Coffee is a household name due to its strong aromatic flavor and taste. Coffee is usually brewed and taking just same way tea is made. In most countries, coffee shops dot the streets with droves of customers lining up for a cup of coffee. Through this, coffee drink has offered many people job opportunity than most companies could. And coffee powder is a one step to getting your coffee drink ready and steaming.
What’s coffee powder then?
Coffee powder is made from the coffee seed. It is made by simply roasting coffee beans. Thereafter, the roasted coffee bean is ground to fine powdered form, using a grinder. It comes in sachets, jars, or tins. Coffee powders are often the best choice of producers and consumers because it is easier to use. Coffee powder is not the same as instant coffee powder. The difference is not with regards to the processed form.
What are the difference between coffee powder and instant coffee powder?
The two are often confused with each other. Coffee powder is simply made by roasting and grinding the coffee bean to fine powdered form. The instant coffee powder is made by first prebrewing the coffer bean. It is soluble form of the prebrewed coffee. The most popular commercial instant coffee powder is the Nescafe made by Nestle Company. Nescafe can come in sachets or tins, and is granular rather than in powdered form.
Where can you get your coffee powder?
You can make your coffee powder at home by simply following the steps that we shall discuss before the end of this article. If however you can’t afford the luxury of time to do that, you can simply buy coffee powder from the super markets or grocery stores around you or in the streets. You can either buy the powdered coffee or the instant coffee granules or powder. They can come in tins, jars, or sachets, and with different price tags. You can also order it online from different online stores littered on the internet space.
What are the health benefits of coffee powder?
The raw coffee is fortified with numerous bioactive compounds, including caffeine. It also contains trace microelements such as potassium, manganese, riboflavin, sodium, and niacin.
Coffee powder for diabetes
Coffee powder possesses powerful antioxidants, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase inhibitors. These bioactive compounds are useful for preventive as well as curative measures in managing diabetes. Both α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes are responsible for the breakdown of carbohydrates into simpler sugars like glucose. They contribute to the elevated glucose levels in diabetic patience.
Coffee powder, by inhibiting these enzymes, and through its antioxidative activities helps in improving diabetic conditions through the scavenging of free radicals, suppressing oxidative damage on the pancreas and thereby increasing insulin production and glucose clearance. Coffee powder also improves insulin sensitivity.
Coffee powder improves your heart health
Coffee powder is rich in chlorogenic acids, which are believed to improve endothelial functions, thereby enhancing your heart health. There are evidences suggesting that endothelial dysfunction is an early and integral feature associated with several cardiovascular risk factors.
The antioxidants present in the coffee bean also help to protect your heart from oxidative damage that may result to atherosclerosis. Another cardiovascular function of coffee powder is its hypotensive effect.
A regular consumption of coffee will certainly keep your blood pressure on check and prevent the deposition of low density lipoprotein cholesterol on the walls of the blood vessels. You may add a little avocado seed powder to your coffee powder when making a coffee drink. This will have a synergistic impact on your heart health, as avocado seed tea has been shown to be a strong remedy for cardiovascular diseases.
Coffee powder reduces cholesterol level
There are hypolipidemic compounds in coffee beans that reduce blood fats, lipid fats, and reduce triacylglycerol levels. This hypolipidemic effect in addition to the hypoglycemic activity of the bean powder also contributes the anti-diabetic properties of coffee powder.
The bean powder also helps reduce weight and improves obese conditions. A regular consumption of coffee can keep you in shape and smart. The antioxidants also give you that young and youthful skin that you crave for.
If you want to lose weight, drink coffee
Watching my dad drink coffee every morning, why providing instant tea for us made me always wondered whether coffee was all for older people while tea was for children. At some point, i concluded that it was to make him stay alert and awake throughout the day. It never did occur to me that my dad might be watching his weight.
At a point he stopped, and at much later died of ischemia stroke. Now, as a biochemist, i began to wonder, as i was thinking about this early this morning, had my dad continued taking coffee drink, chances are that he might lived a little longer. Again, he could have died earlier if he had not been taking coffee. Why do I make these assumptions? There are three risk factors of cardiovascular disease that coffee can protect you from. They are diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol level.
Coffee supplementation has proven to be great for improving each of these risk factors. So you see, with the high rate of cardiovascular related deaths, coffee powder, or instant coffee products should always be at your daily beverage menu.
Coffee powder can improve your skin health
Coffee powder can protect your skin from UV damaging effect. The seed like watermelon seed oil is high in linolenic acid, which is known to not only protect your skin, but also inhibit melanin production and reduce hyperpigmentation. It retains moisture on the skin and maintains skin plumpness. It also removes blemishes and protects the skin barrier. This way, coffee oil from the coffee powder offers protection to the skin from air pollutants such as smoke, both of which cause free radical activity that can result in wrinkles and signs of aging.
Coffee powder can be made into a paste by adding a little water and use to scrub your body. The caffeine in coffee protects your skin from oxidative damages and retains youthfulness on your skin. The antimicrobial activities of coffee are also employed in removing skin diseases such as acne, ringworm, and skin rashes.
Coffee powder also promotes healthy hair growth when constantly used to massage and scrub the body.
Coffee powder for treating depression
Depression has claimed several lives this year alone. It is a type of mood disorder that’s characterized by the feeling of sadness and dissatisfaction. It can make you lose interest in your previously most enticing foods, sports, or routine activities. At the extreme cases, depression can lead to suicide. Luckily, a regular ingestion of coffee can ameliorate and improve a depressed individual.
