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In daily life, many people like to drink coffee. Drinking coffee has potential health benefits, but did you know that drinking coffee can also bring some negative effects? Today we will take a closer look. @Weight Loss Expert Cai Hua

Negative effects of caffeine:

Caffeine can have a variety of negative effects, including headaches, anxiety, increased heart rate, jitters, panic attacks, and insomnia.

The severity of symptoms depends largely on each individual's sensitivity to them.

Caffeine is an addictive substance that can lead to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, and irritability. Another common side effect of drinking coffee is heartburn or acid reflux.

If you suffer from heartburn, we recommend trying decaffeinated coffee (see “Health Benefits of Decaffeinated and Regular Coffee” below) or avoiding coffee altogether.

Studies have shown that drinking more than three cups of coffee a day may reduce the body's absorption of calcium and lead to osteoporosis.

We suggest adding more milk to coffee to supplement more calcium. In addition, you can consider spacing out the intake of coffee and high-calcium foods or calcium tablets to ensure the absorption of calcium tablets.

The Difference Between Regular Coffee and Decaffeinated Coffee

The main differences in nutritional content between decaffeinated and regular coffee:

Some people choose decaffeinated coffee instead of regular coffee. Decaffeinated coffee is usually made from coffee beans that have been treated with water or chemical solvents or carbon dioxide. Every time the coffee beans are washed, a certain percentage of caffeine dissolves in the solvent.

Repeat this process until most of the caffeine is removed. A tall cup of Starbucks Pike Place drip coffee contains 150 mg of caffeine, while the same amount of decaffeinated drip coffee contains 20 mg.

It can be seen that although decaffeinated coffee still contains a small amount of caffeine, it is much less than regular coffee.

The antioxidant content in decaffeinated coffee may be at most about 15% lower than that in regular coffee, which is not a particularly large difference.

Similarities and differences in health benefits between decaffeinated and regular coffee:

Like regular coffee, regular consumption of decaf coffee appears to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and premature death.

One cup of coffee a day appears to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 7%. Studies in human cells have also shown that decaffeinated coffee may protect neurons in the brain.

This may help prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, but more clinical data is needed.

Current research indicates that the following potential health benefits apply only to regular coffee and have not yet been confirmed in decaffeinated coffee:

1) Improve mood, reaction time, memory and mental function;

2) Increase metabolic rate;

3) Enhance athletic performance;

4) Reduce the risk of mild depression and suicidal thoughts in women;

5) Reduce the risk of cirrhosis or end-stage liver damage.

It is worth mentioning that there are currently many more studies on regular coffee than on decaffeinated coffee, which may be one of the reasons why the above health benefits have not been confirmed in decaffeinated coffee.

Compared to regular coffee, decaffeinated coffee has several significant benefits:

1) The rate of gastric acid reflux after drinking decaffeinated coffee was significantly reduced;

2) Side effects such as headache, anxiety, rapid heartbeat, nervousness, panic and insomnia caused by stimulation of the central nervous system are less likely to occur.

How to drink coffee more healthily?

The most important thing when drinking coffee is not to add too much sugar. Excessive intake of refined sugar may increase the risk of obesity, thereby increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and liver disease.

That is to say, the health benefits of coffee itself may be wiped out in a few spoonfuls of sweet white sugar. Some specialty coffee drinks in cafes contain hundreds of calories and a lot of sugar, which is not good for health if consumed frequently.

Another thing to note is that when brewing coffee, try to use filter paper. Unfiltered coffee, such as coffee brewed in a moka pot, French filter pot, and Turkish filter pot, contains higher levels of cafestol, which may increase the level of total cholesterol in our blood.

Who should be careful when drinking coffee?

We recommend that pregnant women avoid or severely limit their caffeine intake. We will mention the safe daily caffeine intake for pregnant women in the next issue. People with anxiety, high blood pressure or insomnia can reduce their intake for a while to see if it helps.

People with digestive system diseases such as heartburn, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, etc. should also limit or avoid coffee intake according to their condition.

There is also some evidence that coffee drinking may increase the risk of heart attack in people who metabolize caffeine slowly.

Additionally, some people worry that drinking coffee may increase your risk of cancer. While roasted coffee beans do contain acrylamide, a class of carcinogenic compounds, there is no evidence that the small amounts of acrylamide in coffee cause harm.

In fact, most studies suggest that coffee intake has no effect on cancer risk or may even reduce cancer risk.

All in all, coffee has a lot of health benefits for the average person. If you already drink coffee and enjoy it, the benefits can far outweigh its negative effects.

It’s important to note that many of the studies cited above are observational, examining the relationship between coffee drinking and disease but not proving a cause-and-effect link.

However, given that the associations were strong and consistent across studies, it's impressive that coffee can have a positive effect on your health. Despite its past demonization, coffee is a healthy beverage choice for most people.

(Edited by Rachel. Image source: Internet, please delete if infringed)

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Cai Hua and Peng Jingjing, registered dietitians from Hunan Provincial People's Hospital

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