A little less than 3 milliard cups of Java are drunk each day (and the number is growing)! Of course, this popularity is primarily due to the magical aroma and invigorating effect of the drink, but it also has a direct effect on the body. And what kind of impact, positive or negative, let's try to understand in this very detailed article.
1. Protection of the liver. Coffee stimulates the production of liver enzymes and the work of the gallbladder, which significantly reduces the likelihood of stone formation (as found by Harvard researchers, drinking more than 4 cups of coffee with high caffeine content per day contributes to this), slows the development of cirrhosis in viral hepatitis. In addition, caffeine is good for the liver cells, protecting them from an overabundance of iron and fats in the body. Scientists from Stanford University assure that even one cup of coffee a day will defend the liver from the harmful effects of alcohol, two cups will reduce the chance of cirrhosis from alcohol by 44%, and four cups will abate the risk of liver cirrhosis by as much as 65%. Naturally, only if the person does not abuse alcohol... And the staff of the American Mayo Clinic found out that just one cup of your favorite flavorful drink a day significantly reduces the chance of a very rare liver disease - primary sclerotic cholangitis.
2. Will prevent Parkinson's disease. This terrible disease is caused by the loss of neurons, and caffeine prevents the destruction of nerve cells.
3. Reduces the chance of cancer. According to new studies, coffee can be very helpful in the prophylaxis of cancer. Coffee components are anti-carcinogenic, preventing the development of many types of this serious disease, such as liver cancer.
4. Useful for travelers. So that when you change time zones, your body acclimatizes faster, drink a cup of coffee.
5. Helps you concentrate. Coffee activates the brain, helping you cope with heavy mental and physical work. And according to researchers at Ohio State University and UCLA, coffee especially improves performance, concentration and attention when people work in teams. So if your job involves periodic discussions of important production or creative issues in a team, be sure to do so while sipping coffee!
6. Keeps Diabetes Away. True, this applies to Type 2 diabetes. And the risk of getting diabetes is reduced by half for men who drink coffee, and by thirty percent for women. (However, this applies to healthy people; people with diabetes should avoid drinking coffee). In America they have found out that a daily dose of coffee in three cups helps to reduce blood glucose and improves secretory properties due to the action of the molecule "cafestol" contained in coffee.
7. Reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Coffee reduces plaques on the neurons that disrupt brain function in Alzheimer's disease. Older people who drink coffee regularly more than halve their risk of getting this serious disease. The best protection against Alzheimer's disease and the aforementioned Parkinson's disease provides coffee dark roasted due to the production of special substances - phenylindans, and it does not matter, with caffeine drink or without (so says the work of the Krembil Research Institute and the University of Toronto). By the way, a team of chemists from Germany and the U.S. has finally determined that phenylindanes are the reason coffee tastes bitter.
8. It improves your body's metabolism. Drink a cup of coffee after a heavy meal - it will help the digestive system to digest food. Just one cup of coffee a day will speed up your metabolism by an average of 3%. Your body will be able to burn fat more actively, making it easier to maintain a slim figure.
9. Ease the pain. Do not rush to swallow pills, if you are in pain, better drink a cup of good coffee! Coffee will significantly reduce the painful sensations of migraines and help relieve menstrual pain.
10. It protects you from stress. Coffee promotes a positive outlook on the world, can protect you from depression, increase stress resistance, preserve your mental health and even protect you from suicidal thoughts. Well, in my opinion, for such a conclusion was not even necessary to conduct a scientific work, any fan of the drink will confirm that the aroma of fresh coffee - really sets the positive wave!
11. Coffee and Teeth. It turns out that the common belief that coffee harms your teeth is not true! The components of coffee (chloragen acid, nicotinic acid, trigonellin) destroy the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, which is the main cause of tooth decay.
12. Useful against baldness. German scientists came to the conclusion that caffeine is a stimulant for hair growth in men. However, this effect is achieved not by drinking coffee, but by rubbing it into the scalp.
13. Coffee and Beauty. Rough ground coffee is an excellent scrub that will not just remove rough skin, but also moisturize and tone. And coffee and cinnamon scrub will also help in the fight against cellulite.