The antidepressant activity of coffee powder is through the inhibition of monoamine oxidase -A, and an increase of the serotonin levels. Monoamine oxidase –A is responsible for the deamination of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, thereby causing a decrease in serotonin levels. A decrease in serotonin level leads to depression and feeling of aggression.
This ability to inhibit monoamine oxidase –A, and subsequent increase of serotonin level is carried out by the chlorogenic acids present in coffee bean powder. This also makes coffee a good candidate for depressed individuals.
Coffee powder can protect you from cancer
Do you know that coffee is not just a feel-good-beverage? Well, there are more that coffee can offer beyond making you feel good.
Coffee powder, coffee drinks or instant coffee granules are well fortified with numerous bioactive compounds that protect your body from angiogenesis, tumor proliferation and metastasis, and can induce apoptosis on cancer cells.
Men and women, who drink coffee regularly or add coffee powder to their beverages, are less likely to develop cancers. Studies have liked high intake of coffee to lower prostate cancer risk in men, while linking it to lower postmenopausal breast cancer in women. Coffee intake also protects against other forms of caners such as colon, liver, kidey, and bladder cancers.
So next time you go to market, buy for yourself, and for your wards tins of coffee.
Can protect you from bacterial infections
Coffee is composed of strong antibacterial compounds such as Caffeine, chlorogenic acid, and protocatechuic acid, Caffeic acid and trigonelline. These compounds attenuate the growth of both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. These properties of coffee powder may be utilized in treating bacterial infections such as the urinary tract infection and sexually transmitted diseases.
May protect you from viral infections
In this winter, regular intake of hot coffee may protect you from flu and Norovirus infections, which are usually rampant during winter. The active components of coffee powder that are responsible for the antiviral activities are caffeine and atropine.
In a study conducted on the antiviral activities of caffeine and atropine, atropine inhibited the multiplication of enveloped viruses, while caffeine suppressed the growth of polio, influenza, herpes simplex and vaccinia viruses.
In another study a significant reduction of hepatitis b virus DNA level was observed in patients who drank three or more cups of coffee per day, while a reduction of HBsAg level was observed in those who drank two cups per day.
These studies therefore have supported the claims that coffee drink or coffee powder can be beneficial for people with hepatitis b virus, as well as herpes simplex virus. It is also beneficial for other virus related disease, and may prevent hepatocarcinogenesis.
Coffee may improve your immunity
Coffee powder is a substantial source of antioaxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. These compounds will boost your immunity against disease pathogens, and protect you from autoimmune diseases which are usually caused by oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. They usually do these by offering protection against DNA damage in living cells.
Coffee improve eyesight
Coffee drink prevents the degeneration of the retina. It also increases the tears in your eyes, thereby making your eyes moist and protecting the eye surfaces. However, when taken in excess, caffeine may negatively affect your eyes functionality.
May improve brain functions
The caffeine present in coffee increases the energy metabolism in the brain. It also the circulation of adrenaline and cortisol, increases the brain functions. Coffee helps you stay awake by blocking the enzyme, adenosine. Adenosine is an inhibitory enzyme of neurotransmitters. The blocking of adenosine increases the presence of neurotransmitters, which helps you remain alert. This is behind the increase in coffee intake among students during examination periods.
When taken at moderation, coffee may also improve memory retention and improve learning.
What are the side effects of coffee?
Although coffee is an excellent beverage, as well as a herbal drink, when taken in excess, coffee may impose harm on the body. Some of the side effects of excess coffee intake may include:
Gastric ulcer: coffee increases the secretion of acid into the gastric mucosa. This may be harmless to a healthy individual, but to an ulcer patient, could be extremely harmful. The increase in acidic content of the stomach causes an irritation and a burning sensation in the body of an ulcer patient. This leads to discomfort and feverish feelings. Do not take much ulcer if you are treating ulcer.
Glaucoma: Although at minimal amount, coffee may improve eyesight; when taken in excess, coffee may overstress the retinal muscles and subsequently results to glaucoma. Excess coffee causes blurring of the vision.
Brain damage: do not abuse coffee intake, especially as a student; coffee abuse may result in decreased cerebral blood flow, which leads to hypoperfusion. Excess coffee may also leads to small brain volume and dementia.
Does coffee affects fertility in men and women?
Alhhough there has been inconsistencies in studies regarding the effects of coffee on both male and female fertility, some studies have suggested that excess consumption of coffee may lead to loss of early pregnancy, delay conception in women but does not cause infertility.
Coffee intake may also affect male fertility through sperm DNA damage, but these studies are not consistent. The bottom line is to decide whether to take coffee or not, depending on the state of your health and considering whether you still expect a baby or not.
Conclusion
Coffee powder can be used in numerous ways. You can make your choice coffee drink; add it to your beverages, or juice. Do not take coffee in excess, as this may have a negative impact on your overall health.
References
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Chook, J. B., Ngeow, Y. F., Tee, K. K., Lee, J. W. T., & Mohamed, R. (2019). Increased Coffee Intake Reduces Circulating HBV DNA and HBsAg Levels in HBeAg-Negative Infection: A Cohort Study. Viruses, 11(9), 808. https://doi.org/10.3390/v11090808.
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