How To Eat Healthy With the Coffee Plant
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010It is little known that the coffee plant contains a bright red fruit that is usually disposed of because coffee growers think it is of no use. This fruit houses the coffee bean, which is technically the plant’s seed. The coffee bean is no longer the only usable part of the coffee plant, because researchers are discovering the good nutrition that the fruit of the coffee plant offers.
Through science, the correlation between the coffee plant and healthy diets is being determined. The fruit, called coffeeberry, offers a much larger amount of important nutrients than conventional coffee.
The geographical location of the coffee plant gives the coffeeberry fruit its characteristics that fit into healthy eating plans. These bushes live in parts of the world that are at high altitude and low latitude, so they have constant exposure to intense sun rays. Phenolic acids are built up to protect the berries from UV ray damage. The plant gains more of this antioxidant as it matures. The result is a ripe fruit that is full of antioxidants for us to use when we’re figuring out how to eat healthy.
The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity) level indicates the force that antioxidants emit in some foods. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Aging at Tufts University compared more than 40 vegetables and fruits according to their antioxidant free radical power and found that 1 gram of Coffeeberry ® Forte Extract is equivalent to 81 strawberries, 459 blueberries, 647 raspberries, or 1,015 grapes. Eating right for antioxidant benefits means consuming an extract rather than adding 250 grapes to all your healthy meals.
As we learned, phenolic acids are the antioxidants offered by the fruit of the coffee plant, and they are also called polyphenols. The role of polyphenols in healthy living is to neutralize free radicals that might lead to systemic oxidative stress and oxidative pathologies. This translates into protection from coronary heart disease, as one example. Polyphenols also deliver benefits in the areas of glucose management, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes, which are specific to healthy weight loss pursuits.
To add to those healthy eating benefits, research has also found that coffeeberry contains 5 of the 8 essential monosaccharides that together are the impetus of all biological communication. Arabinose, fucose, mannose, xylose, and galactose all help the immune system to work properly when they are released during digestion. And we can’t forget about the healthy polysaccharides – mannans and aribinogalactans – that are lost in roasting and can only be consumed through the coffeeberry.
To sum up all of the information we have learned about the coffee plant, we should be using it in its entirety in order to take advantage of the good nutrition it has to offer. The coffeeberry has more to give in terms of good nutrition than a roasted coffee bean. Antioxidants, high ORAC values, and healthy monosaccharides and polysaccharides all contribute to healthy diets by destroying harmful free radicals, regulating glucose issues, and boosting the immune system. For all of these reasons, coffeeberry is included as one of many healthy ingredients in Longevity, a supplement that protects your health every day.
Healthy eating can be easy and delicious. Let Prograde help you make your own healthy eating plans.
