Anything in excess is bad for you, but how beneficial is the right amount of coffee? Thankfully scientists have found many benefits of coffee including improving mood, aiding in heart longevity, warding off neurological disorders like Alzheimers, being one of the biggest sources of antioxidants in the Western diet, and helping prevent Type II Diabetes. 

In case you needed any other excuses to drink coffee...

Coffee Can Improve Your Mood

When you drink coffee, caffeine is absorbed into your bloodstream. Which makes it's way to your brain (1).*

Caffeine blocks the inhibitory neurotransmitter (these decrease the likelihood that the neuron will fire an action potential) adenosine.

Because these are being blocked, the amount of other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine increases, leading to enhanced firing of neurons (2).

Scientist have performed numerous controlled studies showing that coffee improves areas of brain function — including memory, mood, vigilance, energy levels, reaction times and general mental function (3).

Coffee Can Help Heart Health

There's a lot you can do to help keep your hearth healthy, but perhaps the most tasty is drinking one cup of coffee a day. According to The American Heart Association one cup a day can reduce the risk of heart failure by 30% (4).

"The association between caffeine and heart failure risk reduction was surprising," said medical director of the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Dr. David Kao to CNN.

"Coffee and caffeine are often considered by the general population to be 'bad' for the heart because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, etc. The consistent relationship between increasing caffeine consumption and decreasing heart failure risk turns that assumption on its head," (5).

Coffee Can Give Your Brain a Boost

Studies have shown that coffee can delay the onset of Alzheimers, even in seniors who are already showing some signs of dementia. One study at the University of California tested how caffeine affects long-term memory. Participants were asked to look at images and take the caffeine pill, then come back one day later to identify the images that they had seen, images they had not seen, and images that were similar, but not identical. 

Researchers found that caffeine enhances long term memory by improving the consolidation process so that recall becomes easier. It also reduced inflammation in the brain (6).

Coffee Is One of the Best Sources of Antioxidants in the Western Diet

Antioxidants are natural Molly Maid's for your body. They take potentially harmful substances and make them harmless, letting your body get rid of things naturally. Low levels of antioxidants in your system can lead to cancers, diabetes, and heart disease (7).

Here's a few key antioxidants present on coffee and the benefits they give you:

1. Cafestol - acts as bile acid regulation in the intestine. It's also a potent anti-inflammatory substance in the brain (8).

2. Melanoidins - just happens to be where coffee gets that amazing aroma from. It has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties (9).

3. Trigonelline - higher concentrations present in Arabica coffee (which lucky for you Cusa Coffee is), it's anti-bacterial and may help prevent dental caries (10).

Coffee Can Help Prevent Type II Diabetes

As if the abundance of antioxidants wasn't beneficial enough, coffee also contain minerals like magnesium which has been linked to lower rates of Type II Diabetes (11).

A large 2013 study showed people who increased the amount of coffee that they drank by more than 1 cup per day over a 4-year period had an 11% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who made no changes to their coffee intake.

The study also found that people who decreased their coffee consumption by more than 1 cup per day had a 17% higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes (12).