Is Coffee Bad For You

"Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with." ~ Drew Sirtors.

"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee." ~ Flash Rosenberg.

"Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven." ~ Jessi Lane Adams.

I can quote multiple other renowned individuals just to convince anti-coffee people, why coffee is always good for coffee drinkers. I mean early in the morning when your brain is simply blurry and disoriented and nothing else can get it back into gear except coffee, do you think we give a damn about the goodness or badness of coffee??!! It's just that one has to drink it to start functioning. It's fuel for the brain! You just can't get enough coffee! I mean do you think an Eskimo worries about the calories in whiskey when he is freezing to death and needs to gulp some down just to live? But yes, I know that one has to worry about one's health and has to inculcate good consumption habits and so on and so forth (my mother just told me off on the phone!) and so we shall try to take a very scientific and organized look at the pros and cons of the coffee drinking habit and thus, try to arrive at a conclusion to the question 'is coffee bad for you?'.

Is Coffee Bad for You? - Recent Revelations

Honestly, a true blooded coffee drinker would rather ardently frame the question as 'is coffee good for you?' in a bid to find a positive answer to her question. Well, I am saying yes to you people. It does have some positive effects and recent research vouches for it. So, here are some facts that you can now chant every time someone dares to tell you how bad coffee is for health!

Tomas de Paulis, a former Ph.D. holder from the Vanderbilt University Institute for Coffee Studies articulated that coffee beans are technically berries and in that respect, these berries comprise the maximum amount of antioxidant than any other berry variety. Let us see how exactly the myriad antioxidants in coffee gives java most of its beneficial powers.

    * Antioxidental quinines in café quickens and sharpens the body's reaction to insulin and therefore facilitates and fine tunes the treatment of diabetes.
    * Is coffee bad for your teeth? Nope. Coffee is known as a fine shield against dental caries. This attribute comes from the presence of trigonelline which is a bactericide along with being the primary reason behind coffee's aroma and bitter taste.
    * Polyphenol antioxidants in coffee have indicated in certain studies to be the reason behind coffee's potency to fight carcinogenic threats. In April, 2009 the Roswell Park Cancer Institute of Buffalo, western New York, revealed that all female habitué java guzzlers are at a decreased risk of contracting endometrium cancer. The risk is harnessed by at least fifty percent! Besides recent studies have also shown that coffee shields against colorectal cancer as well.
    * Is coffee bad for your skin? Negative. Coffee combats skin cancer threats.
    * Is coffee bad for your liver? No. Coffee keeps liver cirrhosis and hepatic cancer at bay. In fact, an UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine researcher, Lenore Arab says that, "There really seems to be a strong, consistent protective effect against liver and endometrial cancer, with the benefit coming with at least two cups per day".
    * Caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid are believed to be vital constituents which are give coffee it's slowly revealing health benefits. In fact an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Frank Hu feels that chlorogenic acid keeps gallstones at bay and improves cardiovascular health, thus, bringing down stroke risks.
    * The same chlorogenic acid supports and perfects glucose metabolism thus, repelling type II diabetes by 30% in women and 54% in men, who are regular patrons of coffee, as per the definitive conclusion of Harvard analysts.
    * Coffee also houses antioxidants by the likes of benzoic acids, cinnamic acids, coumarins, flavonoids, lignans, lignins, proanthocyanidins and stilbenes.
    * Coffee also has tocopherols which, being a form of vitamin E, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for normal procreation and acts as an essential antioxidant that liquidates harmful free radicals in the body.

Scientists are of the opinion that roasting coffee beans boosts the potency of the antioxidants the benefits of which can then be reaped better. So, what are you waiting for? Discover how to roast coffee beans today!

Other nutrition facts for coffee indicate that 5 fl. oz of coffee, with milk and sugar has about 0.5 gm of fats. It also has 8 gms of carbohydrates and nearly 2.5 mg of cholesterol. Rich in vitamin B forms of niacin, thiamine and folates, coffee is known to contain good amounts of calcium, sodium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and most importantly magnesium which plays a pivotal role in the metabolic activity of glucose. Besides this, the caffeine content in coffee (150 ml coffee has 115 mg of it) can soothe asthma patients. This is because caffeine is related to a bronchial dilator called theophylline, which is usually derived from tea leaves. Theophylline is a general component in asthma medicines. Caffeine resembling it, can actually harness an attack.

Also, coffee can significantly limit the chances of deriving Parkinson's by 20 to 25% for regular coffee drinkers, as demonstrated by a study conducted by the Finnish National Public Health Institute in Helinski. Similarly, an experimental study carried out by the The Byrd Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute in Tampa indicated that not only could coffee protect drinkers from infliction of Alzheimer's by 60% but also aids to reclaim damaged brain portions.

Very importantly, coffee doesn't dehydrate the body if drunk in moderate installments. Approximately, 3 normal sized cups of coffee a day does nothing to the water levels of the body even though the public perception is that coffee dehydrates as it is sometimes medically used to induce urination. It is only when the limit of 570-575 ml is breached that coffee can potentially start taking on its diuretic avatar.

Of course there are some negative effects of coffee like sudden rise in blood pressure and sleep deprivation. But these disappear in a very short duration of time as people get resistant to these effects. Also, some studies have shown that gorging down more than 6 cups of coffee in a day can boost your chances of deriving bladder cancer, especially if you are a man and more than 4 cups can result in bone loss and subsequently osteoporosis. So, ideally you should drink coffee but not exceed it by 3 to 4 cups in a day. Even if you are trying out exotic coffee drink recipes, stick to one or maximum two helpings of it and not more.

So, is coffee bad for you? Certainly not in moderation and definitely not when you adhere to the upper limit. Now this I do not mind. As long as I can lay my hands on some coffee in the morning and while I am working, it is ok to not over drink it. As Honoré de Balzac pens down in "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee",

"This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place. Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind. The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters. Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder."