Antioxidant or toxin? Good or bad? Here’s what the studies show!
Is coffee good for you? Is organic coffee any better and what is organic coffee? Today, coffee is the world’s most consumed beverage after water and over 19000 scientific studies have been conducted on coffee, health and whether coffee’s good or bad for you. Coffee can either be a wonderful superfood or complete rubbish for you depending on how it’s made. I recently tried Purity organic coffee to see if the taste was as good as my regular Lavazza. I’m all for health but it also has to taste good.
Coffee and its health benefits gets confusing though. Sometimes it gets a bad rap as an unhealthy vice and at other times it’s lauded for being
“by far the richest source of antioxidants in the western diet. Nothing else even comes close” Dr. Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton (PA).
Personally, I’m a caffeine addict. I swear, I think sometimes I have more coffee running through my veins than blood! OK, I know that’s not actually possible but you know what I mean and I’m not alone. I love all versions, caffeinated, decaf, flavored, and even herbal coffee! More about that later on…
The health benefits of coffee can be greatly enhanced – and the adverse effects can be reduced, or even totally eliminated – through conscious sourcing, processing and roasting. “
Purity Organic Coffee Beans
Is coffee good or bad for you?
There’s lots of debates on whether or not coffee is good or bad for you. So how can it be both healthy and unhealthy? What’s the truth? The scientific verdict on coffee goes something like this: Coffee is good for almost everyone.
Overall, studies show that 3-5 cups of coffee per day will have a wide range of diverse health benefits for most people.
Benefits of Coffee
- Helps many lose weight by boosting your metabolic rate.
- Enhances performance in high intensity exercise.
- Is a powerful mood enhancer.
- Improves various aspects of brain function.
- Studies even show that coffee drinkers live longer. Always seek medical advice wherever necessary.
Why is coffee unhealthy, how is it bad for you?
It all starts when big coffee companies sacrifice health benefits for profit by using poor production practices which includes treating the beans with chemicals and pesticides.
These destroy many of the health benefits of it and introduce harmful compounds that can cause upset stomach, jitters, and worse. We’ve all experienced the coffee jitters, especially when we drink it on an empty stomach.
The coffee production companies are focusing on either just profit or just taste and not even considering the benefits. To be fair, there is also huge demand placed on the producers to meet consumer demand which has caused farming methods to concentrate on maximizing production.
Unfortunately, that’s often at the expense of human and environmental health. A bit like the strain we place on the food industry and all of the harmful practices and lower quality, nutritionally devoid foods pushed at us.
What’s even scarier is that the US government does not have maximum residue limits for all the pesticides used on coffee (epa.gov). Which means consumers are unprotected unless we chose to buy organic coffee only. The chemicals aren’t only harmful to ourselves but also to the coffee farmworkers, their communities, watershed and local ecosystem.
What is organic coffee? How is it better?
It’ll come as no surprise that I’m recommending organic coffee since I advocate for organic, natural produce. However, just to confuse us even more, not all organic coffee is created equal which is why I tried Purity organic coffee as it checked all of the boxes and avoided the issues below.
Organic coffee beans aren’t soaked in pesticides but that’s not the only solution. Many organic coffees don’t get proper nutrients, which can result in defective or low-quality beans and insect damage which can produce other impurities.
Another gross fact is that the beans often develop harmful mold during their journey and processing.
Although mold spores are destroyed during roasting, Ochratoxin A (wikipedia) only roasts out at extreme heat levels too high for the coffee to retain its healthy compounds. Purity Coffee.
So the mold dies but so do all of the benefits!
You know that burnt, over roasted taste you often get? It’s because the roasters char it which can be a sign that there are carcinogens in the coffee! If you’re not going to switch to organic coffee at least consider avoiding Dark Roast where most of the healthy antioxidants have been burnt away-great!
Lastly, virtually every food (without preservatives) will eventually go off as will coffee. Stale coffee’s antioxidants have been degraded meaning you reap less of the benefits.
What’s the best organic coffee
There are lots of organic coffee companies and lots claiming to be the best but one of my top picks is Purity Coffee. Purity Coffee knows that at each step of the sourcing, roasting and distribution process, decisions must be made. These will affect cost, flavor and the health benefits but their production process means their coffee is Certified Organic, mycotoxin-free, sustainably sourced and they use only specialty-grade[xvii] green (raw) coffee.
Purity organic coffee’s roasting methods maximize benefits and carcinogens and their practices ensure no cross contact or contamination and remains free of mold.
Lastly, it’s fresher: they displace the oxygen in the coffee bag and K-cups with nitrogen. Nitrogen is used as a best practice in food manufacturing to prevent oxidation by replacing oxygen in packaging.
So What’s better organic or regular coffee?
I’m not going to lie, Purity organic coffee is not Lavazza but better than Starbucks. At least to my taste buds anyway, but I’ll sacrifice a little taste for all of the health benefits and avoiding the nasties.
However, this organic brand is smooth and clean and doesn’t feel acidic or taste burnt like some do. I haven’t experienced the jitters or any adverse stomach issues since drinking this.
My husband is harder to convert and chooses taste over the health benefits.
Now herbal coffee is different to my thoughts on organic coffee and has different benefits. I love it just as much as my other herbal tea bags and since the potassium level is higher in Teeccino specifically I’m happy to make the switch. Especially if they keep bringing out new flavors like they have been.
Neither are cheap but teas and coffees made with conscientious processing and superior ingredients never are.
Some more benefits of Organic Coffee Than Just Your Health
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No synthetic fertilizers or chemicals used in growing or production means cleaner beans, air, land, and water.
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Organic coffee beans are richer in healthful antioxidants.
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Prevents Deforestation: Most organic coffee is grown the natural way within lush forests keeping ecosystems alive. As well as partnering with co-ops to restore the land while growing organic coffee.
Talk to me
What’s your experience been with organic coffee? Message me on social media or drop a comment below.
Disclaimer
Products were provided free for testing purposes but no payment was received for this post.
