Coffee, Tea, Chocolate: Health and Sustainability
Chapter 14. Spilling the Beans on Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
This chapter examines coffee, tea, and chocolate, including their nutritional benefits, health effects, and use in both traditional cultures and today’s world. Coffee is the world’s primary source of caffeine and may raise LDL (bad) cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease, but coffee and caffeine have also been associated with less depression and improved cardiovascular health. Like coffee, tea is rich in phytochemicals, with similar benefits for blood pressure, blood sugar, cognition, and brain health. It highlights the powerful polyphenols, antioxidants, and phytonutrients found in green tea, kombucha, yerba maté, and matcha and explores the medicinal use of drinking chocolate and its rich polyphenols and antioxidants, noting that added sugar and milk reduce its value. Finally, the chapter considers the ecological impacts of coffee, tea, and chocolate production, including deforestation, environmental sustainability, biodiversity loss, monoculture, climate change, and the use of child and forced labor in the chocolate industry.
Core Topics This Chapter Addresses
Guiding Questions
⮞ How are coffee and caffeine unique?
⮞ Does coffee cause high cholesterol and clogged arteries?
⮞ Is coffee protective for cardiovascular and other chronic diseases?
⮞ How does coffee impact mental health and mood?
⮞ What are the main types of tea?
⮞ What are the health benefits of black tea, green tea, matcha, and maté?
⮞ How is kombucha different from other tea (and what exactly is it, anyway)?
⮞ Will drinking (and eating!) chocolate improve your health—and mood?
⮞ How does coffee, tea, and cacao production impact the environment, climate change, and farmworkers?
The Science of Favorite Flavors
Navigate the facts (and fictions) around some of the world’s most beloved foods—chocolate, coffee, and tea—share these takeaways in both educational and lifestyle stories while taking a closer look at your own habits.