31 January 2023 , 12:02
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Waking up bleary-eyed and reaching for the coffee is a mainstay of many a British breakfast.
But do you take your potent pick-me-up black or white? And yes, it turns out this really does make a difference!
It has been well documented that coffee offers more than a pleasant-tasting dose of caffeine - it has been said to reduce inflammation in your body, boost your lifespan and even cut your risk of dementia.
And these studies always agree on one thing - to reap these health benefits you need to stick to the black stuff.
At least, that was until now.
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As new research, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, makes a strong case for keeping the milk in.
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Even just a splash of milk in coffee can have improved health benefits. (Getty Images/EyeEm)A powerful cocktail able to fight inflammation 'twice' as effectively
When the protein found in a splash of the white stuff mixes with the antioxidants in coffee, it creates a powerful cocktail able to fight inflammation 'twice' as well, say researchers.
Whenever viruses, bacteria and other foreign substances enter your body, the immune system kicks off by deploying white blood cells and chemical substances for protection - in other words 'inflammation'.
This is where coffee beans - with their rich antioxidant content - come in extremely useful.
Rammed with naturally-occurring plant compounds called polyphenols, coffee can help bring down oxidative stress in the body that can cause inflammation.
But what happens if these polyphenols (found in coffee) were combined with proteins (found in milk)? Would it create a sort of increased anti-inflammatory effect?
That's exactly what researchers from the University of Copenhagen wanted to find out.
The science bit
In their research, some of the cells received various doses of polyphenols that had reacted with an amino acid - the building block of proteins.
Other cells only received polyphenols in the same doses, while the control group was given nothing.
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The team found that the immune cells treated with the combination of polyphenols and amino acids were - incredibly - twice as 'effective' at fighting inflammation.
Professor Marianne Nissen Lund, who headed the study, said: "Our result demonstrates that the reaction between polyphenols and proteins also happens in some of the coffee drinks with milk that we studied.
Inflammation is something we all experience. (Getty Images)“In fact, the reaction happens so quickly that it has been difficult to avoid in any of the foods that we’ve studied so far.”
The intriguing results suggest this could also be applicable to other foods that contain the polyphenol and protein combination.
Professor Nissen Lund added: “I can imagine that something similar happens in, for example, a meat dish with vegetables or a smoothie, if you make sure to add some protein like milk or yoghurt.”
Industries and research communities are now working on how to add the right quantities of polyphenols in foods to achieve the best quality because humans seem to be unable to absorb that much polyphenol.
Dr Nissen Lund said: "In the study, we show that as a polyphenol reacts with an amino acid, its inhibitory effect on inflammation in immune cells is enhanced.
“As such, it is clearly imaginable that this cocktail could also have a beneficial effect on inflammation in humans.
“We will now investigate further, initially in animals. After that, we hope to receive research funding which will allow us to study the effect in humans.”