Dr. Joti Shah

Coffee is loaded with beneficial nutrients and anti-oxidants that can improve your health. Despite the myriad varieties coffee is usually consumed in, black coffee and milk coffee seem to interest the largest audience. The comparison between the two can come to an end, if you know what exactly you are looking for:

1. For weight loss: If you want to shed a few kilos, you can add black coffee to your diet plan due to its low calorie content than the milk alternative. A cup of black coffee contains 20 kilo calories while a cuppa prepared with milk and sugar has about 60 kilo calories. Caffeine also increases metabolism in the body that may help you in burning more calories.
2. To reduce the risk of diabetes: Coffee intake lowers your blood sugar level and in turn reducing your risk for diabetes. Moreover, the nutrients in coffee help your body use insulin, a hormone essential to store and use sugar that is delivered by your food. Those who drink considerable amounts of either regular or decaffeinated coffee could less likely to develop diabetes as compared to those who drink little or no coffee. This relationship between substantial coffee intake and diabetes suggests that each cup of coffee that you drink reduces your risk of developing diabetes by 7 per cent, if taken regularly.
3. For a smarter you: The stimulant called caffeine is the world's most frequently consumed psychoactive ingredient. Caffeine is absorbed into your bloodstream and then travels into the brain where it blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter known as Adenosine. This increases the amounts of other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine, leading to an enhanced firing of neurons. Coffee improves your brain function including memory, mood, vigilance, energy levels, reaction times and general cognitive function.

Regular coffee with milk and sugar

Although it is not entirely healthy to take added sugar and milk (Basically, roughly three times the calorie content of black coffee), you can drink a cup of milk coffee per day. If you are a caffeine addict and want to cut down your coffee intake, you should consider drinking cafe latte rather than an Americano to decrease caffeine content and increase protein content by adding milk. Besides, drinking your coffee black, post evening keeps you wide awake also disrupting your circadian rhythm. You might want to sip on thick, milky coffee on such occasions. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a dietitian-nutritionist.