Coffee: the data shows it's a radical superfood & perhaps an essential vitamin

Hey team caffeine -- ever done a deep dive on coffee data? Let's go.

"Thinking about how caffeine can be beneficial across such a broad spectrum of problems can give us a perspective on the similarities of their underlying physiology and biochemistry, expanding the implications of stress, biological energy, and adaptability." -Ray Peat, 2006

Coffee is an essential source of magnesium.

Finding foods with magnesium is a bit difficult. We know our soil is somewhat depleted of magnesium compared to pre-industrial agriculture, when animal manure was used as fertilizer, earthworms were abundant, and the topsoil was truly "alive" with a rich microbiome --- as opposed to "dead" soil, a loss of worms & biome due to harsh pesticides & herbicides, synthetic NPK fertilizers, and other industrial-ag techniques.

Luckily, coffee plants are trees (some say small shrubs, but technically, they are trees) which gives them deep roots, able to access deeper layers of soil and absorb more minerals, despite a lacking topsoil. We know that chocolate has a high amount of magnesium, which also comes from trees, and produce a dark-colored bitter fruit-seed (just like coffee beans, which are not a bean, they are the stone-seeds of the coffee cherry).

However, the amount of magnesium you receive has a huge variance, from almost none, to a huge 80mg per 100ml of liquid, depending on how you prepare the coffee. So the chart above might be misleading, because it's referring to the maximum amount of magnesium you can receive from a coffee.

Coffee's magnesium content depends on the preparation methods.

Let's compare normally-brewed "American" coffee (aka bean water) with thick strongly-brewed fine-grind coffee, like that of espresso or Vietnamese-style coffee.

In this image, we see espresso coffee providing approximately 1600% more magnesium than normal-brewed coffee... ????

Is the high Mg+ due to the fancy espresso machine technology using steam and pressure to extract the nutrients? No. The size of the coffee grind is the main factor for magnesium content. Espresso coffee is more finely ground than normal "ground" coffee, and more of the coffee molecules are dissolved into the final liquid.

This is why a Vietnamese-brew-style also produces a super-thick coffee (thicker than espresso, actually), despite not using fancy machinery -- because Vietnamese coffee is finely ground to the same degree as espresso coffee. A vietnamese-brew-style using normal-size coffee grounds will produce a watery non-rich coffee (boring & not tasty).

If you can create a super thick coffee, completely opaque with the viscosity of a thin syrup, you've achieved maximum magnesium levels, regardless of your preparation style.

Size matters.

This chart shows the enormous difference between extra-fine grind (espresso style) and normal grind:

The number of particles in extra-fine (espresso) grind coffee is larger by an order of magnitude, and this means the surface area in contact with the hot water is also also increased, hence the exponential increase in nutrients in coffee prepared from extra-fine grind.

Can we trust this coffee mineral data?

Okay, so let's say you're quite shrewd, and always skeptical of data. Good.

You want to know if we can trust this data -- and even though we used a .gov food database sponsored by the USDA, you want to know if we can trust the research methods. I think with similar skepticism, but I believe we can trust this data, because minerals don't degrade like proteins & complex molecules (like vitamins). Even if you torch it with fire, magnesium atoms will still be present in the ash. And atomic spectroscopy is used for measuring magnesium content of liquids & foods. It's quite reliable.

Hopefully I've convinced you now that coffee can *potentially* be an excellent source of magnesium, depending on the size of the coffee grinds and/or the preparation methods.

But why do we care so much about magnesium? Aside from being a not-so-common mineral in our normal diet of starches, fruits & veggies, & meats, what's the context for wanting magnesium in our daily life?

• In general, we want to intake magnesium & calcium in a 1:1 ratio. (Pairing coffee with milk suddenly makes sense -- our elders were quite intuitive to pair these).
• To function at optimal levels, we want 2000mg of magnesium and 2000mg of calcium per day, although we can still thrive with good health at half that amount. These high levels are important because they suppress stress hormones and improve hormone signaling & enzyme function.
• Magnesium is generally an intracellular mineral, whereas calcium is something we want moreso as an extracellular mineral. When calcium goes into cells, it pushes out magnesium, can overexcite the mitochondria (ie., excitotoxicity, similar to glutamate overstimulation), cause cell death, and cause soft-tissue calcification (ie., aging, reduction of function).
• Magnesium can provide a calming effect, bringing balance to the stimulating effects of caffeine.
• Over 300 enzymes require the presence of magnesium ions for their catalytic action, including all enzymes utilizing or synthesizing ATP, or those that use other nucleotides to synthesize DNA and RNA.?
• Magnesium can mimic the positive effects of calcium, in the sense that it can regulate/reduce parathyroid hormone, and improve thyroid function & overall metabolic function.
• We need magnesium to convert the inactive thyroid hormone T4 into the active thyroid hormone T3. Without this conversion, cells do not receive the more potent form of thyroid hormone. Therefore, when magnesium levels are low, our thyroid is not able to function correctly, which has downstream effects like reduced metabolism, reduced sex hormones, reduced fertility, reduced intelligence, reduced mood, reduced immune system, reduced autophagy, increased susceptibility to metabolic diseases like cancer & diabetes... the list goes on.
• Dozens of other "blog-ish" benefits you can find from a quick web search, like improved mood, blood sugar, etc.

Coffee is an adequate source of potassium.

Lots of foods have potassium -- not just bananas and fruits. In fact, the potassium from liquids (coffee, wine, milk, juicy meats & broths, fruit juices...) are much more absorbable than the potassium in bananas --- a banana may have a relatively high amount of K+ (~400mg per medium banana) but a single cup of orange juice will provide the same amount (or more) of potassium but in a liquid form (instant absorption).

