喝出健康：咖啡是健康食品

抗氧化的原动力

    可能最好的秘密就是，咖啡可以传递更多的抗氧化物，并比目前认为最好的抗氧化物――绿茶更胜一筹。绿咖啡豆会有大约1000种抗氧化物，并在萃取时再增加了300余种，再烘培时又生成有益于健康的混合物。

    根据设在瑞士的雀巢研究中心近期在农业和食品化学月刊上发表咖啡含有四倍于绿茶的抗氧化物成分，并且还胜于可可、茶叶及红酒。当然，确切的抗氧化物的含量在不同咖啡豆中是有不同的（尽管在烘培过程中含量都有减少，但Robustas是Arabicas中的两倍），实际含量也与萃取工艺和用量有关。

    抗氧化物的益处在发现“自由基”时得以衍生。这些不稳定细胞为了使自己不被亚原子物质俘获而杀死，这一情况被证明使人体过早老化及发生心脏疾病、脑部发育障碍、癌症、白内障、损伤免疫及神经系统和其他健康问题。

Antioxidant Powerhouse
Probably the best kept secret about coffee is that it delivers more antioxidants than even the latest antioxidant bellwether, green tea. Green coffee beans contain about 1,000 antioxidants, and the brewing process adds 300 more. The roasting process, by the way, creates its own set of healthful compounds which, like some antioxidants, are unique to coffee alone.

Coffee, in fact, has four times the antioxidant content of green tea, according to a study conducted in Switzerland by the Nestle Research Center and recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study found that coffee also outruns cocoa, herbal teas and red wine. Of course, precise antioxidant content varies from cup to cup, depending on the type of bean (Robustas have twice the antioxidants of Arabicas, although the difference is reduced in the roasting process) and the level of “solubles” in the cup, determined by the brewing method, time and amount of coffee used.

The health benefits of antioxidants are broad, since the compounds neutralize errant molecules known as “free radicals.” These electrically unbalanced cells kill healthy cells as they try to stabilize themselves by robbing sub-atomic particles. This process has been implicated in premature aging, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain disorders, cancer, cataracts, the decline of the immune and nervous system, and other health problems.

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