The association of proteins with antioxidants, present in fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, red wine and beer, could double the anti-inflammatory properties of immune cells. This is the preliminary result of two new Danish studies.
A simple cup of coffee with milk to act on our immune system? If the answer requires further animal and then human studies, new research from the University of Copenhagen suggests that possibility. The combination of milk proteins with coffee bean polyphenols would double the anti-inflammatory properties of immune cells.
Polyphenols (antioxidants) are valuable allies in human health, as they help reduce oxidative stress that leads to inflammation in the body. However, few studies have investigated the combined effect of polyphenols with the amino acids that make up proteins.
The researchers of the study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, applied artificial inflammation to immune cells. Some of these cells received only polyphenols, others received the amino acid/polyphenol combination, and still others received nothing. Result: the immune cells of the second group were twice as effective in fighting inflammation as the cells treated only with the polyphenols.
A study on coffee with milk
A second Danish study shows that the reaction between polyphenols and proteins also occurs in some of the latte drinks studied by the researchers. ” In fact, the reaction happens so quickly that it’s been hard to avoid in all the foods we’ve studied so far. said Marianne Nissen Lund of the Department of Food Science, who led both studies. The professor explains that this beneficial association for inflammation could also occur with other combinations of foods: one composed of proteins (meat for example) and the other of polyphenols (fruits and vegetables).
It remains to be seen how much polyphenols are needed and how many cups of latte should be drunk for the remedy to work.
