14 of 24

Write now Article Tools

Coffee and Health
The first historically reliable reference to coffee is by Rhazes, a doctor who lived in the city of Raj in Persian Iraq during the years 850 - 920 A.D. He talks about a bean called bunchum and discusses its healing properties in a manner which leads to the belief that coffee might have been known to medicine for over a thousand years. It was originally used only for medicinal purposes; then, monks began drinking it to keep them awake through long hours of prayers and the left over coffee was given to the common people. Coffee rapidly became a popular social beverage in the early Middle Eastern societies. There were a few unsuccessful attempts to ban coffee drinking because it caused people to behave in irreligious and immoral ways, but just like our modern attempts at prohibition failed, so did these attempts to ban coffee drinking.

Coffee's popularity rapidly spread throughout the continent and eventually across the world to become a popular beverage. Through the centuries there have been many medical and a few religious voices raised against the use of coffee. Medical opposition to coffee continued into the twentieth century with coffee addiction classed with alcoholism and morphinism. Nothing has been successful in discouraging people from drinking the intoxicating brew but much research has been conducted to determine the effects of drinking coffee on human health.

Coffee contains the powerful stimulant caffeine, or in scientific language, trimethylxanthine. This drug stimulates all portions of the cerebral cortex; it affects heart rate, heart rhythm, blood vessel diameter, coronary circulation, blood pressure, urination, and other physiological functions. It is highly addictive and causes withdrawal symptoms even in moderate coffee drinkers. Severe headache, fatigue, depression, brain fog, and constipation are a few of the symptoms reported by people who stop drinking caffeine-containing beverages. High doses of caffeine in rats makes them aggressive; they physically attack other rats and they also bite and mutilate themselves. In large doses, (10 grams or the equivalent of 70 - 100 cups of coffee), caffeine is a potent poison that is fatal to humans. Although some positive effects have been observed, most of the research indicates that drinking coffee, whether caffeinated or decaffeinated, and/or caffeinated beverages has mostly negative effects on the health of humans.

On the positive side, research

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Health risks that you might not know about?
We want to hear your view. Write now!