Coffee Is Rich in Polyphenols But Spikes Insulin

Coffee is a stimulant whose breakdown products spike insulin. But coffee has a dark color and that means it is rich in polyphenols or anti-oxidants. Remember, any color in any that occurs naturally is rich in polyphenols. Blueberries, cherries, raspberries, all rich in polyphenols.  Unsweetened chocolate--rich in polyphenols.  Coffee is rich in polyphenols but its breakdown products do spike insulin.  So you need to make the call whether it is worth it.  I like it, so, yes, to me, it is worth it.

Decaffeinated coffee is soaked in methelyne chloride.  The same stuff is used to soak your laundry at the laundromat when they dry clean it.  This pulls out the caffeine.  Then they try to drive off all of the methelyne chloride and then add the flavors back.  What!  That doesn't make sense. This method may be the cheapest method to extract the caffeine.  There are more expensive, time-consuming methods that uses hot water to extract caffeine.  Caffeine is more water-soluble than the polyphenols are. 

He says that most people don't do well with coffee--caffeinated or de-caffeinated.  Hmm. 

He recommends teas, particularly green tea.  He cites the green color in green tea as possessing a lot of polyphenols.  But all teas have color. I haven't come across a single tea in my life that doesn't have color.  Unless you're talking about plain hot water; if so, that's not tea.  He explains that black tea (there's your colors) are fermented green teas. Didn't know that. He says that black teas, like Lipton teas and others, have only 1/10 the amount of polyphenols that green has.  Again, not heard that before. It's why green tea tastes more bitter than black tea.  Interesting.  So the bitterness of a food also indicates a higher concentration of polyphenols? Apparently so if you're comparing chocolates.

To knock out the bitter taste of green tea, he recommneds adding lemon or sugar.  He points out that tea has about half the caffeine as coffee. One cup of green tea will contain about 600 ORAC units. The higher the units, the greater concentration of polyphenols.  Dr. Mercola explains what polyphenols are and why they're important:  

Polyphenols are phytochemicals, meaning compounds found abundantly in natural plant food sources that have antioxidant properties. There are over 8,000 identified polyphenols found in foods such as tea, wine, chocolates, fruits, vegetables, and extra virgin olive oil, just to name a few.

Polyphenols play an important role in maintaining your health and wellness.  Antioxidants as a group help protect the cells in your body from free radical damage, thereby controlling the rate at which you age.

If your body does not get adequate protection, free radicals can become rampant, causing your cells to perform poorly. This can lead to tissue degradation and put you at risk of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, for example.

Healthwise, seems that coffee is best when fully caffeinated and enjoyed with a meal to minimize the spike in inuslin.  So enjoy a cup today.