THERE a worse ways to start the day than sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. Many of us depend an energising caffeine boost to bring us to life in the mornings or energise us during the inevitable afternoon slump. You many despair that you'll never kick your desire for that daily drip feed of coffee.

But as long as you're not guzzling too many mugs - and you're keeping added sugar to a minimum - your daily cup of Joe may actually be boosting your health. Justin Stebbing, a professor of Biomedical Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University, said moderate coffee drinking could improve your heart and brain health while slashing your risk of diseases like cancer . Writing in The Conversation , he explained: "Coffee contains several essential nutrients beneficial to overall health.

Read more on coffee "A typical eight-ounce cup of coffee provides small amounts of B vitamins – riboflavin, pantothenic acid, thiamine and niacin – as well as minerals potassium, manganese, and magnesium." Coffee can also be a rich source of antioxidants , compounds found in foods like fruit and vegetables that may help protect cells against daily damage. Prof Stebbing said that many people get more antioxidants out of drinking coffee than eating fruit and veg.

From slashing your risk of chronic diseases to halting silent killers in their tracks and evening extending your lifespan, here's all the ways your coffee habit could be benefiting your health. Most read in Health 1. It could slash your risk of he.