Coffee, one of the most popular drinks in the world, is fusing into the lives of Chinese urban residents. There are usually several coffee shops in busy neighborhoods. The occasional aroma floating through the crack of the door slows down the pace of hurried pedestrians and even walks in to taste a cup.
In addition to recreation, coffee is also an important drink for many people to refresh themselves. For example, in our doctor group, many people need to drink two cups of coffee every day in order to have plenty of energy to cope with the busy day.
As [people who do not drink coffee will die], the author heard that many people will suffer from headache, palpitations and other discomfort after drinking coffee, and cannot help asking: Is coffee harmful to health?
Coffee is bad for the heart?
The ingredients of coffee are more complicated.
Generally speaking, the caffeine contained in each cup of coffee varies from about 100 to 200 mg due to differences in types and brewing methods. Coffee also contains [diterpene alcohol] [chlorogenic acid] and other active substances that can affect human physiological processes, not to mention numerous new substances created by [Maillard reaction] during roasting coffee beans.
1. Discomfort symptoms of caffeine production
A large part of the effect of coffee is provided by caffeine. Apart from refreshing, most of the discomfort symptoms such as palpitation, headache and insomnia in coffee sensitive people are caused by caffeine. It can slightly increase hypertension by about 3 mmHg, while normal people’s systolic blood pressure is in the range of 90-130 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure is 60-90 mmHg.
However, caffeine is still a [low toxic substance].
According to the data from the mouse experiment, for an adult weighing 60 Kg, intake of about 10 g of caffeine will reach the [danger]-that is, the [lethal half] (LD50) commonly used in toxicological experiments to measure the toxicity of substances-and this amount is equivalent to drinking 100 cups of coffee at one time.
Obviously, there is no danger at all if coffee is used as a drink. Drinking 100 glasses of water at a time, what needs to be worried about is probably electrolyte disturbance caused by water poisoning.
The human body is very tolerant to caffeine. If 200 mg caffeine is ingested for 3 days, the body’s spontaneous countermeasures can completely offset these cardiovascular effects brought by caffeine.
2. Alcohols in Coffee Affect Cholesterol Metabolism
In addition, some alcohols (caffeine alcohol, caffeine alcohol, etc.) contained in coffee will affect cholesterol metabolism.
Some studies have shown that after drinking brewed coffee for two months (i.e. Italian coffee and fancy coffee commonly used in coffee shops), the blood cholesterol content and low density lipoprotein (LDL), which is responsible for transporting cholesterol, have increased. Filtered coffee does not affect the amount of cholesterol in blood.
Perhaps it is the substances extracted under pressure in Italian coffee that have caused these changes.
In particular, cholesterol is not [unhealthy] for healthy people, and cholesterol is also an essential substance for human body. Although many kinds of coffee may raise blood cholesterol a little, it does not cause dangerous [hypercholesterolemia].
In fact, the risk of cardiovascular diseases associated with high cholesterol is reduced by drinking coffee.
Studies have shown that for those who have suffered from coronary heart disease or even myocardial infarction, drinking coffee will not affect their heart function at all, let alone cause a new round of pain.
What about arrhythmia? Although many people will have short-term discomfort such as palpitations after drinking coffee, according to the latest research report, coffee will not cause several truly dangerous arrhythmia, and is harmless even to people who have suffered from myocardial infarction.
Drinking coffee regularly is a healthy lifestyle.
There is also great news for those from [Coffee-Free Death Star]: Over the past decades, numerous studies have shown that people who drink coffee regularly show considerable resistance to several major types of modern diseases.
For example, in 2012, An epidemiological study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in the medical field, After observing 400,000 people for 14 years, it was found that those who drank at least one cup of coffee a day had a reduction of about 10% in the risk of suffering from fatal diseases-heart disease, respiratory diseases, stroke, diabetes, etc. Moreover, with each additional cup of coffee, the risk was further reduced. For female compatriots, this [protective] effect is even stronger.
However, drinking coffee cannot resist cancer.
In addition, if you also rely on smoking to refresh yourself, I’m sorry, as tobacco is the most notorious drug in human history, the little protective effect of coffee is nothing at all.
In another summing-up study published in the 2013 Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers specifically analyzed the role of coffee in various modern diseases. They found that if you drink up to 4 to 6 cups of coffee a day, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes will be reduced by nearly 28%, while those who drink only one cup can also be reduced by about 10%. In addition, coffee drinkers are less likely to suffer from myocardial infarction and sudden death caused by coronary arteriosclerosis, as well as chronic heart failure.
Although some people will feel palpitations after drinking coffee, among those who often drink coffee, they have not found that drinking coffee can cause some really dangerous arrhythmia such as ventricular fibrillation and atrial fibrillation. On the contrary, coffee reduces the possibility of its occurrence.
For diseases such as cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage, drinking 1-3 cups a day can obviously reduce the risk of occurrence. If drinking 4-6 cups, the reduction will be even greater.
The data also show that there are a group of coffee maniacs who drink more than 6 cups a day, and their cerebrovascular vessels are not bad or bad, just like ordinary people.
There are even many studies that believe that coffee also plays a certain role in resisting Alzheimer’s disease.
A few tips to eliminate your worries about coffee.
Are you sensitive to coffee? Are you worried that coffee will cause calcium loss? Here are a few tips to help you enjoy coffee at ease.
1. Don’t drink coffee when taking medicine;
2. Drink decaffeinated coffee;
3. Drink no more than 5 cups per day;
4. Drink a small amount of coffee for a week in a row;
5. Add two tablespoons of milk to each cup of coffee;
6. Ensure a healthy diet while drinking coffee;
Caffeine, a [foreign] substance, is metabolized through the liver like many other drugs after entering the human body. However, grapefruit juice, alcohol and many other foods and various drugs will affect the liver’s ability to metabolize coffee to varying degrees.
Sometimes the metabolic ability of the liver is inhibited, then the metabolism of caffeine will slow down and caffeine will remain in the body for a longer time. Accordingly, the time for refreshing and stimulating cardiovascular diseases will also become longer.
Therefore, people who are sensitive to coffee may need to pay attention not to drink coffee while taking medicine. Alternatively, you can change to a decaffeinated variety for drinking.
I have seen some people on the Internet worry about calcium loss caused by drinking coffee, but in fact, this problem does not exist.
First of all, caffeine needs to reach a large dose, such as at least 5-6 cups of coffee per day, before it can really affect the metabolism of calcium ions in the kidney.
In addition, the human body has strong adaptability. After drinking for one week continuously, the tolerance of the human body to coffee will be greatly improved.
Finally, the rate of calcium loss caused by coffee is very low, The calcium loss caused by a cup of coffee can be easily offset by two tablespoons of milk. Therefore, people who like milk with coffee need not worry at all. However, people who like black coffee, as long as other diets are healthy and balanced, have no evidence that coffee can cause bone loss, osteoporosis and other health problems.
Is that coffee a magic drug?
As a reader of [Doctor Clove], if you have read other popular health articles before, you will probably have the answer in your heart.
And if this is the first time you have seen our article, then I clearly tell you here: there is no magic medicine in the world, and coffee is no exception! Don’t try to get a healthy body and mind through one thing.
Perhaps the function of coffee is that people who like to spend time making coffee for themselves know better how to take care of themselves. Perhaps it is the healthy lifestyle they have been maintaining that brings health, not coffee itself.
Editor: Ding Ruoshui
Author: Alien Rookie