Health benefits of used coffee grounds

 

Wed, 05/13/2015 - 8:57am American Chemical Society Coffee has gone from dietary foe to friend in recent years, partly due to the revelation that it’s rich in antioxidants. Now even spent coffee-grounds are gaining attention for being chock-full of these compounds, which have potential health benefits. In the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers explain how to extract antioxidants from the grounds. They then determined just how concentrated the antioxidants are. María-Paz de Peña and colleagues note that coffee—one of the most popular drinks in the world—is a rich source of a group of antioxidants called dietary phenolic compounds. Spent grounds, however, often end up in the trash. But recently, scientists have discovered that antioxidants aren’t just in the brewed coffee; they’re also in the used grounds. De Peña wanted to figure out the total phenolic content in extracts from these leftovers. The researchers used three different methods to release antioxidants from spent grounds and found high levels of phenols in the extracts—sometimes at higher levels than in brewed coffee. Thus, they have the potential to serve as additives to enhance the potential health effects of other food products, the scientists conclude. Source: American Chemical Society

New research into health benefits of coffee

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 Monash Univ. New research has brought us closer to being able to understand the health benefits of coffee. Monash Univ. researchers, in collaboration with Italian coffee roasting company Illycaffè, have conducted the most comprehensive study to date on how free radicals and antioxidants behave during every stage of the coffee brewing process, from intact bean to coffee brew. The team observed the behavior of free radicals—unstable molecules that seek electrons for stability and are known to cause cellular and DNA damage in the human body—in the coffee brewing process. For the first time, they discovered that under certain conditions coffee can act as an antioxidant, a compound found in foods that helps stabilize free radicals. The findings, published in PLOS ONE, will lead to a deeper understanding of the brewing process, as well as the potential health benefits of coffee. Chief Chemist of Illycaffè, Dr. Luciano Navarini, approached Monash physicist Dr. Gordon Troup, School of Physics and Astronomy, and his team in 2012 to conduct the research using state-of-the-art EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) Spectroscopy. “Dr. Troup was one of the first scientists to discover free radicals in coffee in 1988 and so it made sense for Illycaffè—a world-leading coffee roasting company actively involved in coffee research—to collaborate with Dr. Troup and his team on this significant piece of research into free radical and antioxidant behavior in coffee,” Dr. Navarini said. “The most important aim of this research was to better understand the development of stable free radicals during the roasting process and the possible influence exerted by developed radicals on the well-documented coffee antioxidant properties. We also wanted to evidence possible coffee constituents as a source of antioxidant activity.” Dr. Troup worked with a team of researchers including Monash alumnus Dr. Simon Drew from the Univ. of Melbourne, who carried out the spectroscopy at the Univ. of Melbourne. “Our research studied both the Arabica coffee bean itself and what happens to its stable free radical and antioxidant properties during the brewing process,” Dr. Troup said. “The findings provide a better understanding of the potential health benefits of coffee, as well as a deeper knowledge of the roasting process—ultimately leading to the highest quality cup of coffee.” Source: Monash Univ.

