Does caffeine act as an antioxidant?
Rumour has it that our daily cup of coffee elixir may have some hidden benefits. Many of us have fallen in love with coffee aromas, the delicious taste of a good roasted coffee to ease us into our day, but it appears from recent reports that coffee may also have some healthy side-effects.
In The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, there have been murmurings that caffeine in our cups of coffee may contribute towards preventing the development of certain medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. How can this be? Scientists have reported that they have some evidence to indicate that coffee has a plentiful supply of ‘good’ antioxidants. Other foodstuffs also contain these properties such as tea and cocoa.
The precise scientific connections have not yet been discovered, but it is argued that caffeine somehow attacks ‘free radicals’ which are harmful to the body. Free radicals are produced by oxidation reactions in cells, which in turn can start chain reactions which can cause damage or death. An antioxidant is a molecule that can inhibit this oxidation process which releases free radicals.
Annia Galano and Jorge Rafael Leon-Carmona have tried to calculate how caffeine interacts with these free radicals. There is ‘excellent’ consistency with other study results which indicate that caffeine contributes to helpful antioxidants in coffee.
The studies will no doubt continue to find out more… it would be wonderful if such a popular and tasty drink is found conclusively to help to prevent certain diseases.