Is Dark Roast Better For You?

Health Benefits

We know that dark roast coffee just tastes better (not that we are biased!) but the benefits of dark roast coffee don’t end with the taste. In fact, dark roast coffee has been linked to several health benefits. Research in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research found that dark roast coffee is more effective than light roast coffee in restoring red blood cell vitamin E and glutathione. The same study reported that dark roast coffee led to body weight reduction in pre-obese volunteers. And for those consumers who avoid coffee due to gastric irritation, a study indicates dark roast blends are better for those with coffee sensitivity.

Research Finds Dark Roast Coffee Best for Getting Antioxidants

Now scientists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have found out much of the complex chemistry behind coffee's remarkable health benefits. It seems that the healthiest form of coffee appears to be the dark roasted variety of java. The roasting process itself releases antioxidants. This is important because antioxidants protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. And free radical damage may lead to cancer and other chronic diseases.

The new study, headed by Yazheng Liu and David Kitts, was published in the journal Food Research International. The UBC research team discovered that when green coffee beans are browned under high temperatures, a chemical process, known as the Maillard reaction, loads dark roasted coffee with protective antioxidants. During the heating process, hundreds of different flavor compounds are created that break down to form even more compounds. Each type of food has a distinctive set of these compounds that are created during the Maillard reaction.

"Previous studies suggested that antioxidants in coffee could be traced to caffeine or the chlorogenic acid found in green coffee beans, but our results clearly show that the Maillard reaction is the main source of antioxidants," Liu, a graduate student in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), said in a media statement. So drinking the dark roasted variety could increase the health benefits of coffee. Also, according to a study done in 2005, nothing else comes close to providing as many antioxidants as coffee. While fruits and vegetables also have tons of antioxidants, the human body seems to absorb the most from coffee.

Easy on Your Stomach

Dark-roasting a coffee bean creates a compound in the coffee that reduces the amount of stomach acid you produce. A team of researchers published their work at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in 2010. They compared the chemical profiles of dark-roast coffee and light-roast coffee made with regular roasted and steam-treated beans. The dark-roast coffee had greater than 30 mg per liter of a chemical related to the reduced production of stomach acid, and was linked to less heartburn and fewer stomach problems.