Is coffee good or is it bad for the heart? How much coffee can you safely drink? I'm going to tell you the benefits, but also the risks based on the amount of coffee you should drink in a day.
I am also going to tell you curiosities such as how your brain acts when receiving coffee, how long does it take to act? How long does it last in the blood? What to do if you have heartburn or how can you improve those symptoms?
I'm going to tell you about the relationship between cancer and coffee if it raises the pressure. If I should drink coffee, if I am hypertensive or if I have arrhythmias. I mean, everything I've researched for days and days on coffee in about 10-15 minutes.
Hi everyone. I am Dr Juan Ignacio Veller. I am a doctor and a cardiologist.
Let us begin. Is coffee good or bad? Well it depends on the dose.
That is, if we go over the dose of coffee, we will be closer to all this. On the other hand, if we drink an adequate dose of coffee, we will be closer to what I am going to explain to you next. And surely the question comes to them Ok, doctor, but how much is a lot and how much is little?
An acceptable dose of coffee is said to be roughly 400 milligrams of coffee. In practical terms , this means that you can have 3-5 cups of coffee per day, doctor, but there are larger cups and smaller cups. Well, the cup that I am talking about is the 236 milliliter cup, the standard cup and with a standard preparation.
There have even been very large studies last year in 2020 and this year in the European Society of Cardiology and in the New England, a very famous magazine that show the benefits of coffee at the level of blood pressure, cardiovascular death, etc. Come on. to start talking then.
What are the benefits of coffee? The first thing I want to tell you is that when you drink coffee you don't just drink caffeine, but you take potassium, magnesium, vitamins and other or other substances that are actually anti oxidants. These substances are apparently linked to better cardiovascular outcomes and thousands were followed.
I'm talking about almost half a million people in a study that I'm going to tell you about right away. For more than 15 years and it was seen that they died less. Let me explain a little more.
However, roasted coffee contains a substance called acrylamide. Acrylamide is a substance that is linked to cancer. Surely you have read dozens of newspapers that say that coffee would have a relationship with cancer.
Well, this has not been proven and a relationship between moderate coffee consumption up to 400 milligrams between 3 to 5 cups per day and cancer has never been shown . In fact, I'm going to tell you right away that the studies, although without the force of total evidence , that is, without being able to verify for sure but with a strong trend, would decrease in breast cancer, liver cancer, cancer of the oropharynx. But before that, let me tell you what caffeine does to your brain.
Actually, when we ingest coffee, the coffee obviously enters our digestive system, reaches the intestine, is absorbed, goes to the liver and is metabolized in the liver one hour after coffee ingestion . We reached the maximum peak of coffee. Coffee targets our brain, but first let me tell you that 5 percent of caffeine is eliminated almost unchanged in the urine.
Why am I telling you this as a curiosity? Have you had coffee and gone to urinate and have you felt that your urine smells like coffee? Well, it is because of this 5 percent that it is eliminated with almost no metabolism.
Once coffee reaches the brain, it has properties that improve concentration, allow you to have a faster response and make better decisions in quotes. What does this mean? That when a cognitive test , that is, of response and others, was done, some patients who drank coffee and others who did not drink saw that those who drank coffee were more awake, more alarmed and responded better and faster.
This is not to say that coffee supplants sleep. Make no mistake, you can drink coffee to be more awake, more alert, more active, but in no way supplants sleep. A good night's sleep must happen if you don't want damage in the long run.
But I was telling you once the coffee absorbs you, it passes through the liver, the caffeine reaches the brain. Imagine, we are now inside the brain. Do you know what substances?
And this, forgive me the neurologists who are looking at me, but it makes us a bit silly, slow and stimulates sleep. There is a substance called adenosine, which tells our neurons I'm tired. It makes them more lethargic.
A series of brain responses that tires us. Notice, adenosine binds to its receptors through this portion, which notice, it's very similar to caffeine. So for adenosine, telling our brain that it is tired has to bind to its receptor here.
But you imagine now that you ingested a cup of coffee that has passed an hour now. Caffeine, since it is going to bind here and it will not activate this receptor that makes us tired, but it will block it when caffeine binds. Here the adenosine will not be able to bind, so it will not be able to tell our brain that we are tired.
In this way , coffee or caffeine keeps us active, alert and so on, but when we go overboard we are with insomnia, irritability, I'm going to tell you. But look, they find it pleasant to have a cup of coffee because there is another substance called dopamine. It is closely related to pleasure.
It is a response of our brain to something that does us well in quotes. This molecule binds to its receptors and makes us feel pleasure in quotation marks. If now adenosine, when it binds to the receptor or to one of the dopamine receptors, it prevents dopamine from binding very easily.
Now, if it's caffeine that binds to the dopamine receptor, it allows more dopamine to bind to it. So we are going to feel more active, more concentrated, we are going to have better responses and we are going to be with more pleasure. We are going to feel that pleasure of coffee in the morning.
Are you remembering it right now? Well, now what happens when I drink coffee every day? Well, caffeine is going to start to bind to receptors, but these receptors are going to start showing up to a greater extent.
