Is Drinking Instant Coffee Healthier Than Decaf Coffee?!!

Caffeinated coffee can be a good thing when consumed in moderation!

Although coffee has become increasingly accepted and loved by many people today, there are still many who believe that drinking coffee is unhealthy. The reason is that caffeine in coffee can stimulate the central nervous system, causing sympathetic nerve excitement, which further stimulates heart contraction, leading to increased heart rate, palpitations, and other symptoms.

Therefore, in our daily lives, we often hear family members or friends advise: "Drinking so much caffeine is not beneficial!" Many people who have taken this advice but still want to drink coffee have turned to decaffeinated coffee.

Can decaffeinated coffee reduce the symptoms of increased heart rate and palpitations after drinking coffee? Obviously, this effect is not significant. Although decaffeinated coffee is low in caffeine, it is not completely caffeine-free. If your body is sensitive to caffeine, low-caffeine coffee can still cause physical discomfort.

Research on Coffee and Heart Health

At the 71st Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology held in March this year, Dr. Peter M. Kistler, head of arrhythmia research at Alfred University and professor of medicine, stated at the conference that research shows drinking coffee in moderation daily can reduce the risk of heart disease and arrhythmias.

Dr. Peter M. Kistler explained that the research subjects came from the large prospective database UK BioBank. They conducted research on the effects of coffee consumption on heart rhythms based on survey questionnaires filled out by patients during registration, comparing data from 382,500 adults without cardiovascular disease (average age 57) and 34,279 adults with some form of cardiovascular disease.

The final study found that among those without cardiovascular disease, subjects who drank 2-3 cups of coffee daily had the lowest risk of developing heart disease, as well as the lowest risk of stroke or death from vascular disease.

Among those who already had cardiovascular disease and drank coffee, patients who drank 2-3 cups of coffee daily had a lower risk of death compared to those who didn't drink coffee. At the same time, the research team also found that these patients did not have an increased risk of heart rate problems when consuming any amount of coffee, including atrial fibrillation/flutter.

Combined Benefits of Coffee and Tea

In addition to research showing that caffeine can reduce the risk of heart disease and arrhythmias, another medical study shows that drinking coffee and tea together can provide double protection against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke and dementia.

This study was published in the journal PLoS Medicine (Public Library of Science Medicine) in 2021. Starting from 2006, the research team began studying 365,682 participants aged 50-74 from the UK Biobank and followed them until 2020.

Researchers used COX proportional hazards models to estimate the association between coffee/tea consumption and stroke and dementia, adjusting for participant weight, physical activity, alcohol status, smoking status, dietary patterns, sugary beverage intake, and other existing disease risk factors.

During the 11.4-year study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia, and 10,053 participants suffered strokes. Analysis results showed that compared to participants who drank neither coffee nor tea, those who drank 2-3 cups of coffee/tea daily had a 32% lower risk of stroke and a 28% lower risk of dementia. (This analysis result is based on drinking only coffee or only tea)

Compared to those who drank neither coffee nor tea, participants who drank 0.5-1 cup of coffee plus 2-3 cups of tea daily could reduce the risk of post-stroke dementia by 50%, while those who drank 0.5-1 cup of coffee plus more than 4 cups of tea daily could reduce dementia risk by 30%. (This analysis result is based on drinking both coffee and tea)

After excluding other factors, researchers found that compared to participants who drank only coffee or only tea, those who drank both coffee and tea had an 11% lower risk of ischemic stroke and an 18% lower risk of vascular dementia (excluding dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease).

Coffee Types and Health Benefits

This research report also mentioned that regarding dementia:

Compared to instant coffee, drinking ground coffee reduced the risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease by 18% and 23% respectively.

Compared to decaffeinated coffee, drinking instant coffee reduced the risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease by 16% and 19% respectively.

Compared to decaffeinated coffee, drinking ground coffee reduced the risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease by 26% and 33% respectively.

Therefore, when choosing coffee, drinking ground coffee is better than drinking instant coffee, and drinking instant coffee is better than drinking decaffeinated coffee.

Research reports on cardiovascular diseases also indicate that compared to non-caffeinated (or low-caffeinated) coffee, consuming caffeinated ground coffee and caffeinated instant coffee in moderation daily can effectively reduce the risk of arrhythmias, cardiac artery blockage, stroke, or heart failure. However, decaffeinated coffee has no positive effect on preventing arrhythmias but can reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases other than heart failure.

The Truth About Coffee's Health Impact

All the coffee mentioned above refers to pure coffee itself, without adding any sugar, milk, or other ingredients. Regardless of the coffee bean variety, coffee itself contains more than 100 biologically active compounds that can help reduce oxidative stress and various inflammation in the body.

Coffee itself is healthy, but what is often considered unhealthy is the presence of milk/creamers and sugar. Excessive intake of foods containing these two substances increases the risk of obesity and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Therefore, it's not coffee that's unhealthy, and what makes your body feel uncomfortable may not necessarily be caffeine. Of course, this doesn't exclude those who are truly sensitive to caffeine. If physical discomfort is caused by caffeine sensitivity, then consumption of all coffee is not recommended. You can switch to tea (except milk tea!). Tea itself also has antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory effects.

Image source: Internet

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473