Sixty-four percent of Americans drink coffee, adding up to 400 million cups daily. That’s a lot of coffee!
Researchers have long debated the health effects of one of America’s favorite drinks. In 1991, coffee was listed as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Research has demonstrated that coffee increases blood pressure and heart rate, but less is known about its impact on cardiovascular health. Coffee is not recommended for pregnant women because it’s unknown how it affects unborn babies.
More recently, research has shown that coffee is not bad for you after all. A systematic review of more than 380 studies published in 2017 found consuming up to 400 milligrams of caffeine daily – the equivalent of the largest brewed coffee at Starbucks – is safe for healthy adults, and does not have significant adverse effects on heart, behavioral, reproductive or bone health. The review did find that caffeine can lead to anxiety, but mostly for those at high risk for anxiety disorders.
Last year, a new systematic review published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found a surprising number of health benefits associated with coffee and caffeine.
Evidence demonstrates that drinking coffee reduces reaction time and improves alertness and vigilance. When consumed with a pain reliever such as Tylenol or Advil, coffee improves pain relief.
Metabolic studies show that daily caffeine consumption helps you to burn more calories and is moderately associated with having a lower body weight. Consuming coffee every day is also associated with a reduced risk of developing Type II diabetes.
In contrast to what the World Health Organization predicted in 1991, the review finds that coffee consumption does not increase your risk of developing cancer. In fact, coffee has been associated with a slightly reduced risk of skin, breast, and prostate cancer. And it is even more likely to prevent liver and uterine cancer.
Other high-quality studies have found that drinking coffee reduces your risk of developing gall stones and Parkinson’s disease. On the whole, drinking two to five cups of coffee a day reduced mortality in studies across the globe.
Does drinking coffee have any downsides? A few. There is evidence that drinking coffee can make it harder to fall asleep and affects your quality of sleep. Caffeine can also trigger anxiety, especially more than one cup a day, and in people who are more sensitive to coffee’s effects. The review authors note that it is important to understand there are large differences in how individuals process and react to caffeine.
Quitting coffee commonly leads to withdrawal symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, decreased alertness, depression and, in some cases, flu-like symptoms. These symptoms can last up to nine days, and can be reduced by gradually decreasing caffeine consumption instead of going “cold turkey.”
Consuming too much caffeine can have toxic effects on the human body, including anxiety, restlessness, nervousness, insomnia, excitement, pacing, or excessive fidgeting and agitation. These effects can begin with as little as 1.2 grams or three of Starbucks ’ largest brews.
Pregnant women are significantly less able to process caffeine, especially in the third trimester of pregnancy. (In a normal adult, the body sheds about half of the caffeine ingested within two to four hours. In pregnant women, it can take up to 15 hours.) There is no clear evidence, but some studies have found heavy caffeine consumption may reduce fetal growth.
On the whole, though, the review authors find that the benefits of drinking coffee clearly outweigh the risks for most people. They recommended up to two 12-ounce cups of brewed coffee a day for healthy adults and about half that for pregnant women.
The take-home message: Drinking moderate amounts of caffeinated coffee is healthy for most adults and associated with a reduced risk of several chronic diseases.
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