An old joke, known and beloved by every developer, is “A programmer is a machine for turning coffee into code.” It’s certainly true that it’s an important component of my productivity, coding and otherwise. An overwhelming proportion of Irreal readers, I’m sure, have a similar story.
It turns out that we’re on to something. It’s not just that coffee gives us a boost—everyone knows that—but that coffee is actually good for you. That’s also been known for some time but less widely. For some time, coffee consumption has been correlated with longer life, and less risk of chronic diseases.
Now scientists think they understand why. They believe that the compounds in coffee activate the NR4A1 receptor a protein associated with aging, stress, and disease. It’s not just the caffeine that does the trick. Several coffee compounds are involved, which explains why decaffeinated coffee also offers the health benefits if not the boost of regular coffee.
In the mean time, the researchers don’t recommend any changes to your habits concerning coffee consumption. Take a look at the linked Science X report for more details on how the benefits work and how the researchers believe that there are almost certainly other receptors involved.
At the end of the day, I suppose this doesn’t make a lot of difference. Programmers will continue slurping coffee but it’s nice to know that you can be healthy without eating spinach.