Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee!

It gets you up in the morning. It tastes great – well to some of us at least.  But how good is coffee for you exactly? Does it really make us more effective?

Coffee is the most widely used and accepted psychoactive drug on the planet! Yes it is a drug, it certainly has psychoactive properties – like cocaine, coffee is a stimulant, but is far more acceptable! How did coffee become so acceptable? Is it really safe? And could it even have health benefits?

Let’s start with the health benefits. Research is indicating that coffee is beneficial in reducing Alzheimers, Diabetes, Parkinsons and risk of gallstones.  Women who drink three cups a day may live longer whilst cirrhosis of the liver, oral, oesophageal, and pharyngeal cancer might be reduced. Coffee can even benefit your heart – but make sure you are drinking instant coffee as the freeze drying process removes the lipids in coffee which can actually be detrimental to your cardio health.  Coffee also acts as a laxative and a diuretic, but because of the diuretic effect we should be drinking one glass of water for every cup of coffee we consume to avoid dehydration.  Coffee is also a powerful antioxidant.  If you rub coffee on to those problem cellulite areas, it can even reduce cellulite, but drinking it may not be so good for the problem in the first place.

Green coffee beans are the new craze, what’s that all about? While most of the beneficial chemicals that we absorb in roasted coffee cannot be absorbed by our bodies when the beans are still green, green coffee beans have their own benefits.  Green coffee beans score as high as 2500 on the ORAC scale Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity – a measurement of the potential for a substance to reduce oxidative stress.  This is pretty impressive when one considers blueberries only scores 10 and oranges about 3. Green coffee doesn’t taste very good, but is believed to assist weight loss whilst lowering blood pressure.

Does coffee really increase our performance?  One or two cups do enhance cognitive function and short term memory, increasing alertness.  Should we drink more than that?  How much caffeine can the body really absorb and are there alternatives?

So far the benefits of drinking coffee are sounding pretty fantastic, but there is a darkside.  So before you increase your daily quota, please do read on.

Homocysteine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in the blood and tissues.  If one suffers from common folic acid deficiency – or more seriously the genetic mutation causing elevated levels of homocysteine, the health risks include heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, parkinsons.. the list goes on.  And coffee is one of the main culprits for increasing homocysteine levels in the blood. Do not exceed one cup a day unless you know your homocysteine is in the clear!

Consumption of coffee has been linked to ulcers and insomnia.  Its effectiveness as a stimulant might also be overrated, after your second cup, your body tends to discard the excess caffeine and it’s more likely to cause problems sleeping than improve your afternoon performance. 

Excessive consumption of coffee and energy drinks containing caffeine has been linked to adrenal fatigue and possibly even chronic fatigue syndrome.  For a healthier alternative, try some green tea which contains far less caffeine, but includes the calming amino acid L-Theanine which simultaneously calms the nervous system and enhances concentration abilities.

Coffee may be great for that initial boost, but we recommend you limit your intake to one to two cups a day and switch to green tea thereafter for sustained energy with a calming effect. It seems coffee is here to stay, and it’s not all bad, so in moderation, you have our full permission to enjoy that morning cuppa!

Image by Stuart Miles www.freedigitalphotos.net