The beneficial effects of coffee are well known. However, not so much has been studied what happens if, instead of only, we choose to take coffee with milk. It might seem that the effect will be the same. Or maybe even less. However, according to a recently published study by scientists from the University of Copenhagenthe benefits could be even greater in this case.
This is because milk has a high content of proteinswhich in turn are composed of amino acids. These scientists have verified that some of these amino acids can interact with the coffee polyphenolsincreasing his power anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It is something very beneficial, because diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s could be prevented. In addition, it would help slow down cell aging.
Now, it is important to note that all this has been studied only in cell cultures in the laboratory. The next step will be to test it in animal models and, from there, in humans. Be that as it may, for now the evidence suggests that coffee with milk can be very beneficial.
The benefits of coffee with milk
Coffee contains some substances known as polyphenols, which are also found in tea, and many fruits and vegetables. They are beneficial for many reasons, but especially for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant power.
The first is to avoid excessive inflammatory responses of the organism. It should be noted that inflammation is necessary, as it is a natural response of the immune system in response to pathogens that may be harmful to us. However, when it is excessive, it can be very harmful. If we stick to the typical war metaphor used to talk about the immune system, when it goes into a fervent fight against pathogens, it may destroy them, but the horses leave the ground trampled and devastated. That terrain would be healthy cells, so the answer must be sought to have a certain measure.
As for antioxidants, they help fight the free radicals. These are unstable and harmful substances that can be produced both as a product of an inflammatory response and by external agents, which can range from environmental pollution until the tobacco use. It is known that they are related to cellular aging and the appearance of multiple diseases. For this reason, the plant polyphenols found in coffee are considered very beneficial.
What these scientists have seen is that those benefits can be even greater if the polyphenols are combined with some of the amino acids that make up proteins. Coffee does not have a sufficient protein content, but milk does. Therefore, they suspected that coffee with milk could be beneficial.
Polyphenols and cysteine, the perfect couple
We have seen that proteins are made up of basic building blocks, known as amino acids. There are twenty different types of amino acids, but these scientists found a very beneficial role in one of them: the cysteine (Cys).
They observed that when it is combined with two very common polyphenols in coffee, called CA and CGA, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant power is intensified. On the one hand, they verified that when preparing a coffee with milk, polyphenols quickly bind to these amino acids. And, on the other, they saw that, by putting CA-Cys and CGA-Cys in contact with Cell cultures, the inflammatory response was regulated much more efficiently. Furthermore, it did so at many different levels, affecting most of the components involved in it.
Can it be done with vegetable drink?
It is worth asking if we will obtain the same effect when preparing the coffee with milk with vegetable drink. Actually, it would do with any protein source. The problem is that, generally, vegetable drinks have less protein than milk
The one with the most interesting nutritional profile, and also a higher protein content, is the soy drink. However, this legume lacks sulfur-containing amino acidsamong which is precisely the cysteine. Even so, there is the option to search fortified vegetable drinks. Or, if not, there would be no problem either, since there are many other foods, rich in protein, that can be included in the diet.
That coffee with milk can be beneficial does not mean that the vegans or people who do not drink milk for any other reason They will have more health problems. It is simply another fact to take into account and there are always alternatives. But if you’re not among those groups of people and you do drink milk, maybe it’s time to put at least a drop in your coffee.
