As researchers learn more about anti-oxidants in regards to health and disease, they increasingly find themselves drawn to their influence on overall health. With them becoming an ever larger realm of study, people are looking for new ways to obtain high levels for them to be beneficial.
Since coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, it was natural for researchers to test the relationship between them. Surprisingly, they found that some coffees have extremely high levels. The Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy, studied the anti-oxidants present in green and dark roasted coffee "Coffee Arabica" and "Coffee robusta".
They found that all of the coffee in this study on Antioxidants in Coffee showed a strong presence of anti-oxidants and also anti radical activity. There was no difference found between the green and dark roasted coffee, indicating that the roasting process did not damage the natural presence in the coffee beans.
The School of Food Bio Sciences in the United Kingdom conducted a study on anti-oxidants in coffee. They looked at the effects of roasting coffee and if that negatively affects the presence of the anti-oxidants in the coffee bean. They studied Colombian Arabica coffee that was roasted to light, medium, and dark roast. The researchers in this study of Antioxidants in Coffee found that the maximum detoxification activity was found in the medium roasted coffee. This was in contrast to the previously held belief that dark roasts were higher in anti-oxidants content due to their darker color.
When the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, studied the activity in caffeinated beverages, they were particularly interested in seeing what kind of levels were present in coffee and other beverages when served at standard conditions. The amounts of anti-oxidants in coffee were found to be higher than in cocoa or tea. They found that the addition of milk to the coffee, as taken by many people worldwide, did not alter the activity of the antioxidant. The researchers in this study also looked into the link between the type of beans for the coffee and the degree of roasting to see if either had any influence on the activity of the ratio.
They found that Robusta coffee that was served green (see coffee tastes) had twice the level of antioxidants than Arabica coffee. However, beyond this difference, the roasting of the coffee had little significant influence on the anti-oxidants.
Another antioxidants in coffee study was done by the Department of Environmental Toxicology at the University of California in Davis, California. Even after sitting for fifteen and thirty days, the brewed coffee exhibited exceptionally high levels of antioxidants.
This research suggests that drinking coffee may inhibit diseases caused by oxidization disorders. Finally, a study done by several different researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway, and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, analyzed the anti-oxidants found in many common foods. This study included coffee, fruits, tea, wine, cereals and vegetables. The researchers surprisingly found that the levels were higher in coffee than any of the other foods, suggesting that drinking coffee was just as important to increasing the intake as eating properly.
In looking at Antioxidants in Coffee, it’s important to remember that the consumer must like the flavoring of the coffee in order to drink enough coffee to reap the most benefit. While some studies have shown different levels in different types of beans and roasts, others have found little significance in these areas. The most important thing is to drink the coffee in order to benefit as much as possible.
