by Monda Mahmoud

Created on: June 25, 2009

Coffee: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are new coffee shops opening up all over the place. You can't go far without running into one - whether a Cilantro, Costa , Beano's, or a totally new brand. Today the act of drinking coffee in coffee shops has become a social stimulant for conversation, business meetings, and just being on-line. There is a great deal of confusion, maybe some controversy as well, about coffee and its effect on our health; is it good or bad for us? Let me tell you what I found out.

Why Coffee?

Coffee is a widely consumed beverage prepared from roasted beans of the coffee plant. It is a powerful psychoactive drug. The caffeine in the coffee acts as a stimulant. "Coffee Breaks" are taken during office hours to feel revitalized. Students drink coffee while studying because it makes them more alert and even boost the learning abilities and powers of reasoning. Coffee helps to improve alertness and attention and removes tiredness.

The Good Side

Coffee contains many beneficial substances including chlorogenic acid, a compound in the antioxidant family that improves sugar metabolism, making it a potential anti-diabetic compound. Coffee also contains magnesium, a mineral that can improve insulin sensitivity and enhance glucose tolerance.

There's plenty of research by the American Medical Association that shows coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments, including Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver. Drinking coffee can help avoid gallstone disease, because coffee helps prevent the calcification of liquid from the gall bladder (known as gall stones).

A recent Spanish research found that coffee contains fiber; which plays a very important function in our health. It's the dietary fiber of the soluble kind that helps prevent cholesterol from being absorbed by the intestines.

Coffee is also a diuretic and laxative. This helps flush our systems and remove potentially dangerous or unhealthy compounds from our bodies.

The Bad Side

Caffeine can inhibit the absorption of adenosine, a hormone which calms the body. This makes us feel alert in the short run, but can cause sleep problems later or even reduce the quality of sleep. It's the adrenaline in the coffee that revs us up, giving us a temporary boost, but it may possibly make us fatigued and depressed later. Sometimes, we'd consider taking more caffeine to counteract these effects; and we end up spending the day in an agitated state, feeling edgy by night.

Another effect of caffeine on the body is the increase in the body's levels of cortisol - the stress hormone. This results in the constriction of the blood vessels; which in turn means harder pumping of the blood and higher blood pressure.

Some of the most common side effects of caffeine include dizziness, headache, irritability, muscle tension, nausea, nervousness, stuffy nose or unusual tiredness.

The Ugly

Well simply put, the research on coffee shows mixed results. Does coffee increase the risk of a heart attack or decrease diabetes? Most doctors say that drinking one or two cups of coffee a day is probably not harmful. And of course there are others who say we ought to avoid caffeine altogether. The more recent research uncovered the positive health benefits of coffee; so we can expect a better answer in the future.

The bottom line, consume caffeine with caution. Caffeine isn't 100% innocent. Moderation is key, really.

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