A new study has revealed that drinking coffee daily can offer surprising health benefits, especially for women.
The study found that women who enjoy two or three cups of coffee a day have less abdominal fat than those who drink less or no coffee at all.
This is because coffee contains compounds with anti-obesity properties, leading to a reduction in overall body fat percentage.
This pattern is observed in women of all ages, regardless of whether their coffee is caffeinated or decaffeinated.
Women aged 20 to 44 who drink two or three cups of coffee daily have 3.4% less abdominal fat compared to those who don't. Women aged 45 to 69 who drink four or more cups daily have 4.1% less abdominal fat.
Overall, British scientists found that women of all ages who drank two or three cups of coffee a day had an average of 2.8% less total body fat.
There was no difference whether the women in the study had a chronic illness or were smokers.
Coffee also appears to have a positive effect on men, but the differences were less pronounced.
Men aged 20 to 44 who drank two or more cups a day had 1.3% less total body fat than those who did not drink coffee.
The findings—based on US data and published in the journal Nutrition—suggest that coffee could become a key part of a healthy diet and may help combat obesity.
Lead author Dr. Lee Smith, from Anglia Ruskin University, said: "Our research suggests that there may be bioactive compounds in coffee, other than caffeine, that regulate weight and could be used as anti-obesity agents. It may be possible to incorporate coffee, or its active components, into a healthy eating strategy to reduce the burden of chronic conditions associated with obesity."
