Can coffee ever be good for you?
We hear ya. Right now, we suspect you’re either shouting at the screen saying, how dare you insult my beloved coffee or nodding your head in agreement that it can never, ever be good for you. After all, how can it be? If we had to take it on face value of course the arguments for this caffeine rich drink might not add up. But here’s the thing, coffee can be so much more than just, well, coffee. In the UK we drink more than 70 million cups of it every single day. And here we were thinking we were a nation of tea drinkers.
The answer to this age-old question of whether coffee can ever be good for you, lies in moderation. Yes, coffee can be good for most people, 3 to 5 cups daily, or up to 400 milligrams of caffeine. In fact, in 2017 a large study in the British Medical Journal, reported that for most of the time, coffee was associated with benefit, rather than harm. By looking over 200 previous studies, moderate coffee drinkers were found to be less at risk of premature death from diseases such as cardiovascular disease, than non coffee drinkers.
The possible benefit of coffee lies within its ingredients – polyphenols. These are plant-based compounds containing antioxidants. Polyphenols have been found to actually decrease blood pressure, reduce the risk of stroke and increase blood supply to the brain. And regular coffee drinkers get 1g of these compounds a day just from drinking coffee.
So, how can we find our coffee bean balance…
- Well, to get the most polyphenols from your coffee, go for the lighter roasts. The more roasted and processed a coffee, the more nutrients are stripped away.
- Keep your caffeine levels safe, drinking no more than a couple of cups of caffeinated coffee in an hour.
- Try alternatives to coffee, they taste just like the real thing, without the caffeine. Barley Coffee is just as rich and bursting with flavour, but it’s completely caffeine-free.
- We’ve also worked hard here at Rokitpods to bring you a functional wellbeing coffee, fresh and convenient from our Nespresso compatible pods, but with added with vitamins and minerals. VitaCoffee Minerals + Vit D has added the minerals and vitamin D per pod: Selemium - 15% RDA, Zinc - 16% RDA, Vitamin D3 - 45% RDA. It still has the same fine creamy body as a traditional blend, but helps support and contribute to your overall wellbeing.