If you’re like most Americans, you love a cup of coffee — or two, or three — in the morning. In fact, you might even call Americans coffee snobs, because we love it so much and in so many different varieties.

As noted by Lifezette, Americans drink several hundred million cups of coffee a day, throughout the day, meaning coffee is more than just a morning beverage.

And while you drink coffee because you enjoy it, what you may not have known is that it’s one super-healthful beverage. A recently released study by Spanish researchers from the Hospital de Navarra in Pamplona analyzed data on 20,000 coffee-drinkers and non-coffee drinkers for a decade.

What they found was nothing short of amazing:

To the delight of coffee lovers everywhere, the study showed that drinking coffee may reduce a person’s risk of death by 64 percent. Even those over the age of 45 could lower their risk of death by 30 percent with two extra cups per day.

Also, researchers wanted to know what amount of coffee would provide people with the best health outcomes — and if you’re a coffee drinker, what they discovered is going to make you happy.

The researchers said maximum health benefits were attainable by drinking four cups of coffee each day — giving new meaning to the phrase, “I can’t live without my coffee.” (Related: Drinking Coffee Reduces Risk of Stroke, Cancer and Dementia.)

As Natural News has reported often in the past, there are no health benefits associated with sugary soft drinks and so-called “energy” drinks. You may get a caffeine boost like you do with coffee, but you’ll get none of the health benefits. In fact, when it comes to energy drinks, you just might wind up dead if you drink too many.

Coffee, however, has a lot of health benefits beyond empty calories and giving you a good boost to your day. Here are some of them you may or may not have known:

— Caffeine: In addition to giving you a dose of energy, this ingredient can also elevate your mood and improve memory, researchers have found.

— Vitamin B2: This essential “B” vitamin helps your body convert carbohydrates into energy, all while promoting healthier skin, hair, and eyes. In addition, this vitamin helps your body metabolize fats and proteins.

— Potassium: This is a very vital electrolyte that will assist your muscle contraction, regulate water balance in your body, and conduct nerve impulses.

— Magnesium: For better regulation of blood pressure, heart rate and for keeping bones strong, you need magnesium.

— Polyphenols: An antioxidant that is also present in a number of plant-based foods, these are known as potent disease-fighters. In fact, recent research has found that polyphenols can significantly boost mental acuity in older adults by improving the function of brain neurons to promote clear, critical thinking. They can also help in the production of new stem cells in the brain, which then are used by the body to promote healing and rejuvenation.

— Hydrocinnamic acids: These beneficial additions contribute to the neutralization of free radicals in the body. These “are deadly chemicals formed in your body when stress, illness, or injury causes ischemia or diminished blood supply to tissues,” Natural News reported nearly a decade ago.

Because of coffee’s antioxidant property, researchers believe it can also prevent disease processes from starting in the first place. And while you should get your daily nutritional intake of vitamins and antioxidants from a variety of healthy, organic, GMO-free sources daily, coffee can help you achieve that goal. You can even drink organic coffee.

In addition to these stated health benefits, other research has uncovered evidence that coffee can boost heart health, curb diabetes, and protect against colon cancer, Lifezette reported.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

Lifezette.com

NaturalNews.com