Coffee – An Overlooked Health and Anti Aging Food

In the past, coffee (like wine ) has been overlooked as a healthy food. There has always been some level of suspicion around coffee and its long-term impact on health. For some reason, coffee has this association of being unhealthy. Well, (thank goodness) it looks like that link between coffee and unhealthiness is wrong. In fact, there is a good bit of evidence that coffee is good for you and it may even be good for you. This is important, considering more than half of the people in the U.S. drink coffee every day. Why Coffee Is A Superfood? It looks like coffee has two main ways of improving the health of your body: antioxidants and caffeine. Both these substances have health and anti aging benefits. Antioxidants, for example, help your body repair damage to cells caused by free radicals (which are produced as a byproduct of cells just doing their daily thing). Caffeine has been shown to help improve a range of symptoms and may even be important in fighting of Parkinson’s Disease and other age-related brain problems . Coffee is loaded with both antioxidants and caffeine, and each has different potential benefits for improving health and reducing the risk of chronic illnesses. Health Benefits of Coffee I scoured the internet to find reliable sources of the health benefits of coffee. Type "coffee" into pubmed (the database of medical research) and your get almost 7,000 results back. Below are some of the major findings about health, life expectancy and coffee. Heart Disease (up to 25% reduction in mortality risk (for women)) Diabetes (up to 60% reduced risk) Dementia (up to 65% reduced risk) Colon Cancer (up to 25% reduced risk) Cirrhosis (up to 80% reduced risk) Gallstones (almost 50% reduced risk) Parkinson’s Disease (up to 80% reduced risk – probably because of caffeine) Headache Relief (because of the caffeine) Asthma Relief (caffeine again) Cavity Protection (because of anti-bacterial and anti-adhesive properties of compounds within coffee) Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies. Does Coffee Consumption Reduce the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Individuals With Impaired Glucose? Besa Smith, MPH, Deborah L. Wingard, PHD, Tyler C. Smith, MS, Donna Kritz-Silverstein, PHD and Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD. Diabetes Care 29:2395-2390, 2006. Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An 11-Year Prospective Study of 28 812 Postmenopausal Women. Mark A. Pereira, PhD; Emily D. Parker, MPH; Aaron R. Folsom, MD. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:1311-1316. Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. A Systematic Revie. Rob M. van Dam, PhD; Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD JAMA. 2005;294:97-104. Kivipelto, M. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, January 2009; vol 16: pp 85-91.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Coffee

 

Coffee is one of the world's favorite beverages and the second most valuable legally traded commodity in the world, second only to oil.  Experts estimate that 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day worldwide.  But, how much do you know about your favorite brew?  Keep reading to learn 7 buzz-worthy facts about your good old cup of joe. Tara Moore/Taxi/Getty Images The US People Drink More Coffee Than Anyone Else In the World About 83% of the adult people in the USA drink coffee, averaging three cups of coffee per person per day.  That's 587 million cups of joe every single day.  It's no wonder that the world's two largest coffee chains --- Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts --- are both based in the United States.  Starbucks has over 13,000 stand alone coffee shops in the United States, meaning that you can never get more than 130 miles away from a Frappucino. Hotel Finca Rosa Blanca. Akila McConnell, licensed to About.com   The Coffee Bean Isn't a Bean The coffee bean isn't a bean.  What we call the coffee bean is actually the seed of the coffee cherry, or the fruit of the coffee tree.  The coffee cherry is ripe when it turns bright red.  Then, it is picked, rinsed, and the pulp is removed from the seed/bean.  Most coffee berries have two coffee beans/seeds within but certain berries will only have one bean/seed, which are called peaberries.  Peaberries have a stronger flavor and are prized as premium coffee blends. Hop over to this slideshow to read about the entire process of how your coffee moves from seed to cup. More » 1850: A servant serves coffee to a group of Yemeni coffee merchants who have set up camp in the desert on their way to Mocha. Hulton Archive/Getty Images   The Word Coffee Owes Its Origin to Many Languages The word “coffee” has roots in several languages. In Yemen, which is where the coffee plant was discovered and one of the earliest cultivators of coffee, the bean was called qahwah, which was a truncated form of qawhat al-bun, meaning "wine of the bean."  The Muslim trade routes brought coffee to the Middle East where the Turks called the liquid kahveh.  The Dutch called the brew koffie and brought the liquid to England along their trade routes with Asia and Africa, which finally became coffee in English. More » Good quality coffee versus bad quality coffee. Akila McConnell, licensed to About.com Ice Water Will Tell You if Your Coffee Was Roasted Well If you're standing in the grocery store bewildered by the array of coffee --- ranging from $1 per pound to $12 per pound --- I've got one simple trick that will help you determine if the coffee you're purchasing is high quality roasted coffee.  Just put one tablespoonful of ground coffee on top of a glass of ice water.  If your coffee stays on top of the water and does not leach into the water after a few minutes, it's been roasted properly.  If it leaches, then it's either over-roasted or under-roasted. Keep reading this post to learn more about why this trick works.   1674, A 'women's petition' against the debilitating effects of drinking coffee, the stimulating hot beverage containing caffeine. Hulton Archive/Getty Images  17th Century Women Wanted to Ban Coffee In the 17th century, coffee became popular in England and continental Europe.  Many believed that coffee had intoxicating properties like alcohol, which led some clergy to ban it in their towns.  And, a (pretty hilarious) anonymous women's petition in 1675 proposed the ban of coffee because of the "grand inconvenience" when coffee "enfeebled" and "eunuch'd" their husbands. Jump over to this post to read more about the history of coffee. More » Latte art. Carlina Teteris/Moment You Can Get Barista Trained and Learn How to Make Latte Art At Espresso Academy in Florence, Italy, you can spend days perfecting the art of making coffee.  Learn how to become a barista in a two day course or take an advanced class on latte art.  If you can't make it over to Europe, Intelligentsia Coffee Shop offers public tasting and education classes at each of their retail locations in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.  For example, you can take a 3 hour Barista training class for $200 or a tour of their roasting works for $50. Jump over to this post to learn more about seven great coffee tours and experiences across the world. More » Coffee and coffee beans. Anthony Dawson/Moment   Coffee Might Just Be Good For Your Health Coffee might just be a superfood because its antioxidant properties combined with caffeine has been shown to: reduce mortality from heart disease reduce the risk of diabetes, dementia, colon cancer, cirrhosis, gallstones, and Parkinson's disease provide headache relief and asthma relief So, you can feel good about picking up your cup of coffee tomorrow morning.  But, don't drink too much!  Overconsumption of coffee can increase your death rates. More »   Source : www.about.com

