{"id":46602,"date":"2015-12-30T07:15:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T12:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=46602"},"modified":"2021-05-17T05:52:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T09:52:19","slug":"how-much-coffee-is-too-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/how-much-coffee-is-too-much\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Coffee Is Too Much?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How
Photo by Anthony Delanoix<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can\u2019t get enough cold brew<\/a>? Love your twice-a-day dose of Starbucks\u2019 blonde roast? Whether you\u2019re hooked on java for the taste or for that sweet hit of stimulating caffeine, you\u2019ve probably wondered if coffee is good for you \u2014 or if sipping is sneakily bad for your health. The medical world has gone back and forth on coffee<\/a> for what seems like millennia. (Back in the 1500s, it was even blamed for promiscuous behavior!) But today the tides have turned (we\u2019ll clink mugs to that). In fact, new researched published in the journal Circulation<\/em><\/a> now indicates that drinking as many as five cups of coffee per day could be beneficial to your health.<\/p>\n

But is that the final word? We dove into the research to find out the real deal about your coffee consumption.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> What\u2019s Worse: The Calories in Coffee or Candy?<\/a><\/p>\n

Coffee: The Good, The Bad and The Unknown<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Like sour milk that ruined your mocha, not all studies are quite so favorable towards coffee. As recently as 2014, coffee consumption was linked<\/a> to an increased risk of bladder cancer. So why trust the latest research?<\/p>\n

“Most people consume about 200 mg of caffeine each day and 600 mg or more is considered too much.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, the study published in Circulation <\/em>examined the habits of a large population (read: over 200,000) over a long period of time \u2014 always a good sign. Based on that data, researchers found that drinking one to five cups of coffee per day was associated with fewer incidences of death from cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases and suicide, and that coffee consumption had no impact on the number of deaths from cancer.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re downing way <\/em>more than five cups a day \u2014 are you doomed? Not quite. True java addicts will thank their lucky stars that the Circulation <\/em>study also found that drinking more <\/em>than five cups per day wasn\u2019t linked to increased mortality, either. (Though older studies have seen a slightly higher incidence of heart attack<\/a> and heart disease<\/a>, especially among people who drink more than six cups of coffee a day. One 2013 study supported this<\/a>, finding an association between drinking coffee and increased risk of death.)<\/p>\n

Researchers believe the positive effects of sipping the strong stuff may be linked to “a series of molecules [in coffee] that may reduce insulin resistance and inflammation,” according to Dr. Robert Eckel, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and the former president of the American Heart Association. (Here\u2019s how to know if inflammation is hurting your health<\/a>.) Moreover, coffee has antioxidant properties. Back in 2005, research suggested<\/a> that coffee may be the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet.<\/p>\n

If your head is swimming from all these studies, researchers have also conveniently done meta-analyses (translation: summaries) on the topic. Meta-analyses completed in July 2013<\/a>, April 2014<\/a>, and October 2014<\/a> all found that coffee either reduced the likelihood of or had no impact on the incidence of diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

“Decades ago I was taught that coffee was associated with increases in blood pressure, [cardiovascular disease] and related mortality,” says Dr. Eckel. \u201cThis among other science seems to indicate the alternative.\u201d In other words, go ahead and drink up.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 16 DIY Projects to Give Coffee Grounds New Life<\/a><\/p>\n

How Much Coffee Is Too Much: The Problem with Caffeine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before you start knocking back<\/a> six cups of coffee a day \u2014 because, science \u2014 know that all that caffeine might<\/em> be a concern. “In some, increases in blood pressure and sleep disturbances with related metabolic consequences<\/a> could be a downside,\u201d Dr. Eckel notes.<\/p>\n

Also, what you consider a \u201csingle coffee\u201d could contain anywhere from 100 to 450 mg of caffeine based on the size of your cup, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest<\/a> (CSPI) According to the FDA<\/a>, most people consume about 200 mg of caffeine each day (the amount in one to two five-ounce cups of coffee) \u2014 and 600 mg or more is considered too much. To put this in perspective, one Starbucks Venti Coffee<\/a> (20 fl. oz.) contains about 415 mg of caffeine.<\/p>\n

Feel jittery after just one cup? Decaf coffee offers the same health benefits as regular, according to researchers<\/a>. The study’s authors believe the positive effects come from compounds unrelated to coffee’s caffeine content, so it is possible to glean some health benefits without getting crazily over-caffeinated.<\/p>\n

Dr. Eckel is also quick to point out that all of the positive effects of coffee were only<\/em> seen in non-smokers. Older studies have suggested that combining coffee and smoking can actually have a greater negative health impact<\/a> than smoking alone, and both increase blood pressure<\/a>, which could be dangerous for those who already have high blood pressure.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 7 Buzz-Worthy Recipes for Coffee Lovers<\/a><\/p>\n

The moral of the story? According to Dr. Eckel, the health benefits found in the Circulation<\/em> study aren\u2019t quite strong enough to merit increasing<\/em> your coffee intake or starting a coffee habit if you hate the taste. But for those of us who can\u2019t live without a few cups of coffee per day, we\u2019re probably in the clear \u2014 and might even be doing our bodies a favor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day you hear that drinking coffee is great for you, the next day you hear it\u2019s terrible. So how much coffee is too much? Here\u2019s what the science says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[31,147,148,345,402],"class_list":["post-46602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","tag-beverages","tag-caffeine","tag-coffee","tag-tax1conditions","tag-tax2heart-disease"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}