Is there anything better than a warming cup of tea or coffee? If you enjoy drinking a brew, you’ll be happy to find out these drinks are good for more than the soul. They are actually packed with health benefits!
Tea and coffee are both full of antioxidants. These are beneficial for our health as they fight free radicals, which are biological chemicals that attack cells and encourage the development of diseases. This has been explored in many scientific studies. We know that drinking too much caffeine can have negative effects on our health, so it’s important to keep our intake at the right levels.
Here, we’ll explore some of the conditions that your daily mugs of tea or coffee can prevent – and the optimum amount you should be drinking.
Decreasing the risk of depression
A steaming cup of coffee is a great way to start the day. So much so, some studies have found that this drink can lower the risk of developing depression. In fact, even one cup could reduce this by 8 per cent. That’s a deal we don’t mind accepting!
The way this works is simple. The caffeine found in coffee acts as a barrier between the brain and adenosine, a chemical that causes fatigue and negative feelings. So, all in all, drinking coffee regularly can potentially stop these depressive chemicals from taking effect.
As well as this, coffee has probiotics that are good for gut health. These chemicals create fatty acids in the stomach, the same kind that are low in people with depression. So the more coffee you drink, the more fatty acids you have, and the less likely you are to experience depression.
Enhancing bone strength
Tea can be just as beneficial. For one thing, drinking black tea can help build bone density and reduce the risk of fractures. The older we get, the more likely we are to develop osteoporosis and fracture our bones, whether this is a hip or a leg.
Drinking tea throughout your life can actually make your bones stronger. To find this out, scientists gave the drink to rats. The results were simple: these rats had stronger bones. It’s a great reason to pop the kettle on right now!
Lowering the likelihood of type 2 diabetes
In the UK alone, over 4.4 million people are thought to have type 2 diabetes (T2D), a condition that leads to an excess of glucose in the bloodstream. If you drink coffee regularly, it might reduce the risk of developing this disease. There are two reasons why.
First, coffee contains a chemical compound that naturally protects beta cells found in the pancreas. These beta cells produce insulin and regulate blood sugar levels, so there’s a link between drinking coffee and a reduction in the risk of T2D.
As well as this, coffee is full of antioxidants. We’ve already explored the health benefits of tea and coffee on your mind and body,[1] and antioxidants mean the list just keeps going. These can boost metabolism function and reduce insulin sensitivity, which helps to ward off T2D.
Reducing the chances of heart disease
Did you know that black tea can also potentially keep heart disease at bay? This is because the drink contains flavones, a type of flavonoid with anti-inflammatory benefits. These protect cells from those pesky free radicals that would otherwise cause oxidative damage throughout the body.
In fact, a scientific study concluded that regularly drinking black tea lowered the risk of heart disease. So if you drink three or more cups of tea every day, you might be saving yourself from cardiovascular complications, and who wouldn’t want that?
There you have it. Next time you’re putting the kettle on, remember that your brew can go a long way towards improving your health. The optimum amount of tea and coffee on a daily basis is around two to three cups to reap these benefits – so you can rest assured in the knowledge that your daily caffeine fix can be good for you!
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