Is coffee healthy?

While coffee has been largely classified as harmful to health, recent studies have significantly revised this view and discovered a variety of positive effects of coffee consumption.

It's been around 200 years since Carl Gottlieb Hering (1766-1853) known the canon „C-a-f-f-e-e, do not drink so much coffee!“ who warned of the negative consequences of coffee consumption. For example, some physicians today believe that coffee is detrimental to health as it increases insulin levels, blood pressure and blood sugar, deprives the body of water and damages the whole cardiovascular system. However, new studies show that the general statement „Coffee is harmful“ so today is no longer valid.

This is also emphasized by the German Coffee Association e.V. and emphasizes in a recent press release the positive effects of coffee consumption on health. The association, by its very nature, is interested in a positive presentation of coffee, but can base its statements on the results of various scientific studies that have dealt extensively with the topic.

Thus, for example, the dehydrating effect of coffee is a misconception - coffee is quite normal to the fluid balance and makes „for many people (...) a significant contribution to the daily total water intake“, explained also the German society for nutrition e.V. (DGE).

Coffee reduces the risk of diabetes.
In addition, scientists have found in several large-scale studies with up to 120,000 participants that the regular consumption of coffee can protect against type II diabetes. „Several studies have concluded that the risk of diabetes is the lowest in people who drank up to seven cups of coffee a day, "said Prof. Dr. Stephan Martin of the West German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf when drinking six cups of coffee a day, a 50 percent reduction in the risk of Type II diabetes, and women drinking a lot of coffee as well, the risk is reduced by about 30 percent. that especially the contained antioxidants, polyphenols or minerals have the protective effect, not the caffeine, because the effect of decaffeinated coffee was measurable in the same way.

Coffee protects against Alzheimer's.
Coffee also has a positive effect on the brain and can protect against Alzheimer's. Enjoying a cup of coffee invigorates and increases your concentration. In addition, information can be more rapidly absorbed and processed by the brain after coffee consumption. According to Prof. Jürgen Vormann, head of the Institute for Prevention and Nutrition (IPEV) in Ismaning, lifelong coffee consumption significantly reduces the age-related reduction of mental capacity in women and men. "A recent Finnish study has observed coffee consumption among middle-aged people for many years, and the researchers found that coffee drinkers were less likely to be demeaning than coffee abstainers, and people who drank between three and five cups a day were at risk of to reduce Alzheimer's disease by 65 percent, "explained the expert Prof. Vormann. Since caffeine in the brain also promotes the release of encouraging messengers such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphins, coffee also has a positive effect on the mood of the consumer.

Coffee reduces the liver disease risk
The likelihood of suffering from a liver disease, decreases with the daily coffee consumption also, and it is not clear whether the positive effect of the caffeine or the antioxidants is attributed. However, the results of the research refer exclusively to people who already have an increased risk of such diseases (eg alcoholics, obese).

Scientist of the „National Cancer Center“ In Tokyo, a 10-year study also found that out of 100,000 coffee drinkers, statistically only 214 people develop kidney cancer. As the number of cancers among non-coffee drinkers was more than twice that (547), researchers assume that coffee can prevent kidney cancer. The results of the study, essentially the antioxidants contained, which protected against carcinogenic oxygen radicals, are responsible for the positive effect.

Coffee can also increase physical fitness, because "caffeine (...) not only the ability to concentrate and motivation, but also the endurance performance“ increased, explains the sports physician from the Hessian Sports Physicians Association, Dr. med. med. Wolfgang Grebe. „Coffee, with its vascular protective ingredients, thus has its place in performance and popular sports "(...) „especially in endurance sports, where the load lasts more than five minutes, "said the expert further.

Thus, the German Green Cross concludes that the regular coffee enjoyment on numerous organs and bodily functions has a positive effect and also in some diseases can even have a preventive or protective effect. Thus, from a health point of view, there is usually nothing against the daily consumption of three to five cups of coffee, but certain risk groups (eg pregnant women) should in case of doubt have another conversation with their doctor. (Fp)

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Coffee does not cause cardiac arrhythmia
Study: Coffee and tea are good for the heart
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Image: Martin Schneider, Pixelio.de.