Instant coffee is appreciated for its ease and speed of preparation, and by many - for its mild taste. He also has staunch opponents. Is instant coffee he althy? Is it true that it has less caffeine and more calories than natural coffee?

Instant coffeeis coffee which many people are convinced of. Some of them consider instant coffee to be poisonous. However, the truth lies in the middle - instant coffee - even the best coffee - can be harmful to he alth as well as have a beneficial effect on he alth.

Contents:

  1. Instant coffee - how is it made?
  2. Instant coffee - ingredients
  3. Instant coffee - is it he althy or harmful?
  4. Instant coffee - a bit of history

Instant coffee - how is it made?

Instant coffee is made from coffee beans, which are roasted and then finely ground. In the next step, the coffee is brewed in a little water at a temperature of 60-180 ° C in several stages and using high pressure.

Such conditions allow for obtaining a strong extract and extracting valuable ingredients from the ground coffee. The extract is concentrated and clarified. The next step is drying. It can be done with the use of high temperature or by freeze-drying, the so-called freeze drying.

According to the Polish law on product labeling, if a product is called "instant coffee", it must be pure coffee.

Freeze-dried coffeeis subjected to low temperature and the resulting ice crystals are removed in the sublimation process.

The resulting lumps of coffee break into smaller crystals. We recognize dried coffee by its form: granules or dust. Freeze-dried coffee is characterized by better quality and aroma, because high temperatures are not used when drying it.

As we can see, the process of producing instant coffee does not add any auxiliary substances to it.

This is a brewed and dried coffee extract. It therefore undermines the opinion popular on many websites that instant coffee contains trans fats, preservatives or emulsifiers.

Instant coffee - composition of "2 in 1" and "3 in 1" sachets

The popular “2 in 1” and “3in 1 ". It is no longer coffee, but a coffee drink and we will buy it under this name.

The composition of an exemplary sachet of "3 in 1" coffee drink is as follows:

  • sugar
  • glucose syrup
  • instant coffee 10.3%
  • hydrogenated vegetable fat (usually fully hydrogenated palm kernel fat)
  • skimmed milk powder
  • acidity regulators (E 340 ii, E 451 i, E 452 i, E 331 iii)
  • milk protein
  • vegetable fat, emulsifiers (E 471, E 472 e)
  • aromas
  • anti-caking agent (E 551)
  • stabilizer (E 339)
  • s alt

There are two forms of sugar in the first place, coffee is only 10%, plus a lot of additives and unhe althy fat.

Such "coffee" is obviously unhe althy and I do not recommend drinking it. However, it should not be equated with instant coffee, which does not contain any additives.

When buying instant coffee, however, take into account that it was produced from beans of lower quality than natural coffee.

It is true that the producers assure coffee of its noble origin on the packaging, but knowing the way of the industry tycoons and the desire to minimize costs, it is hard to believe that the production of soluble coffee would buy beans of the highest quality, since the consumer has no chance to check it in the product

The quality of the beans affects the taste and aroma of the coffee. However, there is no reason to believe that it will affect your he alth.

Instant coffee - is it he althy or harmful?

The answer to the question whether instant coffee is he althy is not the easiest one. Just as it is difficult to say unequivocally whether natural coffee is he althy - it helps with some ailments, and harms with others.

Due to the fact that instant coffee is an extract of natural coffee, their impact on he alth will not differ significantly. So let's take a look at the ingredients in instant coffee that can have an impact on he alth.

Caffeine

It is assumed that a cup of natural coffee contains approx. 120 mg of caffeine, and a cup of soluble coffee - approx. 65 mg. However, these are approximate values, as a lot depends on the type of coffee and the method of its preparation.

Caffeine in an amount up to 400 mg a day does not cause negative effects on human he alth, and 10 g of caffeine is considered a lethal dose, i.e. 83 cups of natural coffee and 154 cups of instant coffee.

Instant coffee is milder and causes less stimulation of the body. If we drink coffee to wake up, betterwill be natural.

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Calories

The popular opinion says that instant coffee is more caloric than natural coffee. It is not entirely possible to agree with that.

A cup of instant coffee prepared from one teaspoon (2 g) without milk and sugar is 1.5-2 kcal. The same is in a cup of natural coffee. The issue of calories is completely different in the case of "3 in 1" drinks.

One sachet filled with water provides up to 80 kcal. Only coffee drinks are unhe althy in terms of calories.

