Coffee and Your Health - Questions & Answers

Many people kick-start their day with coffee. Could it also give your health a boost?

Recent studies say a few jolts of java daily are good for the brain and heart, and they protect against certain cancers. But hold that coffee cup -- other research says it's not a safe habit for everyone.

What Makes Coffee Healthy?

It's anything but clear as to where the benefits come from. That's because coffee has hundreds of ingredients. Some occur naturally in coffee beans, and others are created when roasting or brewing.

Two potentially healthy ingredients are:

• Phytochemicals. Don't let the word "chemical" scare you. These are healthy antioxidants made by plants. Antioxidants reduce inflammation and help cells grow better.

• Caffeine. You probably already know coffee is full of this stuff. How much depends on the bean and how you brew it. But even decaffeinated kinds have some traces of it.

Coffee provides caffeine, a stimulant that keeps our brains active, and plenty of antioxidants that can help prevent many common chronic diseases, such as diabetes.

What Are the Health Benefits?

Coffee boosts your alertness and helps you beat fatigue. More and more studies show that people who drink three to five 8-ounce cups a day could be protecting their health in many other ways.

Possible benefits include a lower risk of:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Diabetes
• Endometrial cancer
• Heart attack
• Liver cancer
• Parkinson's disease
• Skin cancer, including melanoma
• Stroke

How Much Is Too Much?

Do not drinking more than five cups [of coffee] per day. Five cups is about 400 milligrams of caffeine, according to the FDA. They say that much caffeine a day is safe for healthy adults who aren't pregnant.

Drinking a lot of caffeinated coffee can temporarily raise your blood pressure, especially if you have borderline-high or high BP. It can also trigger other heart problems, which might lead to an emergency room visit or a hospital stay.

Guzzling a lot of java might also cause a bellyache or make you feel jittery or shaky. You should probably cut back or switch to decaf "if you notice tremors when you drink multiple cups a day. Having too much caffeine can cause sleep problems, too.

Over time, getting too much caffeine in general can lead to bone loss or fractures. Drinking unfiltered, caffeinated coffee regularly may also raise your total cholesterol and your level of the so-called "bad" cholesterol, LDL.

Tell your doctor about your coffee habits. You might need to cut back or shift to decaf if you have heart disease or anxiety, are taking "water pills" (diuretics), or if you're pregnant.

Does It Matter How I Make It?

Yes. Use a paper filter. It removes the substances in coffee that cause spikes in artery-clogging cholesterol. These substances are called cafestol and kahweol. 

They're found in the oily part of coffee, but are left behind in paper filters. If you make your java without a filter (in a "French press," for instance), that lets these unhealthy items flow through to your cup.

Decaf and instant coffee seem to have lower amounts of the healthy antioxidants. Still, several studies suggest that even decaf might lower the risks of heart disease and diabetes.

Full-strength (caffeinated) coffee likely gives you a bigger health boost. But, again, you might want to avoid it if you have high blood pressure or anxiety problems.

And watch the sugar and cream. While these items don't "turn off" the perks of coffee overall, too much sugar and fat in your diet can be a health-buster.

Have a few of those [sweetened, creamy cups of joe] a day, and the calories can add up. Make it a frappe latte and a few a day could be a pound a week.

If I Don't Drink Coffee, Should I Start?

All the experts mentioned in this article answer "no" to that.

There's no evidence to say if you don't drink coffee, you should start. You can make a lot of other lifestyle changes to improve your health. Get regular exercise, and don't smoke.

If, however, I had a patient who for some reason needed a little bit of a gentle 'pick-me-up' throughout the day, coffee may be a better solution than taking a prescribed pill.

References: 

Marc Leavey, MD, primary care specialist, Lutherville Personal Physicians, a Mercy Medical Center Community Physicians site; blogger, String of Medical Pearls. Brian Doyle, MD, clinical instructor in medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. Roger Clemens, DrPH, adjunct professor, pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, USC School of Pharmacy; member, 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory committee. Miriam Nelson, PhD, professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University; member, 2015 USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory committee. American Institute for Cancer Research: "Coffee," "30 Years of Research." Coffee and Your Health: Tonic, Toxic or Too Soon to Know?" American Cancer Society: "Phytochemicals." Parikh, A. Clinical Correlations, NYU Langone Online Journal of Medicine, July 2013. McCusker, R. Journal of Analytical Toxicology, October 2006. Bamia, C. International Journal of Cancer, April 15, 2015. Song, F. Cancer Research, July 1, 2012. Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Higdon, J. Critical Reviews in Food and Nutrition, 2006.