Learn about the health benefits of adding milk to coffee
Scientists say that just smelling coffee makes you feel alert - CC0
It's no secret that coffee brings joy to people all over the world, gives you warmth, enhances focus, and brings people together, not to mention its delicious smell and taste.
Science has proven that just smelling coffee can make us feel alert, and fortunately for coffee lovers, there are health benefits to drinking it as well. Coffee is a source of anti-inflammatory antioxidants, and drinking it before exercise has benefits in burning fat.
A new study suggests that adding a little protein- containing milk could boost the health benefits of your cup of coffee.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark examined how antioxidants called polyphenols interact with amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, and found that combining them has a double effect in fighting cellular inflammation.
Polyphenols can be found in many foods, including coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables. Like other antioxidants, previous studies suggest that polyphenols can prevent and slow the oxidation of healthy chemicals and protect our bodies from disease.
These antibiotics are thought to work in part by controlling inflammation, a complex immune response involving cells called macrophages.
Inflammation helps protect against infection, but if not properly controlled, it can lead to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Caffeic acid (CA) and chlorogenic acid (CGA) are polyphenols well known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but the study authors wanted to know whether polyphenols' interactions with other chemicals could further influence immune regulation.
Bonds are products made when two or more molecules come together. In the case of coffee with milk, the amino acid cysteine (Cys) - found in dairy products - is combined with the polyphenols CA and CGA - found in coffee - to make the bonds CA-Cys and CGA-Cys.
To support this research, the study authors successfully showed in another experiment that polyphenols bind to proteins in a coffee drink with milk.
"Our results show that the interaction between polyphenols and proteins also occurs in some of the coffee-with-milk drinks we studied. In fact, the interaction occurs very quickly," said Marianne Nissen-Lund, a food scientist and co-author of both studies.
In this study, the researchers used RNA sequencing to study the immune-regulating effects of CA-Cys and CGA-Cys in macrophage cells exposed to artificial inflammation.
They also tested the effects of CA and CGA alone and compared them to a control group not exposed to polyphenols or Cys conjugates.
As they expected, they found that when the polyphenols CA and CGA were combined with the amino acid cysteine found in milk proteins, their anti-inflammatory effects received a powerful boost.
Andrew Williams, immunologist and lead author of the study, said: “It is interesting to now observe the anti-inflammatory effect in cell experiments. This has clearly made us more interested in understanding these health effects. The next step will be to study the effects in animals.”
“Our results can be used as an important reference in applications of approaches composed of phenolic compounds and amino acids in future functional foods or medical products targeting metabolic, neurological, or immune-related diseases,” the researchers concluded in their paper.
The research was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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