Coffee – perhaps the healthiest beverage

Coffee’s not the enemy!

• • Coffee raises your blood pressure and heart rate to give you a burst of energy. The caffeine in coffee also helps release the feel-good hormone dopamine, temporarily reducing fatigue and improving your mood. But don’t rely on this energy booster long term. Studies show that people who regularly drink coffee to remain alert become tolerant to caffeine – then they become no more alert after drinking it than non-coffee drinkers.

• • People who drink coffee are less likely to have dementia and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It seems that both the caffeine and antioxidants in coffee reduce inflammation in the brain which slows down the deterioration of brain cells, especially those associated with memory.

• • People who drink three to five cups of coffee a day are less likely to have type II diabetes. There is evidence that decaffeinated coffee may have the same benefit in this regard as regular coffee.

• • Drinking coffee could give your muscles a boost. Researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport found that a single cup of coffee helped athletes exercise for almost a third longer.

• • Drinking coffee may lower the risk of skin cancer thanks to its antioxidants that mop up free radicals, the damaging molecules linked to cancer and other diseases.

• • Coffee appears to prevent certain liver disorders, lowering the risk of liver cancer by 40% and cirrhosis by as much as 80%.

• • Caffeine is known to help open up the airways. It’s chemically similar to theophylline, which is used to treat asthma.

• • As well as being practically kilojoule-free, coffee may also be a mild appetite suppressant. A recent study also found that green coffee, made from unroasted coffee beans, may aid weight loss by reducing the amount of sugar absorbed from the gut and speeding up the rate at which the body burns fat.

• • People who drink up to three cups of coffee per day may be less likely to have high levels of calcium in their arteries – an early indicator of blocked arteries.

• • Coffee is a diuretic; it stimulates the kidneys, making you need the loo more often. However, the long-term consumption of coffee can make kidney disease worse. Caffeine is also a bladder irritant, which can make an overactive bladder problem worse.

While coffee in moderate amounts (about three cups per day) can be good for you, drinking too much of it may be harmful. To preserve the health benefits, add milk but no sugar and have something to eat with your coffee. If it tends to affect your sleep, don’t drink it after 2pm.

If you have heart failure, however, you are advised not to drink coffee as it can put your heart under greater strain. People with heart disease should avoid instant coffee because it contains high levels of potassium.

Sources
www.authoritynutrition.com
www.dailymail.co.uk
www.mayoclinic.org
www.webmd.com