Coffee can be considered the most consumed product in the world. I’m a little biased myself but it’s true that is a great drink!
The health effects of coffee have been debated for many years now; despite popular belief that coffee only does harm, it has many beneficial qualities.
Caffeine in coffee helps enhance your general cognitive function, but it can also cause serious illnesses.
Consequently, many debates have arisen whether coffee is good or bad, whether caffeinated or decaffeinated coffees are healthier or whether there is a perfect season or condition in which coffee should be consumed.
We have brought you the 12 must-know pros and cons of drinking coffee to end the argument about whether drinking coffee is good or bad for your health.
12 Pros of Drinking Coffee
Contrary to the popular misconception that drinking coffee is bad for your health, you can gain many health benefits by developing a habit of drinking coffee. We have listed the significant pros of coffee drinking for you;
- It helps improve your physical performance.
- Helps you protect your body.
- It improves brain function.
- Coffee can help you lose weight.
- It also helps you burn fat.
- Lowers the risk of premature
- Lowers the risk of cancer development.
- Helps lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease.
- Reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Coffee consumption leads to lower risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
- Coffee can also reduce the risk of mental health issues.
- Lastly, it helps increase life expectancy.
12 Cons of Drinking Coffee
As we have established, coffee can help improve your health conditions; however, too much coffee consumption can lead to serious health issues. Here is a list of must-know cons of coffee before you make your judgment about coffee;
- It can be addictive.
- It leads to significant withdrawal symptoms.
- Gives you mood swings.
- Makes you aggressive and nervous.
- You can end up with a severe case of insomnia.
- You might also have anxiety issues.
- Risk of dehydration.
- Risk of digestive issues.
- It is harmful to pregnant women.
- High blood pressure and rapid heart rate.
- It can cause muscle breakdown.
- Leads to frequent urination.
- May make you dizzy or light-headed.
- Can stain your teeth.
- Issues with dental braces.
Advantages of Drinking Coffee
Over the years, coffee has proved to be beneficial for many coffee drinkers. Researches have also been done to confirm these theories. To help you decide whether coffee should be considered a healthy or unhealthy product, here’s an insight into how good drinking coffee can be.
Improvement in Physical Performance
Coffee consists of caffeine that is a natural stimulant. It helps increase the adrenaline levels in your blood that help elevate your physical performance—having a single cup of black coffee an hour before a workout gives you the perfect caffeine boost to increase your adrenaline level and improves your performance by 11-12%.
Body Protection
Coffee consists of antioxidants that help your body fight against free radicals, which can prove to be harmful. In fact, coffee contains more antioxidants than vegetables and fruits.
Boost Brain Function
Adenosine is a neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for slowing down neural activity.
Caffeine helps boost brain function by blocking adenosine receptors and by releasing neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine that diminish the feeling of tiredness.
Weight Loss
Coffee is high in magnesium and potassium, which can promote insulin in the human body, which helps regulate blood sugar levels, and reduces the urge for sweet treats and snacks.
Burns Body Fat
Caffeine helps burn body fat by raising adrenaline levels that encourage lipolysis, a process in which fats are broken down.
Lower risk of Death
People who drink coffee have a 25% reduced risk of premature death as compared to non-coffee drinkers.
Lower risk of Cancer
Coffee helps lower the risk of developing cancer and liver diseases. According to a study, people that consume four or more cups of coffee have 84% less chance of developing Cirrhosis (the last stage of liver damage). Another study shows that coffee drinkers can lower the risk of liver cancer by 40%.
As per one study, drinking four cups of coffee per day can lower the risk of endometrial cancer in women by 25 % and prostate cancer in men by 20 %. Similarly, you can reduce the risk of developing skin cancer like basal cell carcinoma by more caffeine intake.
Lower risk of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s is an illness that destroys brain cells that produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls body movement. You can lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease by32–60% if you drink more coffee.
Lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease puts distress on the part of the brain that is in charge of thought, memory, and language. It also causes dementia. However, studies have discovered that drinking coffee can lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 65%.
Lower risk of Type 2 Diabetes
In Type 2 diabetes, high blood sugar levels lead to circulatory, nervous, and immune systems problems. Caffeine intake helps reduce insulin sensitivity and lower glucose tolerance, decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
People who drink coffee can lower the risk of developing this disorder by 23-67%. Interestingly, another study shows that by taking a daily cup of coffee, 457,922 people reduced risk of type 2 diabetes by 7%.
Mental Health Issues
Caffeine increases the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline that stimulate the central nervous system and uplift your mood.
Having a good and elevated mood helps prevent mental health issues like depression or suicidal tendencies.
Studies show that having two cups of coffee every day can reduce the risk of suicide by 50%. Similarly, coffee drinks have a 20% lower chance of being depressed compared to non-drinkers.
Increases Life Expectancy
Since coffee drinkers can lower the risk of many severe diseases such as cancer and mental health issues, thus can increase their life expectancy. If you drink four or five cups of coffee per day, you can live longer than those who don’t drink coffee.
Disadvantages of Drinking Coffee
Drinking coffee can give you many health benefits, but excessive consumption of coffee can cause severe health conditions. We have listed a detailed insight into the side effects caused by extreme coffee drinking.
