The way coffee affects your health is personal, depending on the amount you drink, your susceptibility to its effects and other risk factors. Coffee can have positive and negative effects on your body, depending on your makeup and the part of the body. As for the brain, Stacey Sigmon of the University of Vermont discovered no health difference in brain electrical activity and blood flow between study participants given caffeine after abstaining from it, and those on a placebo.
Coffee's Benefits
"For most people the health benefits outweigh the risks," says preventive medicine specialist Dr. Donald Hensrud on MayoClinic.com. Coffee might help your body fight against liver cancer, Parkinson's disease and Type 2 diabetes, Hensrud has said. Coffee contains antioxidants, which fight free radicals thought to be responsible for diseases including cancer.
Consequences
Nonetheless, too much coffee might lead to an increase in cholesterol. Also, if you have a genetic mutation that slows your body's ability to break down caffeine, Hensrud says that two cups or more a day can make it more likely that you will develop heart disease. Two to three cups of coffee can increase your systolic blood pressure by 3 mm to 14 mm and your diastolic pressure by 4 mm to 13 mm. This can occur even if you don't have a problem with blood pressure. Talk to your doctor to determine whether caffeine might be affecting your blood pressure.
Caffeine Withdrawal
A 2004 study by Johns Hopkins Medicine resulted in caffeine withdrawal being officially considered a disorder. Caffeine withdrawal can come with symptoms including fatigue, headaches, irritability and trouble concentrating. You can develop symptoms of withdrawal if you normally drink only one cup of coffee per day, although symptoms seem to worsen as you become conditioned to more coffee each day.
Considerations
The amount of coffee you drink seems to affect coffee's effect on health. Hensrud notes that most people should drink coffee in moderation, if at all. Too much coffee -- four to seven cups daily -- can cause irritability and trouble sleeping. Children, adolescents and seniors seem to feel the effects of caffeine more than younger or middle-age adults. Further, pregnant women should limit their coffee to three cups or less daily, or even less if they have caffeine from other sources.
References
- The University of Vermont: The Green -- Caffeine's Clench
- MayoClinic.com: Coffee and Health -- What Does the Research Say?; Donald Hensrud; May 6, 2010
- MayoClinic.com: Caffeine -- How Does It Affect Blood Pressure?; Sheldon G. Sheps; Nov. 14, 2009
- Johns Hopkins Medicine: Caffeine Withdrawal Recognized as a Disorder; Trent Stockton; Sept. 29, 2004
- "Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition"; Coffee and Health -- A Review of Recent Human Research; J.V. Higdon, et al.; 2006
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