Drinking decaf or regular coffee maybe good for the liver, study suggests

 

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Coffee (regular or decaf) may be good for your liver. Higher coffee consumption, regardless of caffeine content, was linked to lower levels of abnormal liver enzymes.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute report that decaffeinated coffee drinking may benefit liver health. Results of the study published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, show that higher coffee consumption, regardless of caffeine content, was linked to lower levels of abnormal liver enzymes. This suggests that chemical compounds in coffee other than caffeine may help protect the liver.

Coffee consumption is highly prevalent with more than half of all Americans over 18 drinking on average three cups each day according to a 2010 report from the National Coffee Association. Moreover, the International Coffee Association reports that coffee consumption has increased one percent each year since the 1980s, increasing to two percent in recent years. Previous studies found that coffee consumption may help lower the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.

"Prior research found that drinking coffee may have a possible protective effect on the liver. However, the evidence is not clear if that benefit may extend to decaffeinated coffee," explains lead researcher Dr. Qian Xiao from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

For the present study researchers used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999-2010). The study population included 27,793 participants, 20 years of age or older, who provided coffee intake in a 24-hour period. The team measured blood levels of several markers of liver function, including aminotransferase (ALT), aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transaminase (GGT) to determine liver health.

Participants who reported drinking three or more cups of coffee per day had lower levels of ALT, AST, ALP and GGT compared to those not consuming any coffee. Researchers also found low levels of these liver enzymes in participants drinking only decaffeinated coffee.

Dr. Xiao concludes, "Our findings link total and decaffeinated coffee intake to lower liver enzyme levels. These data suggest that ingredients in coffee, other than caffeine, may promote liver health. Further studies are needed to identify these components."

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Wiley. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Qian Xiao, Rashmi Sinha, Barry I. Graubard, Neal D. Freedman. Inverse associations of total and decaffeinated coffee with liver enzyme levels in NHANES 1999-2010. Hepatology, 2014; DOI: 10.1002/hep.27367

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