What your daily coffee is really doing to your body

Just last week coffee was linked to a reduced risk of heart attacks. It’s been shown to protect against dementia, type 2 diabetes and even skin cancer.

But it’s also been blamed for anxiety, heartburn and making menopausal hot flushes worse.

All these effects, good and bad, are largely down to the caffeine found naturally in coffee beans.

However, coffee also contains a range of antioxidants and plant chemicals that give the drink its characteristic smoky bitterness and smell, as well as healthy properties.

So how much coffee can you drink to reap the benefits and not suffer the risks?

‘In moderation, up to three cups a day, coffee is probably health neutral or may even have health benefits,’ explains dietitian Nigel Denby.

Here, we reveal how your daily cup affects your body — and when you should avoid it . . . 

WAISTLINE

Choose your coffee wisely and it could help you lose weight. Swapping that caffe latte, which provides around 170 calories if made with whole milk, for black coffee will save you around 160 calories in one drink.

But coffee may help more directly. ‘As well as being practically calorie-free, coffee may be a mild appetite suppressant,’ says Nigel Denby.

And a recent study found that green coffee, made from unroasted coffee beans, may aid weight loss by reducing the amount of sugar absorbed from the gut, and speeding up the rate at which the body burns fat. This is down to chlorogenic acid, a compound in coffee.

HEART

Just one cup of coffee can raise the heart rate to 100 beats per minute (normally it’s between 60 and 80) and it can take up to an hour to get back to normal. 

It can also cause the arteries to constrict, which tends to raise blood pressure, explains Dr Graham Jackson, a consultant cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

For a healthy person, this will not cause ill effects, and may even give you an energy boost. Furthermore, a moderate consumption may also ward off heart attacks.

Writing in the journal Heart, scientists in South Korea found that men and women who drank moderate amounts of coffee were less likely to have high levels of calcium in their arteries — an early indicator of blocked arteries — though it’s not clear why.

However, for people with heart failure — where the heart is damaged and not pumping blood effectively — coffee may put their heart under greater strain. Dr Jackson advises they consider giving up coffee altogether.

And people with heart disease should avoid instant coffee because it contains high levels of potassium, which can cause dangerous changes in heart rhythm, says Dr Jackson.

(dailymail.co.uk)