How Drinking Coffee Affects Your Health?

Did you know that, one of the factors for longevity is the number of people you talk to, during the day?The more people you meet and talk to, longer you will live, according to one study. Asian people spend time during the day sharing a meal with other people or drink a tea in small groups. Europeans mostly meet with other people and enjoy their favorite type of coffee during the day.

Drinking coffee is usually the most commonly consumed stimulant in the world and caffeinated coffee is known for it's many health benefits like longevity.

Health benefits of consuming coffee

Coffee improves various aspects of brain function including memory, mood vigilance, energy levels, reaction times and general mental function. It boosts energy, speeds up fat metabolism, relieves muscle pain after workout up to 48 % and is a natural diuretic (help your body to get rid of excess water). Coffee intake is linked to a lower risk of depression, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. People who drink coffee are also less likely to die by suicide.

 

Coffee and longer life

Drinking three to four cups of coffee a day could add years to your life.

When hot water runs through coffee grounds while brewing, the natural chemical compounds in the beans mixed with water mostly antioxidants and other nutrients protect your body against oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is believed to be one of the mechanisms behind aging and common, serious conditions like cancer and heart disease. Oxidative stress occurs when there’s an imbalance between free radical activity and antioxidant activity. Coffee happens to be the biggest source of antioxidants outranking both fruits and vegetables combined.

 

Coffee and liver health

Coffee may protect against cirrhosis, reduces the risk for fatty liver, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.Moderate coffee drinking could be beneficial in slowing the progression of viral infections of the liver.

This liver-protective role is because of it’s beneficial nutrients and high levels of antioxidants inside the coffee. The main metabolite of the coffee is called paraxanthine . This metabolite suppresses the synthesis of CTGF (connective tissue growth factor) which may slow down the progression of liver fibrosis, alcoholic cirrhosis and liver cancer. 

Coffee and metabolism

There are many biologically active substances in the coffee beans present in the final drink. Several of them can affect metabolism like caffeine, theobromine, theophylline and chlorogenic acid. The most important is caffeine that blocks a neurotransmitter called adenosine. By blocking adenosine, caffeine increases the firing of neurons and release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine. This is how coffee helps you stay awake and energized when you would otherwise feel tired.

By raising blood levels of epinephrine(adrenaline), caffeine promotes the release of fatty acids from fat tissue. Releasing fatty acids into your blood does not help you lose fat unless you are burning more calories than you consume through your diet.

How much coffee is too much?

Current guidelines recommend drinking no more than around four cups a day.

Pregnant women are advised to consume no more than 200 mg of caffeine a day, the equivalent of two mugs of instant coffee.

Two to four cups a day of coffee is safe to be consumed, more than that can harm the heart by raising blood pressure.

Be sure if you’re drinking coffee that you’re also taking down lots of water, too, so you don’t run the risk of dehydration, as previously mentioned, coffee is a natural diuretic.

 

References:

Gunter MJ, Murphy N, Cross AJ, et al.

Coffee Drinking and Mortality in 10 European Countries: A Multinational Cohort Study

Caffeine and Coffee: Their Influence on Metabolic Rate and Substrate Utilization in Normal Weight and Obese Individual

K J Acheson, B Zahorska-Markiewicz, P Pittet, K Anantharaman, E Jéquier