14. Long life. This is probably the most interesting item on our list, and there have been quite a few scientific studies on this topic! The results of a large study at Stanford University are very optimistic: coffee not only strengthens blood vessels, but also prolongs life by successfully combating metabolites that are sources of chronic inflammation and mortality. And at Imperial College London, researchers also obtained similar data from an even larger 16-year study in ten different European countries. The British from Imperial College London claim that a couple of cups of Java a day significantly prolongs life (by preventing the whole range of possible illnesses and reducing the risk of premature death from various diseases by as much as 12 percent). Three cups or more of coffee even increased the chances of staying healthy for many years (unfortunately, the British scientists did not name an upper limit on the amount of coffee drunk per day). And it did not matter whether it was with or without caffeine, because both types of coffee contain polyphenols and antioxidants, which have a positive effect. Here is another interesting example: Spanish scientists for a very long period of time monitored the health of 20,000 volunteers and concluded that those who drank 4 cups of coffee per twenty-four hours had a 64% lower chance of mortality than those who did not drinking coffee!
How much coffee can I drink a day?
Summarizing the mass of different articles and news about the harm of coffee for health, which, as I said, many times less than the information on the useful properties, we can make the following conclusion: the absolute harm to health coffee in principle does not cause, if you observe the measure. The most extensive work on this subject was carried out in Edinburgh University, which analyzed and summarized the results of all existing studies and found that the optimal daily dose is 3-4 cups of coffee. The same conclusion was reached by their colleagues from the University of Southampton, who studied the findings of more than two hundred papers on the benefits of coffee and found that the use of 3-4 cups per day gives a positive effect, it is at this amount of coffee drinker will get the maximum benefit from their favorite drink, and no harm to health.
2: A study at Duke University in the US has revealed that caffeine can seriously exacerbate the painful symptoms of PMS, and it is therefore recommended that women abstain from drinking too much coffee and other caffeine-containing products (such as chocolate).
3. In addition, drinking more than four cups of coffee a day can harm the bladder of women. This conclusion was made by the international group from the USA and Great Britain (however, the same report mentions that if the dose is not exceeded, the drink will improve the health of the female body!).
4. Coffee consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth and even the possibility of miscarriage...
6. In older people, especially women, coffee can easily lead to increased bone fragility. The thing is that due to age-related changes in the body, calcium levels start to fall, which leads to osteoparosis (reduced bone density), and coffee additionally washes out this macroelement. So with age the amount of coffee you drink should be very strictly controlled and it is necessary to take vitamin and mineral complexes.
8. Coffee affects different consumers in different ways, and we should be especially careful with people who are stressed and sleep-deprived, because excessive consumption can lead to nerve cell exhaustion and consequently to nervous system problems. Also an extra cup of coffee will not invigorate, but on the contrary, will reduce efficiency. And in some cases, coffee can lead to cerebral vasospasm with subsequent oxygen deprivation. Such a situation is fraught not only with migraine, but also quite possible lethal outcome...
10. We must take into account that roasting the beans in coffee produces acrylamide. This substance appears in the fatty process of any vegetable food, and it is dangerous because in high concentrations it may provoke the development of cancer. But perhaps you should not worry so much, because the amount of acrylamide must be just gigantic, such doses you certainly do not get from the drink. And if you look at the first part of the article, it turns out that in moderate amounts coffee protects against cancer.
- Hypertension sufferers,
- who have heart disease (or are predisposed to it),
- People with urinary problems,
- Pregnant women and those planning a pregnancy
- children,
- diabetics (not to be confused with drinking coffee to prevent diabetes - point #6 of the pluses of coffee) and those with adrenal problems in general,
- allergists (not in general all in a row, but with a reaction specifically to this drink; unfortunately, there is such a problem with one of my good friends); allergic reaction appears in the form of severe reddening of the pelt and subsequently its peeling, possibly even blisters, pain in the stomach and shortness of breath,
- as I mentioned above, according to new research there are people who on a genetic level are not able to assimilate coffee without harm; in such people the gene responsible for caffeine processing works too "slow" and jeopardizes the health of its carrier.
What is the best time to drink coffee?
So, when you are a healthy person, take a reasonable amount of coffee, drink it in the first half of the day after a meal, then you will only benefit from this wonderful drink! More specific recommendations for the best period of the day to drink coffee are given by nutritionists: it is the period from 10:00 to 12:00 (according to other sources - from 9:30 to 11:30, which is about the same range). This is explained by the fact that in the morning the body produces the most cortisol, which itself increases a person's tone. At this time, caffeine intake would be completely unnecessary. But when the amount of the hormone begins to decrease, a cup of aromatic coffee will fully demonstrate its tonic properties.
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