Research in food

Is coffee good or bad?

Coffee is a drink that continues to surprise researchers who continue to have a not inconsiderable effect on the nervous system, cardiovascular, respiratory, etc ...
If there is one thing we can be sure of, it is that our body does not remain indifferent to the intake of coffee.
The first is obviously its stimulating effect due to caffeine.
The other is the extraordinary content of phenolic substances such as caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid or quercetin which are notable primarily for their antioxidant potential, so much so that for many people, coffee is the main source of antioxidants in diet.
These substances also have an anti-inflammatory function so they are very valuable.
Attention, they are not only found exclusively in coffee. They are also found in fruits, vegetables, tea, whole grains and other foods. But as I repeat, coffee is certainly an important source of polyphenols.
Beyond its antioxidant content, coffee is part of those so-called nervine drinks in the sense that they act on the nervous system with a stimulating action; this is because they contain a class of purine alkaloids called Methylxanthines.
The main Methylxanthines are: The caffeine, theophylline and theobromine, which are also found not only in coffee but also for example in tea, cocoa, guarana, cola and obviously in varying concentrations in all beverages and foods that prepare themselves from these plants.
The main methylxanthine in coffee is caffeine which is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, that enzyme that turns off our cells, interrupting the cascading signal caused by the catabolizing hormones like adrenaline. In the presence of caffeine this mechanism is strongly inhibited and therefore the cells remain so to speak ignited and stimulated.
At the level of the central nervous system, this results in the characteristic stimulating effect of caffeine, we feel less tiredness and enhance our attention and concentration skills.
Alongside this stimulating effect there is also a thermogenic effect; in the sense that prolonging the catabolizing action of adrenaline or glucagon immediately goes to increase energy expenditure, that is, it makes us burn more.
And that's why caffeine find it in almost all those magic tablets sold at a high price to lose weight quickly. If you drink some coffee, you have the same result and save several tens of euros.
Caffeine has a great analgesic effect especially for headaches of nervous origin from which the advice to take the tablet for the headache along with a coffee.
At the level of the respiratory system caffeine causes a relaxation of the smooth muscles of the bronchioles and therefore facilitates breathing, so that the bronchodilator action of caffeine is also used in the treatment of asthma, even if theophylline has an even more important effect in this sense.
At the level of the digestive system caffeine promotes the secretion of hydrochloric acid of bile and increases intestinal motility, therefore generally facilitates the digestive process, so the traditional coffee at the end of our Italian tradition could actually have a raison d'etre .
At the kidney level, caffeine stimulates diuresis, but this is not a problem as long as you drink enough.
Let's see, however, some less pleasant aspects of coffee:
The same stimulating effect of caffeine, which is providential for those who need to wake up after a difficult awakening or to stay awake until late at night for extraordinary needs, can instead be extremely frustrating for those who want to fall asleep ... Metabolic inactivation of caffeine, occur with very different times in different people.
In some people the effects of caffeine act very prolonged, in fact there are people that in the afternoon I can drink only decaffeinated coffee, otherwise they stay up all night watching the ceiling.
In the second place the caffeine also generates a certain addiction, because the organism over time is adapted to a lower activity of the phosphodiesterase and so we end up needing our "dose" of caffeine to stay lit and we will end up needing them always doses more to have the same effect.
Too much caffeine is also not good because it promotes urinary calcium excretion, which is not a good thing for our health.
Even more important in the cardiovascular system, the stimulating effect of caffeine in an increase in the range in the heart rate that, in predisposed or in high doses, can cause tachycardia, hypertension or cardiac arrhythmias; just these are the reasons why drinking a little coffee can do us good, drinking too much is definitely not a good idea.
The caffeine content is proportional to the duration of coffee extraction, the longer the coffee is, the greater the amount of caffeine that will end up in the cup.
An espresso is more concentrated in flavor and phenolic substances, but not much more concentrated in caffeine. For example, a small coffee contains about 40mg of caffeine, an espresso 60 while a 350ml American coffee that is the small cup in any popular US chain contains 240mg.
If we look at the large 600ml glass, it contains 480mg, that is the equivalent of 12 narrow coffee, although the phenolic substances are more transparent and dissapointed, they are diluted.
But be careful, drinking 12 narrow coffee and drinking a 600ml starbucks glasses is not the same thing. It is the same thing only for caffeine but there is another factor to consider, that are the carcinogenic compounds that develop from the roasting at high temperatures of the coffee bean, which are however small quantities that do not have to worry if we drink one, two or three coffees a day, but we drink 12 .. Well, the speech obviously changes.
In American coffee, however, these substances are much more diluted, so from this point of view, we are more relaxed even with the big glass.
And so we arrived at the fourth component that is what is not in the coffee but very often we add it to us.
You understood that ... I'm talking about sugar, which would be better to avoid.
Although the teaspoon of sugar that we add in coffee is not the end of the world, because the sources of sugar we have to worry about are other and much more significant. Although I am of the opinion that addiction to sweet taste is a serious problem of our times, so in my opinion, rather than as a measure of food, we must get used to do without it, so even not to put it in coffee.
Provided that you do not replace it with a non-caloric sweetener, because otherwise we continue to be dependent on the sweet taste. You should simply stop adding it and bringing patience for a couple of weeks, after which our palate will be completely accustomed to the new taste of coffee, which by the way is much more satisfying because you look at the coffee with sugar does not know coffee but tastes like sugar. But until we get used to doing without it, we can not know. And finally, a note of caution: It 's true, we know many of the mechanisms induced by coffee, taken individually, but we still know very little of its global effects, especially since these mechanisms often seem to go in opposite directions, so in my opinion wisdom suggests as a precautionary measure not to abuse this drink even when we read about all the wonderful things it does.
And then certainly everyone must measure their consumption of coffee in order to avoid unwanted effects such as: nervousness, tachycardia, palpitation or difficulty falling asleep. For the rest, in the light of what we know today, it seems that one or two coffees a day or an American coffee, possibly without sugar, do nothing but benefit our health.

This information is subject to strong simplifications. The information provided is to be considered
of general interest, do not touch all the possible aspects of the topic and do not in any way replace the opinion of a qualified doctor. We expressly disclaim any responsibility related to individual actions based on the information provided here.

Sorry for the grammatical error, but i haven't a good english.
I hope you appreciate this collection of scientific information, enclosed in these cuorisità on coffee.

At the next food!