All You Need to Know About Drinking Coffee

by Toluwani Oyesola June 25, 2021

Coffee is a beverage gotten from the roasted coffee beans when brewed. The coffee beans are the pits of the coffee tree fruit.

Daily Coffee Intake

The recommended amount of coffee intake for a healthy adults is 400mg (about four or five cups) per day. However, this is subject to how sensitive people are to coffee.

When to Drink Coffee

Most people believe that the best time to drink coffee is between 9:30- 11:30am, because at this times the cortisol levels is said to have decreased compared to when just rising up from bed. However, this has not proven to add any additional health benefits. Also, there is not much significant long-term health side effects of drinking early in the morning.

Health Benefits of Coffee

1. Energy Boost: Drinking coffee can help people feel less tired and increase energy levels.

2. Fat Burn: Caffeine contains natural substances that can help to aid fat burning, while boosting the body's metabolic rate. However the effect can diminish in long-term coffee drinkers.

3. Boost Physical Performance: Drinking coffee helps to increase the adrenaline (epinephrine) level in the blood. This is the hormone for flight or fight, that helps to prepare the body for intense physical exertion.

This is one of the reasons why people are sometimes advised to take coffee around half an hour before hitting the gym.

4. Nutrients: Coffee is derived from the coffee bean which contains lots of nutrients such as Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid), Vitamin B3 (Magnesium and Niacin) and Manganese and Potassium.

5. Prevents type 2 Diabetes: Some of the nutrients found in coffee are essential to the prevention of diabetes. Example of the nutrients are Magnesium and Chromium.

6. Liver: Drinking coffee regularly may help to protect your liver, by lowering your risk of developing cirrhosis.

7. Cancer: Coffee may help to reduce the risk of getting cancers such as Liver and Colorectal Cancer.

8. Antioxidants: Coffee has a significant amount of antioxidants, which offers many benefits to the body as well as the skin.

Cons of Drinking Lots of Coffee

Blood Pressure: People with elevated blood pressure may be at risk of of their blood pressure increasing after drinking coffee. This is because the blood pressure increases by 3-4 mm/Hg when you take caffeine.

Dehydration: Taking more than 700 mg of caffeine per day can lead to dehydration.

Overdose: Taking over 100 cups of coffee in a day can result in coffee overdose, which can cause nausea, headache, sleep problems and tense muscles.

Addictive: Coffee is made up of caffeine a psychoactive drug, that can be addictive and create physical and mental dependence.

Heartburns: Too much coffee intake can cause heartburns and may aggravate ulcer problems.

Osteoporosis: Caffeine can interfere with the absorption mechanism of calcium, which can result in osteoporosis. It is best if people at risk of having osteoporosis, avoid drinking coffee.

Sleep: Drinking coffee late in the day, can lead to sleep deprivation as coffee helps to keep the body alert.

To conclude, coffee is considered healthy provided it is taken at a normal rate. It can be very addicting and should only be drank at a reasonable rate.