Coffee provides more than just a morning pick-me-up; it’s also the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet, according to research reported over the weekend at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting.

“Because Americans drink so much coffee, they get more of their antioxidants from coffee than from any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close,” said Joe Vinson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.

“We get over one gram of antioxidant compounds called flavonoids in our average daily consumption of coffee, which is about 8 ounces,” Vinson said. “Tea is far behind at roughly 300 milligrams of antioxidants in our average daily consumption. Flavonoids are pretty high in tea but we just don’t drink a lot of tea in America.”

The news that coffee packs a powerful antioxidant punch follows a growing number of studies touting the potential health benefits of coffee - including protection from liver and Colon cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s not just the caffeine,” Vinson said, “which is certainly good for your cognitive function and your psychomotor skills, but there are antioxidants in coffee and hopefully this study will generate some actual supplementation studies to show more health benefits for coffee.”

Both caffeinated and decaffeinated versions of coffee appear to provide similar antioxidant levels, Vinson said.

The potential benefits of these antioxidants depend on how well they are absorbed. And while more study is needed on this front, “there is evidence to show that antioxidants in coffee are absorbed in the body. You get an antioxidant effect after you drink coffee in humans,” according to Vinson.

For the study, Vinson and colleagues determined the antioxidant content of more than 100 different foods and beverages. They also analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on how much Americans consume of each item.

While past studies have looked at levels of something in a particular food or the level of consumption of a particular food or beverage, “in my study, I put the two together,” Vinson explained.

As mentioned, coffee came out on top, on the combined basis of both antioxidants per serving size and frequency of consumption, followed by bananas, dry beans, and corn.

By virtue of how much Americans consume, coffee far outranked many popular sources of antioxidants such as tea, milk, wine, chocolate and cranberries. Dates actually have the most antioxidants of all items analyzed based solely on serving size but not many people eat dates.

While the latest findings on coffee seem to encourage people to reach for that second cup, Vinson urges moderation. While one or two cups a day may be beneficial, java may raise blood pressure and heart rate and lead to the jitters. Some studies suggest it may also cause stomach pains.

More study is needed to firmly establish the potential health benefits of coffee, Vinson warned. He also emphasized that coffee is not necessarily the best source of antioxidants. “It’s well known that Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, which are better for you from an overall nutritional point of view due to their higher content of vitamins, minerals and fiber,” he noted.