The coffee business is booming. Over 80 per cent of adults in the UK drink it whilst speciality coffee drinking amongst Americans is higher now than at any previous point in their history (19.3 million bags in 2004 according to the Complete Coffee Coverage publication). Caffeine is the most widely-used mood-altering drug on the planet, and coffee is the most concentrated and common form of it - capable of making you feel more alert and ready to face the day in a matter of swigs. Yet many coffee drinkers around the world remain confused about the impact of coffee on health - as many lot of the published studies available on line and in the shops appear to contradict each other.
Coffee Increases Heart Disease For Some
After several years on inconclusive studies about the negative effects of coffee drinking, Dr El Sohemy and colleagues at the University of Toronto conducted a study that sent shock waves around the world in 2006. The study identified increased risk of cardiovascular disease for many people that drink just two cups of coffee as a daily average.
Whilst initially a shocking study, particularly to a western world where many individuals consume far more than two cups, it was not everybody in the study that was exposed to an increased risk of disease through their caffeine intake. The health risk, the study found, was dependent on the genetic make-up of the participants. Those with the slow metabolism gene known as 1F are 36 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack if they drink two or more cups of coffee each day. Those with this gene who drank four cups of coffee daily were 64 per cent more likely. Some studies indicate up to sixty per cent of Caucasians could have this gene.
Coffee Good For You - With the Right Genes
However, for people with a different genetic make-up it was a different story. With the right genes, coffee can be good for you, the same study found. Presence of the gene 1A in people can mean drinking one cup of coffee per day halves the likelihood of heart disease. It's the antioxidants in coffee which can help your health: they help un-clog the arteries and prevent liver cirrhosis, according to bodies like The British Coffee Association. Studies carried out by the Faculty of Medicine in Lisbon even showed that amongst the healthy older people they studied, the subjects had consumed an average of three daily cups of coffee from the age of 25 onwards.
Drink Coffee in Moderation
There are a number of conditions in which leading health experts say excess coffee drinking is not advisable, too, including pregnancy. Even here, opinion differs. Doctor Tom Smith has said in the UK's Guardian newspaper this year that it is actually better to drink coffee in moderation rather than believe giving it up will improve your chances of giving birth to a healthy baby. Those with hypertensive problems should know that coffee does increase blood pressure slightly in the short term (according to medical studies conducted by organisations like Bandolier), but no evidence has been accumulated on its long-term effect on blood pressure. Excessive coffee drinking is considered bad for you whoever you are and can induce headaches, shaking and anxiety in almost everyone. Yet giving up coffee completely is not proven to have any known health benefits.
Guidelines on Drinking Coffee
The rise in cool high street coffee shops like Caffe Nero or Starbucks and in the trend to drink speciality coffee (which contains more caffeine) will certainly keep the ambiguous relationship coffee enjoys with good health in the foreground for many years to come - especially with the lack of long term studies to date. But, for the moment, the words of Dr El Sohemy seem the best guideline to follow for coffee drinkers who want a dose of guaranteed good health with their daily brew.
"One cup a day is not associated with any harm, regardless of your genetic make-up."
Yet it is worth remembering that coffee is a complex beverage. Drinking it could produce some positive effects, but also some negative ones.
For more information on understanding your genetic make-up, click here.
Luke Waterson - Author Luke Waterson writes, or has written, for various publications including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Moon Guidebooks and The ...
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