Is Instant Coffee Good for Your Health?

Instant coffee is not only delicious, but is it also healthy?

Many people don’t realize that instant coffee is made, well of coffee!

The perception some people have that instant coffee is “not a real coffee” is simply wrong. In fact, instant coffee is made from either Robusta or Arabica coffee beans. Same beans used by specialty roasters and coffee shops around the world.

Yes, the flavor of instant coffee varies and depends on the brand you purchase, but don’t get mistaken -- instant coffee is real coffee! In some cases, instant coffee can taste even better than brewed coffee. Now that we know that instant coffee is made of coffee, let’s dive into five of the possible health benefits of coffee:

Coffee can help you to burn fat

We should be careful here. Coffee by itself obviously won’t make you burn fat, but the caffeine can help your body to increase your metabolic rate, which can lead to losing fat with diet and sport. It also depends on what you put into your cup of joe, stick to black coffee without any additives like creamers or sugars. Also, make sure to buy only instant coffee that includes 100% pure coffee.

The rate at which our body burns calories at rest is called "resting metabolic rate" (RMR). The higher our metabolic rate is, the easier it can become for us to lose weight. A study from 1989 concluded that caffeine can increase RMR by 3–11%, and hence associated to weight loss.

In another research caffeine was found as stimulant of our nervous system, which is in charge of sending signals to the body’s fat cells, telling them to break down fat.

Coffee is full with nutrients and antioxidants

Most of the nutrients from the coffee bean are captured in instant coffee as well. A single cup of coffee contains many antioxidants and nutrients, such as vitamin B2, B5, B3, Magnesium, and Potassium.

There is about 11% of the needed daily intake (RDI) of vitamin B3 in coffee. Vitamin B3 (Niacin) is helping functions in the digestive system, skin and nervous system. Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) has a long list of uses, although there isn't enough scientific evidence to determine whether it is effective for most of these uses. People take vitamin B5 for treating dietary deficiencies, acne, alcoholism, allergies, baldness, asthma, and more. There is 6% of vitamin B5 RDI in coffee.

In addition, coffee includes 3% of the RDI of Manganese and Potassium. According to Healthline, Manganese “is required for the normal functioning of your brain, nervous system and many of your body’s enzyme systems.”

Coffee is linked to longer lifespan

Moderate coffee consumption of three to four cups per day has been linked with longer lifespan. The medical journal, Circulation, published a research, which found out that coffee consumption is associated with an 8% to 15% reduction in the risk of premature death. The numbers were less for larger coffee consumption.

The link between coffee and longer lifespan appears particularly strong in people with type 2 diabetes. In another 20-year study, people with diabetes who consumed coffee on a regular basis had a 30% lower risk of death.

Coffee may lower your risk of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar levels caused by insulin resistance or a reduced ability to secrete insulin. For an unknown reason, coffee drinkers have a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston gathered data from three studies covering a 20-year timeframe.

Their conclusion as posted on Medical News Today was that “participants who increased their coffee intake by more than one cup a day (on average, an increase of 1.69 cups per day) over a 4-year period had an 11% lower type 2 diabetes risk over the subsequent 4 years, compared with people who did not change their intake.”

Coffee can make you feel happier

In the large study “Coffee, caffeine, and risk of depression among women,” which was published in 2011, researchers from Harvard analyzed the data from a total of 50,739 US women. They found out that the risk of depression decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption.

In the study “A prospective study of coffee drinking and suicide in women,” which was published in 1996, the data suggested a strong correlation between coffee intake and risk of suicide. It also indicated that there needs to be additional research to better understand the connection between caffeine and depression.

While brewed coffee and instant coffee are linked to various health benefits, it is important to keep in mind that many of these studies were observational, and more clinical research needs to be done to conclude any certain health benefit.

To make sure you gain any of these linked benefits, it is recommended to consume 3-5 cups of instant coffee each day. These numbers were mentioned in researches such as “Coffee and health: a review of recent human research” and “Effects of caffeine on human health.”