Antioxidants

Antioxidant compounds play a huge role in protecting human he alth - they reduce oxidative stress, reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases.

Coffee consumption in the United States is so high that it is the primary source of dietary antioxidants.

According to the popular opinion, instant coffee is devoid of antioxidants as a result of the production process. She checked it, among others a group of researchers from the Jagiellonian University.

It turns out that instant coffee is not only not devoid of antioxidants, but can contain up to twice as much as natural coffee.

After brewing ground coffee from different producers and instant coffee, it turned out that a liter of natural coffee infusion contained 405 to 642 mg of polyphenols, and that of instant coffee - 836 mg.

Moreover, Arabica coffees showed about 30% lower antioxidant capacity than Robusta coffees. Instant coffee as a source of antioxidants can have a positive effect on he alth.

Cholesterol

Natural coffee contains slightly more cholesterol than soluble coffee, so it may contribute more to increasing its level in the blood.

There are many more foods in the diet that help control cholesterol levels, and the effect of coffee - both soluble and natural - is negligible.

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Minerals

Comparing the content of elements in instant and natural coffee, it turns out that instant coffee contains both more beneficial ingredients (e.g. calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese) and heavy metals (e.g. aluminum, nickel) .

In the context of instant coffee, nickel, which is a highly allergenic element, is most often said. Its content is higher than that of natural coffee, but it is not true that natural coffee does not contain it at allnickel.

A cup of natural coffee covers 0.3% of the average daily consumption, and a cup of instant coffee - 0.6%. This is more, but not enough to talk about instant coffee as a source of nickel.

Oxalates

Oxalic acid is a natural food ingredient with anti-nutritional properties. It binds to metals, reduces their absorption and can be toxic to the body. Oxalate stones are the most common type of kidney stones.

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Oxalate should not be consumed in excess by people with kidney, liver and pancreatic diseases. The amount of oxalate in natural coffee infusions is similar to that in red, white and green tea infusions (approx. 10 mg / g).

There are almost twice as many of them in a cup of instant coffee, as in black tea (approx. 20 mg / g). For people with kidney and urinary system diseases, natural coffee will be better, but it is recommended to limit the consumption of all types of coffee and teas.

HMF

HMF, or hydroxymethylfurfural, is found in many foods. It is formed as a result of the Maillard reactions that take place in food at high temperatures. HMF is a potentially harmful compound that can cause cancer.

At the same time, research shows that this compound may exert a therapeutic effect on some neoplastic changes. The subject requires careful research and assessment of which of the activities - favorable or unfavorable - have a greater impact on human he alth.

The HMF content in instant coffees is approximately twenty times higher than in natural coffees. It probably has to do with the use of high temperature several times in the production process.

In ground coffees the amount of HMF ranged from 43 to 223 mg / kg (average 98 mg / kg), and in soluble coffee - from 1009 to 5086 mg / kg (average 2281 mg / kg).

Instant coffee is the main source of HMF in the average diet. Due to discrepancies in the assessment of whether HMF is harmful, it is difficult to determine whether its presence has a negative effect on he alth.

Important

Summary

Instant coffee has both beneficial and unfavorable effects on he alth. The same is the case with natural coffee.

Instant coffee is not unhe althy with moderate consumption.

Let's not get caught in the trap of "2 in 1" and "3 in 1" coffee drinks. In relation to them one can certainly say that they are unhe althy.

Instant coffee - a bit of history

Not toBy the end, it is clear to whom to assign the title of the creator of the instant coffee. Most likely there were three of them, and each independently came up with a way to transform ground coffee into soluble coffee - in 1890 David Strang of Invercargill, New Zealand patented hot air drying of coffee and launched Strang's Coffe; Satori Kato, an American of Japanese descent, invented and sold instant coffee in 1901 in Chicago; in 1909, the English chemist George Constant Washington living in Guatemala began producing instant coffee on a large scale.

However, the key moment in the mass production of instant coffee was the year 1930, when the Coffee Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil asked Nestle for help in processing and storing surplus coffee beans.

It took 8 years to develop a method that would preserve the properties of coffee - its desired flavor and aroma - and ensure that the coffee lasted. In 1938, the Nescafe product was created, which during World War II became an element of the food rations of soldiers.

Thanks to this, instant coffee spread throughout Europe. Currently, in some countries, the share of soluble coffee in the overall coffee market is 50%.

In Poland, we also often reach for it, but we are not such fans as, for example, the British. In our country, instant coffees account for 10% of all purchased coffees.

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