Added sugar is one of the worst things you can possibly add to not just your coffee but in your entire diet.(1, 2, 3)
Sugar is directly associated with many types of serious diseases like diabetes and obesity, primarily because of the high amount of fructose it contains.(4)
If you cannot imagine having your coffee without it being sweet, think about adding a natural sweetener like stevia. So instead of turning your morning cup of coffee into a sugary treat, think about eliminating it completely to make your coffee extra healthy.
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Buy A Good Quality Of Coffee
The coffee you drink is only as healthy as how good the coffee beans you buy are. The quality of coffee actually varies greatly depending on how the coffee beans were grown and the processing method that was used. Coffee beans might be sprayed with many types of synthetic pesticides and other chemicals that are not fit for human consumption. There are a lot of controversies regarding the exact health effects of pesticides present in food and there is currently limited evidence to show how much harm they can cause when found at low levels.(5)
If you are worried about the presence of pesticides in your coffee, the best option is to buy good quality of coffee, especially organic coffee beans. These are likely to contain a much lower amount of chemical pesticides.
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Have A Limit On How Much Coffee You Will Drink In A Day
As they say, too much of anything is bad for you. The same holds true for coffee as well. While having a moderate amount of coffee during the day is considered healthy, but when you start drinking too much, it is going to dramatically lower its benefits. Excessive intake of caffeine is known to have various adverse side effects, though the exact sensitivity level varies from person to person.(6)
On average, according to the recommendations of Health Canada, you should not exceed 1.1 mg per pound of body weight in a day.(7) An average cup of coffee is estimated to contain roughly 95 mg of caffeine. This means that the acceptable level should be around two cups of coffee per day for a person weighing around 176 pounds or 80 kg.(8)
Nevertheless, significantly higher amounts of caffeine (around 400 to 600 mg) per day, which means around four to six cups of coffee are not associated with any negative effects in most people.(9) Still, it is important to bear in mind that drinking coffee should be about balancing its benefits and risks. This is why it is best to pay attention to your body and consume no more than the amount you can comfortably have.
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Do Not Have Caffeine After 2 p.m.
Coffee is, of course, one of the richest natural sources of caffeine we have in our diet. Caffeine is a natural stimulant, which is one of the main reasons why it is so popular. Caffeine gives you a hit of energy and also helps you remain awake and energetic when you are feeling tired.(10)
However, if you drink coffee later in the day, it can disrupt your sleep. Poor sleep is known to cause a variety of health problems.(11, 12)
Due to this, it is important to avoid drinking coffee late in the day. If you really need to have a cup in the evening, stick to drinking decaf or try having a cup of tea instead. Tea contains much less caffeine than coffee.(13)
The best rule of thumb to follow when drinking coffee is to avoid having coffee after 2 or 3 p.m. Of course, not everyone is equally sensitive to caffeine and can sleep without any problem even after having coffee late in the afternoon.
If you, however, experience trouble sleeping, then it is a good idea to avoid drinking coffee after 2 or 3 p.m. in the day.
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Use a Paper Filter to Brew your Coffee
Brewed coffee is known to contain a compound known as cafestol, which is a diterpene that increases the cholesterol levels in the blood.(14, 15) Reducing the levels of cafestol is rather simple – just switch to using a paper filter when you brew your coffee.
Brewing coffee with a paper filter can be effective in lowering the levels of cafestol in your coffee, while also allowing the beneficial antioxidants and caffeine to pass right through to not spoil the taste.(16)
Recent studies in mice, though, have shown that cafestol is not all that bad and it may have an anti-diabetic effect. More studies are still required to confirm this.(17)
Conclusion
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world owing to its stimulant effects. While an intake of coffee is already associated with many health benefits, there are many ways in which you can further improve and boost the health benefits of your coffee. The most important thing is to avoid loading your coffee with spoonful of added sugar.
Instead of added sugar, think about adding a dash of cocoa or cinnamon to increase the health benefits of your coffee. At the same time, you should think about avoiding drinking coffee in the late afternoon and evening as it may disrupt your sleep. The tips given above can help you make transform your coffee and make it extra healthy.
- Lustig, R.H., Schmidt, L.A. and Brindis, C.D., 2012. The toxic truth about sugar. Nature, 482(7383), pp.27-29.
- DiNicolantonio, J.J., O’Keefe, J.H. and Bhutani, J., 2016. Added sugars drive chronic kidney disease and its consequences: A comprehensive review. Journal of Insulin Resistance, 1(1), pp.1-6.
- Yang, Q., Zhang, Z., Gregg, E.W., Flanders, W.D., Merritt, R. and Hu, F.B., 2014. Added sugar intake and cardiovascular diseases mortality among US adults. JAMA internal medicine, 174(4), pp.516-524.
- Tappy, L. and Lê, K.A., 2015. Health effects of fructose and fructose-containing caloric sweeteners: where do we stand 10 years after the initial whistle blowings?. Current diabetes reports, 15(8), pp.1-12.
- Mekonen, S., Ambelu, A. and Spanoghe, P., 2015. Effect of household coffee processing on pesticide residues as a means of ensuring consumers’ safety. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 63(38), pp.8568-8573.
- Landolt, H.P., 2012. “No thanks, coffee keeps me awake”: individual caffeine sensitivity depends on ADORA2A genotype. Sleep, 35(7), pp.899-900.
- Ahluwalia, N. and Herrick, K., 2015. Caffeine intake from food and beverage sources and trends among children and adolescents in the United States: review of national quantitative studies from 1999 to 2011. Advances in nutrition, 6(1), pp.102-111.
- Food composition (no date) Food Composition | National Agricultural Library. Available at: https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food-safety/food-composition (Accessed: January 12, 2023).
- Nawrot, P., Jordan, S., Eastwood, J., Rotstein, J., Hugenholtz, A. and Feeley, M., 2003. Effects of caffeine on human health. Food Additives & Contaminants, 20(1), pp.1-30.
- Ferré, S., 2016. Mechanisms of the psychostimulant effects of caffeine: implications for substance use disorders. Psychopharmacology, 233(10), pp.1963-1979.
- Medic, G., Wille, M. and Hemels, M.E., 2017. Short-and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption. Nature and science of sleep, 9, p.151.
- Landolt, H.P., 2012. “No thanks, coffee keeps me awake”: individual caffeine sensitivity depends on ADORA2A genotype. Sleep, 35(7), pp.899-900.
- Sin, C.W., Ho, J.S. and Chung, J.W., 2009. Systematic review on the effectiveness of caffeine abstinence on the quality of sleep. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(1), pp.13-21.
- Post, S.M., de Wit, E.C. and Princen, H.M., 1997. Cafestol, the cholesterol-raising factor in boiled coffee, suppresses bile acid synthesis by downregulation of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase and sterol 27-hydroxylase in rat hepatocytes. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 17(11), pp.3064-3070.
- Cai, L., Ma, D., Zhang, Y., Liu, Z. and Wang, P., 2012. The effect of coffee consumption on serum lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European journal of clinical nutrition, 66(8), pp.872-877.
- Rendón, M.Y., dos Santos Scholz, M.B. and Bragagnolo, N., 2017. Is cafestol retained on the paper filter in the preparation of filter coffee?. Food Research International, 100, pp.798-803.
- Mellbye, F.B., Jeppesen, P.B., Shokouh, P., Laustsen, C., Hermansen, K. and Gregersen, S., 2017. Cafestol, a bioactive substance in coffee, has antidiabetic properties in KKAy mice. Journal of natural products, 80(8), pp.2353-2359.
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