It sure perks up your mood. It infuses a dose of energy in you. Who isn’t swayed by its heady aroma? That’s the coffee we all know. In moderation, it is the best thing your favourite café could offer you.
But look beyond the obvious. There have been studies to prove that coffee, when consumed in moderation, promotes good health, but what is heartening to note is that coffee-lovers can even hope to have better skin. How?
Your skin loves coffee for it is loaded with antioxidants. Coffee bean extracts do a good job of skin cell energy preservation due to their free-radical properties.Coffee protects your skin against harsh sun rays too. Experts say caffeine can protect your skin against UV carcinogens. Caffeine actually inhibits DNA damage response, thus protecting skin against adverse effects of the Ultra Violet-B rays. Inhibition of DNA damage response offer a therapeutic option for non-melanoma skin cancer.
Ragini Mehra, founder, Beauty Source, says, “Coffee, when applied to the skin, constricts blood vessels under the skin and help reduce swelling and depuff eyes. It is recommended to use eye creams that have caffeine as an active ingredient. A gentle massage with coffee scrub stimulates blood flow and help do away with cellulite, stretch marks and acne. When you brew a coffee, keep the grounds aside. After it cools, apply the leftover on eyelids for a few minutes. Rinse off later.”
“When used as a scrub or in bath, coffee can pep up your skin immediately,” says Blossom Kochhar, an aromatherapist. She whips up a simple home recipe: Take two tablespoons of coffee, mix it with enough cream to make a paste and use it as a body scrub. You can also mix two tablespoons of coffee with yoghurt and apply it for 20 minutes. This will smoothen your skin.
“Coffee is one of the best ingredients to fight cellulite or the so-called ‘orange peel’ skin, due to its high concentration of two natural alkaloids—caffeine and trigonelline—and also chlorogenic acid that is known to increase blood circulation and eliminate water retention. For best results, green unprocessed beans should be used,” says Kochhar, who has curated a coffee bean scrub. Made out of green coffee bean extract, honey and organic coffee Arabica powder, it exfoliates, cleanses and boosts circulation.
Neelanjana Singh, nutrition consultant, Heinz Nutri Life Clinic, New Delhi, says, “Most beans that we consume are great storehouses of nutrients and so is the coffee bean. It has a large number of antioxidants that prevent tissue damage. It also has fair amounts of minerals such as magnesium and chromium, which have a beneficial effect on blood sugar levels. Published data shows coffee in a good light for diabetics.”
Singh stresses that there are many foods that are healthy to begin with, but how we consume them is equally important. Moderation lets you enjoy the coffee and reap its benefits, she says.