Why the Back and Forth?
Studies on the health effects of coffee have yielded wildly varied results -- but according to experts, the risks aren’t necessarily in the beans.
Dr. Rob van Dam, Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, explains, “Coffee is also a bit more complex to study than some other food items. Drinking coffee often goes along together with cigarette smoking, and with a lifestyle that’s not very health conscious. For example, people who drink lots of coffee tend to exercise less. They are less likely to use dietary supplements, and they tend to have a less healthful diet. So in the early studies on coffee and health, it was hard to separate the effects of coffee from the effects of smoking or other lifestyle choices.”
The good news for java junkies, however, is that coffee is found to have more and more health benefits when included as part of a healthy lifestyle -- for even moderate to heavy drinkers.
The Perks
Check out these amazing perks that come with your morning pick-me-up:
Keeping Sharp
According to a recent study by the University of Finland School of Medicine, coffee may be able to help keep you mentally keen -- and not just after a late night out. Researchers found that participants who drank three to five cups of coffee per day had a 65 percent lower chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia later in life. How? Coffee’s antioxidant properties may prevent damage to brain cells and boost the effects of the neurotransmitters that control cognitive function. Some studies have even speculated that compounds found in coffee may activate a DNA-repairing protein in cells, which possibly could prevent the DNA damage that can lead to cells becoming cancerous.
Happy Hearts
Drinking even one to two cups of coffee per day can significantly reduce a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease-related death by as much as 38 percent. Other studies show that moderate coffee consumption can lead to a lower risk of stroke than in those who don’t drink the brew. The speculation is that coffee’s antioxidants may help minimize inflammation’s damaging effects on the arteries and that coffee may boost the activation of nitric oxide, a substance that widens blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Warning: more isn’t always better. Drinking more than five cups of coffee a day has been linked to an increase in heart disease risks. Further, boiled or unfiltered coffee (French press fanatics, take note) contains higher levels of cafestol, a compound that has been liked to an increase in LDL, or bad cholesterol. Filtered brews are healthier for the body.
Love Your Liver
Coffee may be just the boost you need after a late night on the town, but research is beginning to show that coffee may be linked to a decreased risk of cirrhosis and other liver diseases. One analysis found that, for every two-cup increase in daily coffee consumption, a person has a 43 percent lower risk of developing cancer. Why? Caffeine and caffeine acids found in coffee may prevent liver inflammation and inhibit cancer cell development.
Diabetes Defender
Type II diabetes is a growing concern among Americans. Nearly 12 percent of American men older than 20 have the disease. Harvard researchers tracked coffee consumption and the link between type II diabetes over a 12-year period and found that long-term coffee drinkers had a significantly reduced risk of developing diabetes, and that risk decreased the more they drank.
Pain Buster
Caffeine has long been credited as a headache reliever, but it may help bust other types of pain, too. Coffee breaks may not just give you a mental break at work, according to a study by Norwegian BMC Research, which sought to determine if coffee consumption before computer-related office work would affect pain in the neck, shoulders and forearms. Their findings showed that coffee drinkers experienced significantly less pain while performing typical office tasks compared to non-coffee-drinkers.
Weight Loss
While coffee as a beverage has been shown to have a wide range of health benefits, green coffee extract can have an impact on your figure. Research has shown that, in a study of overweight adults, those participants who were given green coffee extract underwent significant weight loss -- with nearly 38 percent transitioning from being pre-obese to a normal weight range. If your goal is to trim down, consider adding a green coffee capsule to your daily dietary supplements or taking one before hitting the gym.
The Downside
If you’re sensitive to caffeine or suffer from anxiety, drinking coffee can aggravate your condition. How does it happen? Caffeine looks chemically similar to adenosine, which is a chemical associated with sleep and relaxation of blood vessels. Caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors on nerve cells, blocking the receptors from binding with the adenosine. This causes nerve cell activity to speed up and the blood vessels to constrict, which is how we get our caffeine boosts.
People who drink coffee regularly develop a tolerance for its effects, but that also means that you’ll eventually develop a dependence on caffeine to reach your normal level of alertness. What’s more, the body will develop more adenosine receptors to counteract the effects of the caffeine, which makes you more sensitive to the effects of adenosine. In short, if you drink coffee regularly, you’ll develop symptoms of withdrawal, like fatigue and headaches.
Coffee -- especially late in the day -- can also kill your sleep patterns. As a rule of thumb, it takes the body about six hours to eliminate caffeine from your system, so you should limit your caffeine intake to a time that’s at least six hours before bedtime.