Caffeine has its pros and cons for several coffee drinkers, but coffee beans may be additionally beneficial for your health, containing over 100 biologically active compounds. According to Kistler, this is helpful to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, and to keep your metabolism going.
Kistler and his team analyzed instant versus ground coffee, as well as caffeinated versus decaf, as a variable in a third study of cardiovascular risk. Regardless of the form—be it instant or ground—two to three cups of coffee daily had positive effects. Not only did these study participants have lower rates of death, but also lower risk of arrhythmias, artery blockage in the heart,
, and heart failure. Caffeine, however, did play a role in and may be the preferred selection. Although decaf coffee reduced rates of cardiovascular disease, excluding heart failure, it did not produce the same favorable effects against incident arrhythmia.
Researchers also noted limitations of the analyses, which could have impacted the accuracy of results. Other dietary factors that could put participants at risk for cardiovascular disease were not accounted for as part of research, and investigators were relying on self-reported data collected at the beginning of the study.