What Is Coffee?
The word ‘coffee’ leaves most of us with a smiling face. After all, it is the world’s favorite beverage. For many of us, a day without coffee is a day wasted. It boosts us with energy and enthusiasm to face the hard challenges and be victorious. Coffee is a liquid refreshment prepared by infusing or brewing roasted coffee beans or powder. Earlier, coffee was looked down as a beverage full of detrimental effects on health. But, lately, studies have claimed it to be a boon to the human race.
Coffee contains caffeine, a natural tonic that imparts wakefulness to the brain, which enhances memory; improves mood, reaction times, and other rational functions. It also helps in better performance in physical activities. Coffee is also a treasure of many floral substances and antioxidants beneficial to health. In addition, it comprises nutrients like vitamin B complex, potassium, and riboflavin. However, coffee is a complex compound with specific adverse effects, mainly due to its high caffeine content.
What Are the Benefits of Coffee?
The various advantages of coffee are listed below:
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Increases Life Span: Coffee in appropriate amounts increases life span, particularly in women, and decreases mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes, and kidney diseases. It has been proved that among coffee drinkers, the death rate is 25 % less than nondrinkers.
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Improves Processing of Sugars: The coffee drinkers have a better operating ability for glucose and other sugars and are less sensitive to insulin, making them less prone to developing type-2 diabetes.
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Better Cardiac Functioning: Having a cup or two of coffee helps the weakened heart pump enough blood to the body and reduces the risk of cardiac failure, especially in old individuals.
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Symptomatic Relief in Parkinsonism: Caffeine provides symptomatic relief in neuromuscular coordination, like in those who have Parkinson’s disease. It also decreases the chances of developing such a disease.
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Enhances Liver Functions: All types of coffee aid in the functioning of the liver and protect it. Coffee drinkers better retain the normal liver enzyme levels than nondrinkers.
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Provide Stronger DNA: Dark coffee makes the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strands stronger and prevents breakage. Though breaking of the DNA strands is a natural process, it can cause cancer or tumors if the body does not repair the broken strands.
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Decreases the Risk of Cancers: Coffee in all its varieties reduces the risk of developing colorectal cancer, specifically in women. It also decreases the probability of having prostate cancer in men and endometrial cancer in women. Coffee also protects against developing basal cell carcinoma.
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Lowers the Chances of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: Caffeine in average quantities lowers the chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, especially in older women.
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Less Probability of Having a Stroke: Women regularly taking at least a cup of coffee are less likely to have a stroke and die because of it.
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Enhances Physical Performance: A cup of black coffee raises adrenaline levels in the blood, which improves physical performance by 11 % to 12 %, so many people prefer to grab a cup of black coffee at least an hour before their activity.
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Aids in Weight Loss: Coffee is a source of magnesium and potassium, which assist the human body in utilizing insulin, maintaining normal glucose levels, and decreasing sugar cravings. All these collectively help in losing some extra pounds and getting into shape.
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Burns Body Fat: Caffeine uses body fat as sustenance for exercise and reduces the fat accumulation in the body.
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Provides General Protection: Coffee is a rich source of antioxidants and provides overall protection to the body against free radicals responsible for causing great damage to the body.
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Elevates Mood and Confronts Depression: Coffee increases the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline that help in boosting mood, fighting depression, and decreasing suicidal tendencies.
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Improves Focus and Concentration: An optimal caffeine intake increases mental alertness and helps focus better.
What Are the Harmful Effects of Coffee?
Besides a plethora of health benefits, coffee possesses some disadvantages to health. The demerits and their precautions are as follows:
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Do Not Overdrink: Consumption of coffee should be limited to four cups a day, each measuring about 80 to 100 mg of caffeine. Experts have advised taking only up to 400 mg of caffeine per day.
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Slashing the Intake in Pregnancy: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recommended the dosage of caffeine up to 200 mg in a day, that is, two cups for pregnant women. The increased intake may cause harm to the developing fetus.
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Avoid Having the Coffee Late: Coffee should be drunk by the afternoon as it remains in the body longer than usual. Consuming it later in the evening or after having dinner should be avoided, as it can lead to a sleepless night.
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Look Out for Coffee Additives: Coffee is often added with whipped cream, flavored syrups, sugar, etc., which are mainly unhealthy. Coffee with such additives should not be consumed frequently, or other healthy add-ons can be used.
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Give Coffee a Miss in Hypertensive Patients: Coffee has high caffeine content, raising blood pressure temporarily, so it should be avoided in hypertensive patients.
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Choosing Filtered Coffee: Cafestol and kahweol are present in beans of coffee which may elevate the LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels mildly in the body. However, filtered coffee is considered devoid of these ingredients as they get trapped in the filter. But, other types of cooked coffee do contain them.
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Keep the Coffee Away from Children: Coffee intake may increase enuresis in children aged 5 to 7 years. Yet, this has not been confirmed by research.
Conclusion:
Coffee is a complicated beverage with benefits and side effects, so it needs to be brewed carefully. It can be enjoyed brimming while keeping the pitfalls in mind. Beware of its detrimental effects and discontinue it if they manifest themselves. Its sensitivity differs from one individual to another, which should also be considered.