And why is potassium important? For starters, dietary potassium suppresses renin, another stress hormone (we're talkin 'cellular stress', not necessarily mental stress). Perhaps more importantly, potassium helps to shuttle blood sugar and nutrients into cells --- like insulin, but K+ can shuttle glucose into cells even without the presence of insulin.

"Insulin itself has been found to account for only about 8% of he 'insulin-like activity' of the blood, with potassium probably being the largest factor." -Ray Peat, 2009

So, a strong coffee with a bit of dairy can provide an awesome amount of magnesium and potassium, and the K+ helps us to utilize carbs for clean energy.

Coffee with sugar or carbs prevents nervous energy & the crash

Drinking coffee on an empty stomach? Not cool, despite being delicious. The increased metabolic rate from coffee-drinking quickly depletes whatever is remaining of your blood sugar, thereby raising adrenaline and cortisol, creating the nervous jittery energy, irritable mood, and subsequent crash that is sometimes associated with coffee.

The solution? Have coffee with a meal, or at least add cream/dairy and sugar. The fat of cream/dairy will slow the absorption of the coffee, providing a more stable & prolonged energy level, and the sugar will help prevent a surge of stress hormones (adrenaline & cortisol).

"Often, a woman who thinks that she has symptoms of hypoglycemia says that drinking even the smallest amount of coffee makes her anxious and shaky. Sometimes, I have suggested that they try drinking about two ounces of coffee with cream or milk along with a meal. It’s common for them to find that this reduces their symptoms of hypoglycemia, and allows them to be symptom-free between meals."

-Ray Peat, 2006

People who eat a well-balanced diet often report they can drink coffee in the evening, before bed, and sleep easily. Coffee improves our ability to use sugar/carbs --- improving cellular energy functions. Sleep has 2 forms, highly restorative sleep (the best kind) and "torpor" which is the kind of deep hibernation sleep that sometimes feels good, but leaves you feeling groggy in the morning, or not rested despite 8+ hours of sleep. The best sleep requires a lot of energy, ie calories --- which is why so many people enjoy/crave ice-cream before bed -- dense with sugar and protein and calcium -- excellent for suppressing stress hormones.

More benefits of coffee, and deeper reading.

Here's a list of benefits, compiled by 85-year-old researcher Ray Peat:

• Coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of thyroid disease, including cancer, than non-drinkers.
• Caffeine protects the liver from alcohol and acetaminophen (Tylenol) and other toxins, and coffee drinkers are less likely than people who don’t use coffee to have elevated serum enzymes and other indications of liver damage.
• Caffeine protects against cancer caused by radiation, chemical carcinogens, viruses, and estrogens.
• Caffeine synergizes with progesterone, and increases its concentration in blood and tissues.
• Cystic breast disease is not caused by caffeine, in fact caffeine’s effects are likely to be protective; a variety of studies show that coffee, tea, and caffeine are protective against breast cancer.
• Coffee provides very significant quantities of magnesium, as well as other nutrients including vitamin B1.
• Caffeine “improves efficiency of fuel use” and performance (JC Wagner, 1989).
• Coffee drinkers have a low incidence of suicide.
• Caffeine supports serotonin uptake in nerves, and inhibits blood platelet aggregation.
• Coffee drinkers have been found to have lower cadmium in tissues; coffee making removes heavy metals from water.
• Coffee inhibits iron absorption if taken with meals, helping to prevent iron overload.
• Caffeine, like niacin, inhibits apoptosis, protecting against stress-induced cell death, without interfering with normal cell turnover.
• Caffeine can prevent nerve cell death.
• Coffee (or caffeine) prevents Parkinson’s Disease (Ross, et al., 2000).
• The prenatal growth retardation that can be caused by feeding large amounts of caffeine is prevented by supplementing the diet with sugar.
• Caffeine stops production of free radicals by inhibiting xanthine oxidase, an important factor in tissue stress.
• Caffeine lowers serum potassium following exercise; stabilizes platelets, reducing thromboxane production.

Some additional notes from Ray Peat:

"The observation that coffee drinkers have a low incidence of suicide, for example, might be physiologically related to the large increase in suicide rate among people who use the newer antidepressants called “serotonin reuptake inhibitors.” Serotonin excess causes several of the features of depression, such as learned helplessness and reduced metabolic rate, while coffee stimulates the uptake (inactivation or storage) of serotonin, increases metabolic energy, and tends to improve mood. In animal studies, it reverses the state of helplessness or despair, often more effectively than so-called antidepressants." -Ray Peat

Caffeine has remarkable parallels to thyroid and progesterone, and the use of coffee or tea can help to maintain their production, or compensate for their deficiency. Women spontaneously drink more coffee premenstrually, and since caffeine is known to increase the concentration of progesterone in the blood and in the brain, this is obviously a spontaneous and rational form of self-medication, though medical editors like to see things causally reversed, and blame the coffee drinking for the symptoms it is actually alleviating. Some women have noticed that the effect of a progesterone supplement is stronger when they take it with coffee. This is similar to the synergy between thyroid and progesterone, which is probably involved, since caffeine tends to locally activate thyroid secretion by a variety of mechanisms, increasing cyclic AMP and decreasing serotonin in thyroid cells, for example, and also by lowering the systemic stress mediators. -Ray Peat, 2006

If you're interested to try an extra-fine grind of coffee, I can recommend the Cafe Bustelo brand, which is commonly found at most supermarkets in USA, and easily purchased online.

For more reading (even deeper & more technical regarding bioenergetics), and for reading the argument that coffee may even be an essential vitamin -- check out Ray Peat's article here: https://raypeat .com/articles/articles/caffeine.shtml

???? Cheers ????