Why Coffee is GOOD For You
Let’s start with the good news: Coffee doesn’t have to be bad for you. In fact – like red wine, chocolate and sleep – your morning cup of black gold can be both oh-so-good and good for you.
How? Well, coffee contains caffeine and caffeine stimulates the brain and nervous system, and may lower your risk of Parkinson’s disease, mood problems, headaches and even cavities. Coffee can also enhance athletic performance, concentration and mental alertness and has been shown to temporarily enhance metabolism, stimulate gall bladder contraction and (in moderate doses) increases the acid levels in your stomach to aid in digestion… just be aware that too much will almost certainly do the reverse!
What is coffee?
Coffee, the dried red or green bean of the small evergreen coffee tree, was first cultivated in Arabia and Coffea Arabica is still the world’s most widely consumed caffeinated beverage. In fact 70 to 80% of all of the coffee that we drink comes from the dried and roasted beans of this plant. A more potent source of caffeine is Coffea Robusta, which is far bitterer tasting. It contains about twice the caffeine of Arabica and is usually found in your cheaper blends. Your top quality blends typically insist on fair trade and the higher quality Arabica beans.
What is caffeine?
Often mistaken one for the other, coffee and caffeine are not one in the same. But coffee contains caffeine and this assists in the stimulation of adrenaline release to aid in mental function, increased energy and metabolism. Caffeine also has been shown to reduce the risk of gall stones by stimulating the contracture of the gallbladder.
Caffeine (and thus coffee) stimulates the release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands and also crosses the blood brain barrier to affect the release of dopamine (a hormone that makes us feel good) in a similar (but legal!) way to drugs such as cocaine and heroin. It’s coffee’s effect on the adrenal glands that’s responsible for the boost in energy and metabolism that is often attributed to caffeine. However, that’s also what causes the increased anxiety, racing heart and pain blocking affects that we may experience when drinking coffee or taking in caffeine. Likewise, coffee’s affect on dopamine in the central nervous system is responsible for the feel good sensation that we get from caffeine; but also it’s what gives the substance an addictive quality.
The caffeine in coffee stimulates the brain and nervous system, and may lower your risk of Parkinson’s disease, mood problems and even cavities
What else is in coffee?
Coffee also contains antioxidants known as polyphenols. These are also found in black tea and green tea and they are possibly why studies have shown coffee drinkers have a reduced risk of liver cancer studies compared with non coffee drinkers.
One of coffees most noted polyphenols known to have antioxidant properties, chlorogenic acid, is a compound that may improve glucose (sugar) metabolism. In fact many studies confirm that the consumption of coffee daily (not just caffeine) may help some people thwart type 2 diabetes (a review of 15 studies on coffee and type 2 diabetes published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that people who regularly drank coffee had lower risk of type 2 diabetes).
So, how much coffee should we drink? And at what time of day?
It is generally accepted that 100mg of caffeine will affect an adult though some people may be affected by as little as the 40mg you’d find in a can of cola (dose effects vary widely between individuals). There is about 100mg of caffeine in one cup of filtered coffee, one espresso or one flat white according to the Mayo Clinic and your latte, depending on the barista, may contain twice that amount. Studies have shown that regular doses of caffeine – from just 300mg up to 1500mg, depending on the individual — can result in tolerance to caffeine. This is called caffeinism and it’s likely to cause some side effects. If you try to stop your daily cuppa (or cuppas) you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms which will vary in intensity depending on your ability to clear caffeine from your system and on how much you previously ingested every day. The ‘half life’ of caffeine in your system after you’ve stopped drinking it alters significantly depending on the dose you’ve been taking in. So if you decide to give up, you might expect to experience headaches, nausea, fatigue and restlessness. The worst day will probably be the second after you give up but the symptoms might last up to a week.
And you should also know it’s not just how much coffee you knock back but when you drink it that alters how your body will respond. If you favour a cup of coffee first thing – especially if you use that cappuccino as a substitute for breakfast – then you’ll spend the morning running on the adrenaline that the caffeine in that coffee has released. Daily we get access to about three hours of adrenaline before it becomes difficult for our adrenal glands to keep up. If you stimulate the release of adrenaline early in the day then you’ll have a hormonal boost of energy and alertness in the morning. However, this isn’t a sustainable way to maintain high level energy. The downside of this early stimulation of adrenaline is the early release of cortisol, our stress hormone, since cortisol is released into our blood stream as a normal reaction to stress (as is adrenaline). Adrenaline is used to get us out of sticky situations like being chased by a sabre toothed tiger, but in situations of adrenal fatigue or over stress, cortisol is secreted in larger amounts to prepare the body for a long term defence. And this may in turn become a challenge to our system. Cortisol makes us moody and grumpy and that’s what you’ll be running on in the afternoon when you have run out of performance enhancing adrenaline. Cortisol also suppresses our immune system which may delay our body’s response to infections. Have you ever been on holidays only to find that on the first day away you get a cold or flu? This could be due to long term periods of high stress and hence a high and persistent amount of cortisol being released. When you give your adrenal glands a break – as in when you take a holiday or a period of excessive stress ends – then decrease your excessive coffee consumption and your cortisol secretion will return to a normal, lower level.
But back to my original point, coffee can be good for you, and you don’t have to give it up if you drink it in moderation. If you want energy throughout the day though then start with appropriate fuels like fruit, yoghurt and LSA or poached eggs, rocket, avocado and crunchy bean sprouts with a piece of whole grain toast and some hot water and lemon juice. Have your coffee later in the morning – say 11am – and you’ll kick start your day with energy from food not from hormones. Plus you’ll enjoy the energy enhancing benefits of caffeine post-4pm and avoid that mid-afternoon slump.
