Coffee is a drink that offers several benefits to the body proven by science. The guidelines that are usually indicated by doctors and organizations that deal with human health underline that, however, we must not exceed the consumption of coffee, above all to avoid assimilating too much caffeine.
With the consumption of 4/5 cups of coffee a day (halved, for pregnant or breastfeeding women) you will hardly exceed 400 milligrams of caffeine, the right amount considered healthy for most people. Above this threshold, problems may arise in some cases: for example, excessive or unbalanced consumption in the second part of the day can make your night rest more difficult.
In this post I 'd like to to share what I discovered about the benefits of drinking coffee for breakfast:
Coffee wakes us up and helps us concentrate
Some people find it hard to wake up in the morning if they don't have a cup of coffee first.
As known, coffee contains caffeine, a natural stimulant that is one of the most widespread psychoactive substances globally. When caffeine gets to the brain, it acts on many different brain cells, from those that make us feel exhausted and tired to those that help us stay focused and alert. As a natural stimulant, the caffeine in coffee can increase your ability to concentrate and improve mental alertness. However, to have this effect, coffee must contain at least 75 mg of caffeine.
It is rich in antioxidants
Not everyone knows that coffee is one of the richest dietary sources of natural antioxidants: molecules that act by slowing down or neutralizing the damage caused by free radicals.
The antioxidant properties of coffee are due to the richness of chlorogenic acids and derivatives that are formed during the roasting of the beans.
The protective and antioxidant action of chlorogenic acids seems to be expressed through a reduction in glucose absorption in the intestine, associated with an increase in energy consumption.
It helps your gut health and improves digestion
According to scientific literature, drinking coffee is beneficial for your gut health. According to scientists, in fact, coffee helps improve bowel movement, increasing the motility of the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.
Finally, new research suggests that regular coffee drinkers have a healthier microbiome, i.e. genes that help maintain health by preventing certain diseases, promoting proper functions of the digestive system and the development of the immune system. However, the effects vary greatly from person to person.
Protects the liver
Many people believe that coffee is bad for the liver. Black coffee not only doesn't damage the liver but actually protects it from the increase of transaminases, and of those enzymes that represent an indicator of liver suffering often associated with hepatic steatosis also known as fatty liver.
In the past, the consumption of coffee was discouraged for those with liver problems, while today we know that drinking two additional cups of coffee a day leads to a 44% reduction in developing cirrhosis.
The best way to have it for breakfast is combining it with the right foods
A good habit is to eat first and drink afterwards, in any case before having your cuppa, which can stimulate the gastric juices in the stomach. The ideal would be to eat some fruits or a yogurt or a biscuit before the usual cup. Experts recommend avoiding the coffee - orange juice combo because it could make your breakfast too "sour", especially if the orange juice is from supermarkets, without vitamin C or antioxidants. It is much healthier to opt for freshly squeezed orange juice instead.
30% of Italians usually have breakfast only with a coffee: it is not the ideal choice because a person who does not suffer from gastritis tolerates it well but for those who have gastritis the relationship between coffee and gastric juice can become conflicting, triggering gastritic crises.
In conclusion, coffee today has fully assumed a very important role for the purposes of a healthy and balanced diet. It is amply demonstrated that if drunk in the doses suggested by the world scientific community, coffee does not produce any negative effects in healthy individuals and can even perform an important preventive action on the onset of numerous pathologies.
These are the types of coffee you'll find in our B&B: