Coffee and Caffeine Health Facts - Part 2
Coffee and Caffeine
Coffee contains caffeine, a mild stimulant to the central nervous system. The caffeine in coffee occurs naturally; it’s not added (it is, however, added to many soft drinks.) Coffee—with its stimulating constituent, caffeine—is the worlds most popular mood-altering substance on the planet, and has been for more than 300 years. Caffeine promotes wakefulness by interfering with adenosine, a chemical in the body that acts as something of an natural sleep-promoting drug. In addition to its wakeful properties, caffeine—in moderate amounts—has been shown to enhance mood and increase alertness. Caffeine has been shown to decrease muscle pain and augment the pain-relieving capability of other drugs, alleviate asthma symptoms and boost athletic endurance and performance as well as heightening alertness and lifting mood. Heck, it even helps combat jetlag!
The key, of course, is the phrase we seem to hear a lot… moderation. What’s moderate? Most doctors will agree that 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day can be considered moderate consumption. What’s moderate for you, however, is largely a matter of how you respond to caffeine. If you have questions or concerns about your own consumption of caffeine, talk to your doctor.
Coffee and Nutrition
Nutritionally speaking, brewed coffee is pretty much inert. It has virtually no calories or fats, no carbohydrates, no sodium, no cholesterol... if it were required to carry a nutritional product label, that label would consist mostly of a lot of zeros. (In fact, coffee is exempt from federal food label programs precisely because it has zero nutritive value.)That said, coffee does offer a number of trace minerals (Thiamin, Niacin, Folate, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Manganese) and is a good source of Potassium, Pantothenic Acid and Riboflavin. A 6-ounce cup of brewed coffee may contain 2 to 4 mg of Sodium… mostly from the water used to brew the coffee and not the coffee, itself.What about the stuff we add to coffee?While coffee itself has virtually no nutritional impact, the things we add to our coffee will, in turn, dial up those numbers. And, if what we’re really doing is adding a little bit of coffee to a large cup of steamed milk (with a few tablespoons of flavored syrups on top!) the results can be pretty dramatic.
Dieters beware the trendy cup!
So is coffee the new health food? Perhaps. What’s increasingly clear, as we continue to learn about coffee and its complex constituent components and compounds, we find far more benefits than risks. For most people—in moderation—coffee is good for you. Abundantly so.
Source: Coffee & Commentary
Coffee contains caffeine, a mild stimulant to the central nervous system. The caffeine in coffee occurs naturally; it’s not added (it is, however, added to many soft drinks.) Coffee—with its stimulating constituent, caffeine—is the worlds most popular mood-altering substance on the planet, and has been for more than 300 years. Caffeine promotes wakefulness by interfering with adenosine, a chemical in the body that acts as something of an natural sleep-promoting drug. In addition to its wakeful properties, caffeine—in moderate amounts—has been shown to enhance mood and increase alertness. Caffeine has been shown to decrease muscle pain and augment the pain-relieving capability of other drugs, alleviate asthma symptoms and boost athletic endurance and performance as well as heightening alertness and lifting mood. Heck, it even helps combat jetlag!
The key, of course, is the phrase we seem to hear a lot… moderation. What’s moderate? Most doctors will agree that 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day can be considered moderate consumption. What’s moderate for you, however, is largely a matter of how you respond to caffeine. If you have questions or concerns about your own consumption of caffeine, talk to your doctor.
Coffee and Nutrition
Nutritionally speaking, brewed coffee is pretty much inert. It has virtually no calories or fats, no carbohydrates, no sodium, no cholesterol... if it were required to carry a nutritional product label, that label would consist mostly of a lot of zeros. (In fact, coffee is exempt from federal food label programs precisely because it has zero nutritive value.)That said, coffee does offer a number of trace minerals (Thiamin, Niacin, Folate, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Manganese) and is a good source of Potassium, Pantothenic Acid and Riboflavin. A 6-ounce cup of brewed coffee may contain 2 to 4 mg of Sodium… mostly from the water used to brew the coffee and not the coffee, itself.What about the stuff we add to coffee?While coffee itself has virtually no nutritional impact, the things we add to our coffee will, in turn, dial up those numbers. And, if what we’re really doing is adding a little bit of coffee to a large cup of steamed milk (with a few tablespoons of flavored syrups on top!) the results can be pretty dramatic.
Dieters beware the trendy cup!
So is coffee the new health food? Perhaps. What’s increasingly clear, as we continue to learn about coffee and its complex constituent components and compounds, we find far more benefits than risks. For most people—in moderation—coffee is good for you. Abundantly so.
Source: Coffee & Commentary
posted by Liam Webb at 7:04 PM
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