Coffee, tea or chocolate: Should you or should you not?

Coffee or tea? Caffeinated or decaf? The world of hot beverages, whether caffeinated or not, has been undergoing some major changes lately.

Coffee used to be known as the drink that made people jittery and even increased their risk of heart problems. Recent research has revealed a different story. Not only is coffee good for you — if you can like the taste and do not get too jittery — it actually helps with various health issues, short and long term.

Coffee contains a high amount of antioxidants, it has been shown to boost short-term memory and cognition and, according to a recent article published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, long-term use may protect against dementia. Coffee drinking never sounded so good and wholesome.

Also, research points out, coffee reduces the risk of diabetes, and it also lowers the risk of prostate cancer in men and endometrial cancer in women.

How is it grown?

The caveat with coffee, if you can call it that, is that it should be grown without pesticides. Organic and fairly traded translates into a clean beverage. Guilt-free coffee goes a long way, as the increased demand for it reduces the chemical burden of those who grow coffee, it helps them get a fair price for their crops and the environment benefits from a reduced use of toxic chemicals.

Want an alternate? Try Tea!

If coffee is not your thing or you’d like to make sure that you have a good supply of antioxidants from your diet alone, try green and black tea and also chocolate. They have all been shown to contain flavonoids that help reduce the risk of stroke, and also enhance cognitive functions in all ages.

Both black and green versions have a long history of positive health effects. Green tea has a high content of antioxidants, the best known being a polyphenol called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG.) Aside from the known effects (protection against diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer) recent research point out to new potential benefits: protection against oral cancer.

As with coffee, opt for clean green tea, organic and fairly-traded if possible. Also, loose leaf tea is preferable to tea bags, a new study published in Journal of Toxicology advises, since quite a few of the samples tested contained high levels of heavy metals.

Chocolate? Sure!

You might be surprised to see chocolate in this list, but cocoa contains high levels of flavonoids. In order to benefit from cocoa-specific flavonoids, stay away from milk chocolate or any other combinations; if you want the full benefit package that is. Milk chocolate comes with extra milk fat and a higher sugar content, which may counteract the positive effects of cocoa flavonoids. Opt for dark chocolate, anything from 70 per cent and up, and, if we are to listen to connoisseurs, savour it.

Allow it melt in your mouth rather than chew it fast and you’ll get the whole experience plus the health benefits. Organic, fairly traded dark chocolate may be an acquired taste for those used to sweeter milk-based chocolate but a well worth one to acquire.

So perhaps the old ‘have your cake and eat it too’ may not be inaccurate after all. Well, one could say so once the appropriate precautions have been applied.

Bottom line: Coffee, tea and chocolate can add good things to your life. From known and presumed health effects, to that comfort feeling we all know that comes with a cup of hot coffee or tea, or a piece of chocolate consumed at the right time, they can make a good day better.