Effect of coffee on health
Coffee has been both praised and mocked for centuries. It has been blamed to cause impotence and madness, other times a cure for laziness or gift from heaven.
Caffeine:
Caffeine, the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, is the best known ingredient of coffee. Its beneficial effects on the human body has been researched quite well, but coffee as a whole is a complex beverage with a thousand different substances. Some studies argue that decaf and caffeinated coffee may have the same health effects and suggest that it’s not the caffeine that is responsible for most of coffee's health benefits.
How Coffee effect young people:
Some studies have found an association between coffee consumption and decreased overall mortality and possibly cardiovascular mortality, although this may not be true in younger people who drink large amounts of coffee. Coffee beans contain cafestol and kahweol, two ingredients that appear to raise LDL cholesterol levels. Filtering the coffee traps most of the LDL, but cafestol and kahweol are found in espresso, Turkish coffee, French press and Scandinavian style cooked coffee. The intake of LDL from a cup of espresso is still so small, that for people with normal cholesterol levels, won't be at risk. There are also some studies at preliminary stages of diagnosis that have found marks that cafestol and kahweol may have some beneficial anti-cancer effects, and be good for your liver.
How Coffee effect on stomach?
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning, stimulates hydrochloric acid production. This can be a problem because HCl should only be produced to digest meals. If your body has to make HCl more often in response to regular cups of coffee, it may have difficulty producing enough to deal with a large meal.
Protein digestion:
Protein digestion in particular is affected by a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and protein based foods can pass into the small intestine before being properly broken down. Undigested protein is associated in a variety of health problems, from bloating and gas to IBS, diverticulitis and even colon cancer.
Acid reflux and heartburn can be caused by coffee due to the way it relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter. This small muscle should remain tightly closed once you've eaten to prevent the contents of your stomach from coming back into the esophagus and burning its delicate lining with hydrochloric acid.
Caffeine is known to relax the esophageal sphincter so Coke and high caffeine 'energy drinks' can also contribute to heartburn, but coffee is particularly problematic for this.
Even decaf regularly causes heartburn problems for some people and researchers think other compounds in coffee can also contribute to acid reflux problems.
Many people are very protective of their coffee and probably won’t like to hear all of these health problems associated with it. But if you've made it reading this far, perhaps you have a feeling that there could be some value in cutting down a bit or even replacing it altogether.
If you are experiencing any of the digestive problems above, or just feel coffee has you too on edge but don't know how to quit it, coming up next is a plan to replace the negative side effects of coffee with a new kind of drink that tastes similar but is actually healthy, as well as a simple way to reduce caffeine withdrawal problems when you make the switch.
