One Simple Change to Reap the Full Benefits of Coffee

“Way too much coffee. But if it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.”

— David Letterman

Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,

When I started drinking coffee as a high school senior in 1972, there was precisely one kind in our house. It was pre-ground and medium roast and perked in a pot until it reached the viscosity — and flavor — of bituminous sludge.

But we’re all royalty these days. Coffeehouses conform to our every caffeinated whim.

So here’s the question. If you don’t have a flavor preference when it comes to your daily joe, which of the many varieties of coffee out there these days should you choose based on health benefits?

(Because, to be sure, coffee of all kinds is decidedly healthy. As I’ve pointed out, drinking six cups daily was associated with a 10 percent drop in deaths in men and 15 percent in women over the course of a 23-year study.)

I won’t keep you in suspense. The research indicates that dark roast is the best choice for health.

A study published in 2011 looked at the antioxidant levels of the blood and urine of 30 volunteers.¹ First, the group drank a half-liter (slightly over two cups) of dark coffee daily for four weeks. Then, after a two week coffee-free “washout,” they drank the same amount of light roast for another four weeks.

Results were dramatic.

The dark roast boosted blood levels of vitamin E by 41 percent and levels of glutathione, another potent antioxidant, by 14 percent, easily outdistancing the light roast.

High blood levels of antioxidants are associated with a variety of good health outcomes, including longer life.²

But what if coffee upsets your stomach?

As it turns out, dark roast rules here, too. A 2014 study established that “Gastric acid secretion was less effectively stimulated after administration of the dark roast blend coffee compared to the [lighter roast] market blend.”³

Bottom Line

I love every kind of coffee, even the asphaltic slurry of my youth (like David Letterman, my personality, such as it is, is largely an artifact of caffeine metabolism). So since I read these studies and others, I’ve inclined toward organic dark-roast coffee whenever given a choice.

If I can get it with a splash of organic cream or half-and-half, then all the better. Studies conflict on whether dairy products interfere with antioxidant absorption — until that’s sorted out, I’ll stick with my cream, which provides some healthy saturated fat.

However, if you don’t like or can’t tolerate coffee in any form, a java habit certainly isn’t mandatory for good health. The point here is that if you do choose to partake, dark roast appears to offer benefits that make the special order worthwhile.

Sincerely,

Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions

Citations

1. Kotyczka C, Boettler U, Lang R, et al. Dark roast coffee is more effective than light roast coffee in reducing body weight, and in restoring red blood cell vitamin E and glutathione concentrations in healthy volunteers. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011

2. Mecocci P, Polidori MC, Troiano L, et al. Plasma antioxidants and longevity: a study on healthy centenarians. Free Radic Biol Med. 2000

3. Rubach M, Lang R, Bytof G, et al. A dark brown roast coffee blend is less effective at stimulating gastric acid secretion in healthy volunteers compared to a medium roast market blend. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2014