Addictive
Caffeine prompts brain chemicals the same way cocaine or amphetamines does; even though the addictive nature of caffeine isn’t the same as these drugs, drinking a high dosage of caffeine regularly can lead to dependence.
The physical and psychological dependence on caffeine can lead to other health issues.
Withdrawal Symptoms
When coffee drinkers consume too much caffeine, they build a tolerance for it. To produce the same effect as previously, they start taking higher doses that lead to addiction.
Sometimes when the same result is not produced, you can experience withdrawal symptoms; headaches, exhaustion, and irritability.
Mood Swings
When you abstain from coffee, you suffer from significant withdrawal symptoms that lead to bad mood swings. Having constant headaches or feeling tired can also affect your daily functioning.
Aggression and Nervousness
If you observe closely, people who drink more than six cups of coffee regularly tend to be more nervous than those who consume moderate amounts or don’t drink coffee. Where caffeine helps to boost energy levels, too much caffeine intake can lead to aggression.
Having aggressive and nervous behavior might lead you to make bad judgment calls.
Insomnia
The reason people drink coffee is because of caffeine’s ability to help you stay awake and alert. However, when you start taking very high doses of caffeine, it can disrupt sleeping patterns and lead to insomnia.
Studies have shown that people consuming too much caffeine have trouble sleeping; they take more time to fall asleep.
Anxiety
Extreme consumption of coffee can lead to severe anxiety disorder. People that drink more coffee can end up with extreme cases of anxiety that might also trigger panic attacks
Since caffeine stimulates the ‘fight or flight’ hormone to elevate energy levels, high caffeine intake can lead to jitteriness and anxiety attacks.
Dehydration
Coffee contains components that can lead to dehydration. Another symptom of excessive coffee intake is frequent urination, meaning the release of sodium and water.
When you lose these two chemical compounds from the body, you feel dehydration.
Digestive Issues
Caffeinated drinks, especially coffee, cause an increase in gastroesophageal disease (GERD) in certain people.
Caffeine stimulates bowel movement; therefore, massive doses of caffeine can cause diarrhea or the release of loose stool. Drinking coffee can also make you feel nauseous.
Harmful to Pregnant Women
Coffee is considered very harmful for pregnant women as studies have shown that caffeine can have adverse effects on the fetus.
If you are a pregnant woman, it’s best to stop drinking coffee or at least limit your intake to a daily cup of coffee.
High Blood Pressure and Rapid Heart Rate
Studies have found that high caffeine intake can raise blood pressure, and high blood pressure can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Caffeine can also increase blood pressure in healthy people during exercise. Elevated blood pressure can lead to increased heart rate or irregular heartbeat rhythm.
Muscle Breakdown
Rhabdomyolysis is a disorder in which damaged muscle fibers are released into the bloodstream, which can cause kidney failure and other health problems.
High caffeine intake can lead to Rhabdomyolysis or muscle breakdown.
Frequent Urination
Excessive coffee consumption means an increased urge to release urine. Caffeine is a diuretic that means releasing sodium and water from the body that causes frequent urination.
FAQS
What is the difference between decaffeinated and regular coffee?
A regular cup of coffee has about 95mg of caffeine. In contrast, decaffeinated coffee has about 2mg of caffeine as the process of decaffeination eliminates about 97% of caffeine naturally present in coffee beans.
Which drink is healthier caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee?
Decaf coffee is the best option if you drink coffee, as it offers the same health benefits as a caffeinated coffee without any adverse effects.
What makes filtered coffee healthier?
Coffee beans naturally possess ingredients like caffeine, cafestol, and kahweol. Cafestol and kahweol are responsible for the increase of LDL cholesterol levels.
These two ingredients are present in unfiltered coffees such as espresso, Turkish coffee, and French press. The process of filtration helps remove LDL from coffee beans which makes decaf coffee healthier.
How can you make filtered coffee?
If you are a keen coffee drinker, you should use a drip coffee maker or a traditional coffee brewer to assist you in making filtered coffee to avoid too much caffeine intake.
Is drinking coffee every day bad for you?
As long as you drink one to six cups of coffee per day, you can benefit from it. Especially if the coffee people drink is filtered, then it’s good for you. Regular coffee drinking lowers the risk of suicide by 45% and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s.
However, since coffee is rich in caffeine, drinking too much coffee will lead to excessive caffeine intake and cause problems for your body in the long term.
Is it better to drink or not drink coffee?
Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system that helps you stay alert and more active. Additionally, it also improves your brain functioning and physical performance.
These benefits are only restricted to people that drink high-octane coffee instead of decaf coffee drinkers.
Similarly, the side effects caused by excessive coffee drinking might only be experienced by frequent coffee drinkers. Non-drinker or moderate coffee drinkers might not experience the same effect.
Is coffee bad for you?
Every individual’s body reacts differently to components such as caffeine. People with sensitive immune and nervous systems have more chances of suffering from harmful side effects, while others might not respond similarly.
As long as you drink a considerate amount of coffee, you don’t have to worry about anything, but if you have high cholesterol or are pregnant or a child, you should avoid drinking coffee.
Conclusion
To end the debate whether coffee is good or bad, it’s best to collect personal data, it is not necessary that your body may react similarly to others to the effects of drinking coffee.
Even though research has been conducted to understand the various advantages or disadvantages, personal experience is the best way to observe its effects on you.