Want To Lower Inflammation? Dietitians Say You Should Add This Spice to Your Coffee Every Day
Dietitians explain what makes this delicious spice so great.
If you regularly experience brain fog, chronic aches and pains, hormone imbalances, digestive distress, skin issues or have an autoimmune disease, establishing daily habits that work to minimize inflammation could significantly improve how you’re feeling.
Inflammation is the immune system’s response to harmful stimuli and while it plays an important role in defending the body from these unwelcome invaders, chronic inflammation can cause a long list of health woes. In addition to the aforementioned ailments, it can also cause chronic diseases and cognitive decline. This is why doctors and healthy eating experts often preach the importance of building healthy habits that prevent or lower inflammation.
Related: This Is the Absolute Worst Habit for Inflammation, According to a Cardiologist
Throughout the day, we are engaging in dozens of actions that either are linked to preventing or causing inflammation. This includes everything we eat or drink. Foods that are high in sugar, fried or ultra-processed are linked to causing inflammation while vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, legumes and many other whole foods are linked to preventing it. What we drink plays a role too. If you pour yourself a cup of coffee in the morning, you are already starting the day with a habit that helps prevent inflammation. But according to healthy eating experts and scientific research, there’s a way to make your morning drink even healthier: adding a dash of cinnamon.
Related: Wait, Is It Bad To Put Milk In Your Coffee?
Why Drinking Coffee With Cinnamon Can Help Prevent Inflammation
Kristen Yarker, MSc, RD, a registered dietitian who leads a team of dietitians in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, says that cinnamon is an anti-inflammatory spice and is a delicious way to give coffee a hint of sweetness without adding sugar or alternative sweeteners, which are both linked to causing inflammation.
Scientific studies show that cinnamon is anti-inflammatory, can help reduce cholesterol and supports cardiovascular health, among other benefits. One reason for this is because it’s high in antioxidants, which protect tissues in the body from damage caused by free radicals. This in turn prevents an inflammatory response.
When you add a dash of cinnamon to your coffee, you’re adding an anti-inflammatory herb to a drink that is already anti-inflammatory, getting benefits on top of benefits. “Most of us think of our morning coffee as the reward for getting out of bed. It turns out that plain coffee can help reduce inflammation,” says functional medicine nutritionist Barbara Sobel, MS, CNS, LND. She explains that this is because, like cinnamon, coffee is high in antioxidants. “Antioxidants help remove free radicals and decrease oxidative stress, key components of inflammation. If we do not have much variety in our diet, coffee can become one of the primary sources of antioxidants in our diet,” she says.
Related: 11 Sneaky Ways Your Coffee Habit Could Be Causing Weight Gain, According to Dietitians
Other Ways To Drink to Your Health in the Morning
If you don’t like the taste of cinnamon in coffee, there are other herbs you can try in your coffee instead. Sobel says that unsweetened cocoa powder, nutmeg and cloves all contain phytonutrients that help decrease inflammation and can be delicious additions to coffee. You can even experiment with mixing some together to find a blend you find irresistible.
While coffee does contain antioxidants that help prevent inflammation, both Sobel and Yarker say that not everyone should drink it. “[For some people], coffee can be overstimulating, cause digestive issues, interrupt sleep and increase blood pressure in those who already have high blood pressure,” says Sobel. For these individuals, drinking coffee can backfire and cause inflammation instead of preventing it.
If coffee isn’t for you, there are other ways to start your day off with an anti-inflammatory drink. Tea, particularly green tea and black tea, is also high in antioxidants and linked to preventing inflammation. And since fruits and vegetables are anti-inflammatory, you can savor a morning smoothie spiked with cinnamon, unsweetened cacao powder or other herbs of your choice.
Both healthy eating experts emphasize that it’s important to think about your diet and lifestyle habits as a whole when it comes to lowering or preventing inflammation. Starting the day off with a healthy habit just might inspire you to live healthier throughout the entire day. And besides, coffee with a dash of cinnamon is certainly a lot more nutritious than a sugar-loaded specialty coffee drink. Sometimes, simple really is best.
Next up, see doctors' tips on how to reduce inflammation in the body.
Sources
Barbara Sobel, MS, CNS, LND, functional medicine nutritionist specializing in digestive, cognitive, and hormonal health
Kristen Yarker, MSc, RD, registered dietitian who leads a team of dietitians in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
