Health moderation: Coffee consumption conundrum

As prom­ised, health mod­er­a­tion series is off to a start, filled with sar­casm and just enough research and data to appease even the most crit­ical of indi­vidu­als and hope­fully less para­noia sprinkled in. Coffee is the topic of this con­ver­sa­tion, and con­sid­er­ing so many con­ver­sa­tions, rela­tion­ships and life events revolve around cof­fee dates and meet­ings, it just makes sense to start with it first. 

I’ll bet half of you expect that I will say that cof­fee is the devil and you should never drink it. Here’s where you are wrong. This a mod­er­a­tion series. I’m going to list the pros and cons to cof­fee con­sump­tion, and we can make some mod­er­ate decisions about this intervention.

Pros

• High anti­ox­id­ant value, espe­cially when made with organic beans from a fair trade source
• Supports liver and gall­blad­der emul­si­fic­a­tion of fats. This is import­ant in cho­les­terol levels as excess fat can be prop­erly broken into smal­ler pieces to move out into the colon. Has been found to assist in liver regen­er­a­tion in those with liver dis­ease to repair the hep­ato­cytes (liver cells) and their drainage.
• Prevents con­stip­a­tion. Encourages the pass­ive con­trac­tion of the colon, increas­ing motil­ity (movement)
• May pro­tect against colon can­cer due to the pres­ence of anti­ox­id­ant molecules cafestol, kah­weol, melanoid­ins, poly­phen­ols to name a few…especially in smokers
• Increases meta­bol­ism and the lib­er­a­tion of energy and sus­tains and provides energy for intense phys­ical activ­ity, and improves the build­ing of muscle
• When con­sumed in a drip cof­fee­maker with a fil­ter, reduces the incid­ence of expos­ure to cof­fee bean oils and does not con­trib­ute as much to cho­les­terol. A higher pro­por­tion of caf­feine is avail­able how­ever in this instance.
• Reduces propensity for demen­tia and dementia-​like con­di­tions (very pre­lim­in­ary research, this is not yet confirmed)

Cons

• If adrenal fatigue is present, then rely­ing on cof­fee and its caf­feine con­tent as a source energy sup­port actu­ally depletes the gland, and causes it to be stim­u­lated via epi­neph­rine and nore­pineph­rine rather than nour­ish­ing this sys­tem. Will also trig­ger anxi­ety in sus­cept­ible individuals.
• Addictive. Caffeine is a drug, and can­not be cut out without wean­ing. Side-​effects include head­aches, fatigue, and grouchi­ness, among others!
• For indi­vidu­als with looser stools by nature, either due to Crohn’s, ulcer­at­ive colitis, or gall­blad­der defi­cien­cies, cof­fee will cause increased bowel move­ments and cramp­ing. This is not help­ful for these individuals!
• When con­sumed as espresso, the cof­fee bean oils can con­trib­ute to increased cho­les­terol (see the dir­ectly oppos­ing view above)
• When abused as a weight loss tool, speed­ing up the meta­bol­ism before a workout or on fad diets will increase meta­bol­ism but not be a sus­tain­able source of change. Green cof­fee extract, as an example, does work to sup­port weight loss but inev­it­ably if you do not change eat­ing and main­tain healthy phys­ical activity
• Those with high blood pres­sure, cof­fee increases blood pres­sure and is a car­di­ovas­cu­lar risk. For those with vibril­la­tion con­di­tions, it will increase the oppor­tun­ity for epis­odes (flut­ter­ing heart, the heart skip­ping a beat etc)
• Is often used as a vehicle to con­sume sugar and cream!

So…what have we learned about coffee?

Clearly there is an indi­vidu­al­ity to who can drink cof­fee, when, how and why.

Yes, there is caf­feine. Yes, caf­feine is a stim­u­lant and it will cause our adren­aline sys­tem to be activ­ated. If we are more anxious by nature, have high blood pres­sure, or are adrenal com­prom­ised it may not be the best choice. When brewed as espresso, cof­fee bean oils can increase our cho­les­terol, which depend­ing on the per­son, can be a negative.

There are also anti­ox­id­ants and poly­phenol com­pounds in cof­fee. Antioxidants and poly­phenol are known to pre­vent can­cer, and are demon­strat­ing that is pro­tect­ive for colon and some female can­cers (endo­metrial) in nature.

So, what do I think about cof­fee for health?

The anti­ox­id­ant poten­tial of cof­fee is very bene­fi­cial. One cup a day is really not that big an issue, depend­ing on your health his­tory.

Moderate cof­fee con­sump­tion is:

A per­son who likes cof­fee, who has a mod­er­ate life­style, drinks a cup daily with no cream and little to no sugar in a filtered drip.

Moderate cof­fee con­sump­tion also includes not hav­ing the fol­low­ing health concerns:

1. If you are intensely fatigued and snap at people without your caf­feine fix, cof­fee is prob­ably keep­ing you some­what sane but might not be the long-​term solu­tion for you.
2. If you have digest­ive troubles where you have more diarrhea and inflam­ma­tion in your bowel, it is best to be mod­er­ate in your cof­fee con­sump­tion at best, mak­ing sure to be doing other things to sup­port your digest­ive tract. If a his­tory of colon can­cer is added to these symp­toms, then other pre­vent­at­ive things should be used.
3. If you have intense anxi­ety, cof­fee is not the bever­age for you.
4. If you have high blood pres­sure where stress and caf­feine can change your blood pres­sure and med­ic­a­tion you may be tak­ing for this blood pres­sure, you need to be care­ful how much cof­fee you con­sume. This may include a half cup every other day, or a few times a week.

In sum­mary, cof­fee does have some good bene­fits but like everything, may not your choice of bever­age if you have health con­cerns that may be lim­it­ing for you. The choice is ulti­mately yours, but let’s not glor­ify or shame cof­fee itself!

A cup of cof­fee a day?