Is there a better combination than a cup of tea or a mug of hot coffee? It is not only delicious but also helps in many ways. The healthy compounds that come with it can be good for your health. But unfortunately, too much of something is bad. This is particularly true for coffee. Here are some health benefits of consuming your favorite beverage and some reasons why you should limit its consumption.
Coffee and tea are actually similar. Although tea has more healthy compounds, the caffeine found in it is not as powerful as the caffeine found in coffee. In general, the healthier choice is always the one you like the most. Fortunately, we have plenty of coffee and tea varieties to choose from. So, all you need to do is decide your personal preference in terms of strength and caffeine per ounce.
Drinking tea per day can be healthy for the body because it contains antioxidants that fight free radicals. It also slows down the aging process and improves overall health. One recent study found that drinking three cups of green tea per day was associated with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes. So, two cups may not equal one diabetes, but drinking green tea on a regular basis may help prevent a diabetes diagnosis.
There are more than 100 million people who suffer from type 2 diabetes. The reason why this happens is that there are certain insulin and glucose regulating chemicals and receptors that are not able to work properly. The result: these substances become more resistant to insulin and glucose. Over time, this can lead to obesity, heart disease, and other serious medical conditions. So, replacing natural sugar with artificial sweeteners and preservatives in coffee, tea, and other healthy beverages is a good idea to keep blood sugar levels under control.
In addition to preventing diabetes, drinking green tea may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This condition is characterized by poor memory, bad concentration, and poor mental function. In some studies, people who drink green tea daily were seen to have less plaque build-up in their brain tissue. They also showed less activity in the region that controls the immune system. In addition, drinking coffee may reduce the activity of free radical molecules that contribute to the formation of clumps of nerve cells inside the brain that cause Alzheimer’s.
Although there are more health benefits to drinking coffee than there are to drinking decaf coffee, decaffeinated coffee is still just as beneficial for your overall health as regular coffee. As stated before, coffee has plenty of antioxidants, which are great at fighting off the damage caused by free radicals. But, if you drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee on a regular basis, you’ll notice that you don’t suffer from those same health problems because decaf coffee gives you the additional benefit of enjoying a delicious cup of coffee without the added caffeine.
When comparing the amount of caffeine contained in one cup of coffee to the amount of caffeine contained in one cup of decaf coffee, it appears that the former is actually more effective. However, one study found that men drinking twenty milligrams of caffeine per day were, in fact, more likely to develop dementia. For women, it was found that one hundred milligrams of caffeine per day were enough to cause health problems. Men and women need different amounts of caffeine to have the same effect. So, one cup of coffee is significantly healthier than one cup of decaffeinated coffee.
So, although drinking tea or coffee might seem like a delicious treat, it’s not as healthy as you might think. Unfiltered coffee might increase your risk of heart disease, but it may decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s. Decaf coffee may increase your chance of developing healthy brain cells, but it may increase your risk of developing liver problems. Drinking tea may increase your memory, but it’s not really doing anything for you if you’re already on a diet.