Healthy Life Plans

If you live in America, there’s a good chance you start every day with a nice cup of fresh coffee. More than 100 million Americans drink coffee daily, and that number keeps growing every year. But how healthy is coffee? As with everything, there are good and bad things that will come with drinking coffee, so we need to decide if the good things outweigh the bad things.

The down-side of coffee
Heart disease is something to think about if you’re a heavy coffee drinker. Unfiltered coffee contains a number of ingredients that are known to cause coronary heart disease. But as always, the key is moderation. Only heavy coffee drinkers are at risk for heart disease, but moderate coffee drinkers actually lower their risk of heart disease because of all the antioxidants in coffee. It can also cause rapid and irregular heart rhythms.

If you have high cholesterol, you will probably want to avoid coffee as much as possible. Coffee raises your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and blood levels, making it very bad for anybody already at risk.

Coffee will raise your blood pressure. This effect is minimal, but if you already have high blood pressure, coffee definitely won’t help. Along with higher blood pressure, you’ll also be increasing your risk of hypertension.

Older people, especially older females, must be careful about your calcium levels. Coffee causes calcium to leave your body through urine, calcium that should be used to make your bones stronger. This obviously increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Your body needs water to survive, and caffeine is a mild diuretic. This means you’ll be urinating more often that usual, and if you’re only drinking coffee (and no water) this will lead to dehydration. You can offset this by drinking a glass of water after your coffee.

The up-side of coffee
Coffee is loaded with antioxidants that help prevent oxidation. Oxidation damages cells in your body and is a huge factor in the aging process. Roasted coffee is the best for you.

There have been a few high-quality studies that show regular coffee drinkers have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. These studies compared heavy coffee drinkers to non-coffee drinkers, so it’s unclear if 1 cup of coffee a day has the same benefits.

The same is true for Alzheimer’s disease. Heavy coffee drinkers are extremely less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease later in their lives. Apparently caffeine reduces the plaque buildup in the brain that causes Alzheimer’s.

If you have diabetes, coffee might be perfect for you. Not only can coffee protect against the development of type 2 diabetes, it has been shown to reverse the disease and possibly cure it. The author of these studies is quick to say it’s not a wonder-drug, but it’s very helpful for diabetics.

I told you earlier that coffee can lead to dehydration because you urinate more often. On the flip side, increased urination will protect you against kidney stones. This is because frequent urination prevents calcium oxalate to crystallize and turn into kidney stones.

Caffeine increases the effectiveness of pain killers, which is why so many pain killers contain a little caffeine. But if you drink a cup of coffee along with your pain medicine, it can have a stronger, longer effect on your pain.

Healthy teeth. That’s right, coffee contains tannins which can reduce plaque formation on your teeth. Of course this is no substitute to proper dental care (brush, floss, mouth wash), but if you don’t brush your teeth after every meal, a cup of coffee might help.

Conclusion
Clearly there are some pros and cons to drinking coffee every day. If you’re not at risk for heart disease and other serious conditions, coffee will probably do more good than harm, and having a cup a day should benefit you. But if you are already having medical problems, adding high doses of coffee and caffeine to your system could harm you more than it helps. I would recommend talking to your doctor about your current coffee drinking habits and decide if you should continue, cut back, or increase your coffee intake.