Different Coffees, Different Mood Benefits

We’ve written quite a bit about coffee’s health benefits over the years, but for anyone just joining us, a quick recap of some salient articles should definitely include:

• The Bitter Truth About Coffee (or is it?) ← for coffee-specific considerations (because one can have coffee without caffeine)
• Caffeine: Cognitive Enhancer Or Brain-Wrecker? ← for caffeine-specific considerations (because one can have caffeine without coffee)

Even if we consider coffee’s most well-known physiological effect (keeping people awake), it’s not quite how a lot of people think it is; see: How Much Does Caffeine Affect Sleep, Really?

When it comes to mood, often it can be quite personal, because we all have slightly different physiologies, and our circumstances are generally different too.

However, as with any health thing in general, it’s good to take note of what things make you feel one way or another, for example:

• More wakeful?
• Jittery?
• Alert?
• Distractible?
• Focused?
• Headachey?
• Insomniac?
• Energized?
• Run-down?

…and so forth. Note that many people have many different responses to caffeine, and a lot can depend on other factors.

See also, for a related discussion: The Coffee-Cortisol Connection, And Two Ways To Tweak It For Health

Nevertheless, there are some things that are quite reliably the same for most people:

More than a (gut) feeling?

Regular 10almonds readers will remember our article about Coffee & Your Gut, and specifically about how your trillions of tiny friends (that is to say, your gut microbiome) do enjoy a nice cup of coffee.

The latest science builds on from this!

Researchers (Dr. Sera Boscaini et al.) found that regular coffee use reshapes the gut microbiome, alter mood and cognition, and influence immune and metabolic pathways, beyond caffeine alone.

In the study, habitual coffee drinkers had distinct gut microbial compositions, including higher levels of certain beneficial species such as Cryptobacterium and Eggerthella, alongside lower levels of neuroactive and gut-modulating compounds like GABA and indole derivatives, showing how coffee can significantly affect the gut–brain axis via the gut microbes that enjoy it (or not, as the case may be for some of them).

Interestingly, they did a two-week washout (i.e. no coffee, a tragic state of affairs, but there are some brave people who will suffer for science), and the results showed…

• Withdrawal: the 2-week coffee abstinence period shifted habitual coffee drinkers’ metabolite profiles closer to those of habitual non-coffee drinkers, lowered blood pressure, reduced impulsivity and emotional reactivity, and reversed some microbiome-linked changes, showing that coffee’s sometimes unwanted biological effects are partly reversible.
• Caffeine: reintroduction of caffeinated coffee improved symptoms of anxiety, lifted mood, boosted cognitive performance, and reduced irritability, while also lowering salivary cortisol and reducing certain inflammatory markers such as IL-6*.
• Decaf: had its own benefits, including that decaf improved episodic memory, sleep quality, positive mood, and (surprisingly) physical activity more than caffeinated coffee, likely because of how non-caffeine compounds in coffee (such as their abundant polyphenols and chlorogenic acids) independently support brain and gut function.

*With regard to immune function specifically, coffee’s immune impact was mixed and context-dependent, with both coffee types lowering some inflammatory signals, but caffeinated and decaf coffee sometimes producing opposite effects on markers like CRP and TNFα.

You can read the paper in full, here: Habitual coffee intake shapes the gut microbiome and modifies host physiology and cognition

Not a fan of coffee?

If you’re not a fan of coffee, but are a fan of coffee-related health benefits, fear not; there is a supplement option available:

Green Coffee Bean Extract: Coffee Benefits Without The Coffee?

Enjoy!