Drinking two to thre cups of black coffee per day reduces the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes .
A recent study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in September 2024, found moderate caffeine intake may protect against Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
But it’s not about refilling all day long. Drinking two to three cups of coffee was the “sweet spot,” the researchers concluded, according to NBC News.
Coffee likely has a minimal effect on weight loss by itself. The caffeine in coffee may increase metabolism, but it is unlikely to be enough to stimulate meaningful weight loss. Additionally, once any creamer or sugar is added to coffee, the additional calories offset any increase in metabolism.
Black coffee may help slightly increase metabolism and decrease appetite. These are both helpful for inducing a caloric deficit for weight loss, but, overall, it is the balance in energy output versus input that will determine weight loss.
And another study suggests coffee has the most benefits when you drink it in the morning. The research, published in January 2025 in the European Heart Journal, found that drinking coffee before noon leads to a 31% decrease in risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and 16% lower risk of death from any cause compared to those who don’t drink coffee. For all-day coffee drinks, there was no decrease in cardiovascular disease risk compared to non-drinkers.
There are benefits to coffee. … But if you are a coffee drinker, I still think you should watch how much you drink.
Black coffee nutrition
Black coffee has virtually no calories or fat as long as you don’t add cream or sugar to the beverage.
One cup of brewed coffee prepared with water contains the following:
- 2 calories
- 0 grams fat
- 0.3 grams of protein
- 95 milligrams of caffeine
- 116 milligrams of potassium
- 4 milligrams of sodium
Black coffee has no carbs, cholesterol or fiber. It contains some calcium, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus and folate.
Adding milk and sugar “totally, totally changes the equation,” inserting fat and calories, which can counteract any positive health effects, Young warns.
The benefits of black coffee
Coffee beans have more than 100 biologically active compounds, including powerful antioxidants. These compounds can help reduce inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, boost metabolism, inhibit the gut’s absorption of fat and block receptors involved with abnormal heart rhythms, according to research presented to the American College of Cardiology in 2022.
Heart health
Two to three cups of coffee a day are associated with a longer life, and a lower risk of heart disease and heart rhythm problems, three studies found.
The benefits applied to both people with and without heart disease.
Moderate coffee drinkers who drank two to three cups per day were almost 50% less likely to develop cardiometabolic disease than people who consumed a cup a day or less, according to the 2024 study.
Cardiometabolic disease is defined as having at least two of the following three conditions: Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease or stroke.
Higher coffee consumption — one or more cups of coffee a day — was associated with a reduced risk of heart failure, researchers reported in 2021.
Lower mortality
Drinking coffee, especially unsweetened coffee, is linked with a lower risk of death, another study found.
People who drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups a day without adding sugar were 16% to 21% less likely to die during over seven years than people who didn’t drink coffee at all.
Coffee drinkers also have reduced risk of liver disease and a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Weight loss
Moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee may also be part of a weight management strategy, a 2023 study noted, calling the impact an “anti-obesity effect.”
It found people who rarely drank coffee and then boosted their intake to up to seven cups a week reduced their total body fat — perhaps because coffee impacts metabolism.
