Helpful Hint: Pros and Cons of Drinking Coffee

Nearly 8 in 10 Americans drink coffee.  Are you one of the 8 out of 10 drinkers? Regular coffee drinking can have some negative effects on your health, but they can also encourage great things.

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Just like anything else in life there are pros and cons.

Here are the pros of drinking coffee:

• 1. Antioxidants. Coffee is rich in antioxidants like chlorogenic acid and melanoidins. Antioxidants help prevent oxidation, a process that causes damage to cells and contributes to aging.
• 2. Parkinson’s disease. Regular coffee drinking reduces the risk of Parkinson’s disease. A number of studies  have demonstrated that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are significantly less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
• 3. Diabetes. Coffee drinking has the potential to protect against the development of type 2 diabetes. A prospective study[3] as part of the US Nurses Health Study found that moderate consumption of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in younger and middle aged women.
• 4. Liver cirrhosis. Coffee drinking may protect against liver cirrhosis, especially alcoholic cirrhosis.
• 5. Gallstones. There is some evidence  that coffee drinking may be protective against gallstone formation in both men and women

Here are the cons of drinking coffee :

• 1. Heart disease. This is somewhat controversial. Most prospective cohort studies haven’t found that coffee consumption is associated with significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease. On one hand, diterpenes cafestol and kahweol present in unfiltered coffee and caffeine each appear to increase risk of coronary heart disease. High quality studies have confirmed the cholesterol-raising effect of diterpenes. Also, coffee consumption is associated with an increase of plasma homocysteine, a risk factor for coronary heart disease. On the other hand, a lower risk of heart disease among moderate coffee drinkers might be due to antioxidants found in coffee.
• 2. Cholesterol. Heavy consumption of boiled coffee elevates blood total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels. Unfiltered coffee contains two cholesterol-raising compounds cafestol and kahweol.
• 3. Blood vessels. Coffee negatively affects the blood vessel tone and function.
• 4. Heart rhythm disturbances. Coffee can cause rapid or irregular heartbeats (cardiac arrhythmias).
• 5. Blood pressure. Although coffee drinking is not a significant risk factor for hypertension, it produces unfavorable effects on blood pressure and people prone to hypertension may be more susceptible. Recent Italian study found that coffee drinking can slightly increase the risk for development of sustained hypertension in people with elevated blood pressure.

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Written by Elev8 Staff on September 12, 2011 10:15 am