Michael Mosley looks at the pros and cons of drinking caffeine. Share your coffee stories in the comments below…
Today on britt lab is drinking caffeine good or bad for you now absolutely adore coffee i really don’t feel like my dad started until i’ve had a cup i’m hardly alone here in the uk we drink seventy million cups of the stuff every day we also get a good kick of caffeine from things like energy drinks but what is caffeine actually doing to you and how much is too much
At the moment european guidelines advise that consuming 400 milligrams of caffeine which is about 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day shouldn’t cause any problems as long as you’re not pregnant but the amount people can tolerate depends on other factors such as age weight your personal genetics and how much caffeine you’ve been consuming recently so how much caffeine is
There in different drinks you might be surprised by our study we found for example that tea has over 50 milligrams per cup while coca-cola has just 31 point 4 milligrams energy drinks on the other hand ranged anywhere between 75 milligrams to over 200 milligrams a large starbucks latte had over a hundred and sixty milligrams so what does drinking caffeine actually
Do to you well one of the things it does is it blocks the actions of chemical called adenosine which tells you when to go to sleep so drinking coffee keeps you awake unfortunately what it doesn’t really do is make you more alert because over time you just get used to it what it definitely does do however is boosts your levels of adrenaline which makes your blood
Pressure go up heart rate faster more blood to your muscles and basically gives you that boost first thing in the morning when you need it caffeine speeds up your heart rate and increases your blood pressure and in some circumstances it can cause abnormal heart rhythms now over stimulation could certainly be bad for those who have high blood pressure already and
If you really feel the physical effects of caffeine perhaps you should think about cutting back although caffeine is probably not very good for us coffee may well be and that’s because whether it is caffeinated or decaffeinated it’s very rich in something called polyphenols linked with reduced risk of heart disease dementia and stroke now in a jug of coffee there
Are more polyphenols and you would find in most vegetables and in fact in long-term studies they found that coffee drinkers those drinking three or four cups a day live longer than those who don’t the health benefits of coffee depend on how its brewed filter coffee is best especially lighter roast but critically it also depends on whether you drink it with lots of
Cream and sugar why not share your coffee stories in the comment section below and if you’d like weekly updates tips and ideas then do subscribe to britt that
Transcribed from video
Is Drinking Caffeine Good Or Bad For You? | Earth Lab By BBC Earth Lab
