The good and the bad - instant coffee

There is one big thing I miss in Africa...

 

...a good coffee, or even better a Latte Macchiato.

There are only a few places, and almost all of them are very Americanized, where you can get a freshly brewed Coffee made out of real coffee beans. Unfortunately, as you might guess – those are very expensive..but worth the splurge every now and then when I’m in a bigger town.

In Africa it`s normal to only drink instant coffee. All supermarket sell it and it`s almost impossible to find “real” coffee. Since I`m will be living here for another 5 months, I don`t try to bother too much and in the last month I got just to the very different taste of it. I couldn`t afford to buy a coffee machine anyway – also it would be ridiculous for this short amount of time I`m staying.

After a while of drinking instant coffee I began to wonder – is it healthy? Does it contain the same things like a normal brewed one?

So, I trawled the internet and researched some things I thought I share with you.

Instant coffee – The good and the bad*.

Good:

• It has less cafestol which is a substance that can elevate cholesterol in your body
• It can also have be the same efficient on decreasing diabetes type 2 (like brewed coffee)

 Bad:

• It is high in acrylamide – that`s a chemical compound that can cause nerve damage. Tested on animals this chemical also has been shown to cause cancer. (Because it was only discovered a few years ago, 2002, this chemical still is insufficiently studied, so there may be even more harm in this chemical) 
• It is lower in caffeine (at least for most brands). / This may also be a good for some…
•  It can decrease intestinal iron absorption more than drip coffee, but not if you drink it one our before your dinner.
• It has less of the antioxidant polyphenol (320 versus 400mg in a cup)

*http://www.livestrong.com/article/478724-is-instant-coffee-bad-for-your-health/
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_coffee

I have to say that i wasn`t that suprised that instand coffee is not as good as normal brewed coffee.

I still will drink my coffee, but not so often as before, especially the fact of nerve damage and the cancer make me think twice. I`m sure that you would have tu drink lots of it to get something like that...still it`s a sign that i can`t be the best for our body.

How do you like your coffee? Brewed? Instant? None?