And doctor, how important is this? That I am going to need more coffee to cover the Venusian. That's why I need more and more coffee to have the same effect.
Surely when you started drinking coffee you had one cup a day, then two, then three, and now usually three, four, five. So what I want to tell you is coffee generates tolerance because receptors are increased. When I quit coffee, these receptors start to disappear and tolerance disappears again.
So, from the brain point of view, we already said more active, more alert, better responses, but it also decreases the incidence of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. And while this has not been absolutely proven. Many studies would show a decreased relationship between Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
A very important piece of information. Doctor, when I drink coffee my head hurts . I will tell you one thing is paradoxical.
Coffee is used. They have never seen aspirin coffee , for example, which is coffee plus aspirin. Well, coffee enhances the action of certain painkillers, such as aspirin, allowing a decrease in headache .
But if I miss the dose, I'm going to have a headache. So what is the relationship of headache coffee? Can it improve if on some medications and even alone?
It can make the headache worse if you have seen a very important relationship with those people who have migraine, you have migraine. Consult with your neurologist if it is recommended that you drink coffee. Doctor, what are the digestive effects of coffee?
Well, coffee is very interesting for those patients who are constipated, who have trouble defecating. Why? Because it activates the muscles of the small intestine and the large intestine and makes it move faster.
In this way it causes us a better evacuation between quotes. Many people in their daily routine start drinking coffee and going to the bathroom. Now if we go over.
What happen? Diarrhea, Increased number of stools, etc. So control the amount of coffee you drink.
Recently the state of California, United States has suggested that it be put in coffee sachets or or in coffee jars that it could be related to cancer. Why? For this substance that I told you about life.
However, this has never been proven for sure and most studies show that there is no relationship between the consumption of coffee in moderate doses and the development of cancer. And even the opposite could happen. It would seem that some types of cancer, as I told you before, liver, gold, pharynx, mom and even others could decrease with the consumption of coffee.
And notice I'm saying the word could because this was not proven. This is a hypothesis with some studies that allow us to suspect that this happens, but not to confirm. Now here's my part.
As you know, I am a cardiologist and I have studied very well. How does the heart relate to coffee? The question everyone asks me in the office is Doctor, I am hypertensive.
They told me that coffee raises the pressure. I can drink coffe? Of course you can drink coffee.
It is true that the pressure rises, it is true, but in the first 30 minutes and when you drink chronically, that is, every day, there is no significant increase in pressure. There are some very small studies that show a variation of one millimeter of mercury in blood pressure rise. Now what I do recommend is do not drink coffee and then take your blood pressure, because remember that in the first 30 minutes, one hour after ingesting, you will have a slight rise in blood pressure.
Doctor, can this cause harm? No! When you exercise, your pressure rises and it does not harm you because it is transitory and stimulates the cardiovascular system.
In fact, several very large studies were done, one that came out in July 2020. You can read it now, you are surely looking at it in the year England. This study took more than 95 research papers on coffee and said the following In moderate doses of coffee we are talking about three to five cups.
The patients appear to have a decreased cardiovascular risk, that is, of death from stroke, heart attack, or death from any cause. Very recently, at the 2021 European Congress of Cardiology , an observational work was also presented that does not have the force of absolute truth, but a great hypothesis that took more than 450 thousand patients. And I'm going to read the figures to tell you exactly.
This study showed why it cannot demonstrate but show that there was a 12 percent decrease in death from any cause, a 17 percent decrease in cardiovascular disease, and a 21 percent decrease in stroke. How long were these patients followed? On average, fifteen years.
What this study shows is that it is probably very safe to consume coffee and even that there is probably a strong relationship between coffee consumption and cardiovascular risk, the decrease again. This cannot be confirmed yet. More studies are missing.
You know that this study of more than 450,000 observational patients also showed . They saw more than 30,000 patients who had an MRI of the heart. Sorry.
I am looking at the camera and it is upside down, which is one of the best methods to see the structure of the heart. And although the following could be observed, this cannot be verified. But those who wanted coffee in moderate doses of 0.
5 cups to 3 cups a day had healthier hearts than those who did not consume coffee. It's a great hypothesis to study thoroughly, especially for coffee lovers. Now let's get back to the risks of coffee consumption .
When we consume a lot of coffee or consume, we consume close to bedtime. We can have insomnia, irritability, tremors, even palpitations. Is there a relationship between serious arrhythmias and coffee?
The answer is no in normal people, in non-sick people . That is, you can consume coffee if you are a healthy person, doctor, and if I am a person who has arrhythmias, in that case you should consult your cardiologist. It is likely that he will ask you to reduce the amount of coffee to no more than two cups a day, 200 milligrams, approximately 100 milligrams, or to suspend you directly if the arrhythmias that you have are risky.
Now it has not been possible to demonstrate the relationship in healthy person between coffee consumption and arrhythmias. But if palpitations do occur, because surely you are watching this video, he will say, but when I drink coffee my heart beats strong. It is true, an increase in heart rate occurs in a normal way, that is, not at a rhythm of about 10 to 15 beats as if we were exercising.
And some people may perceive this as their heart beating hard and fast. So those people who have a lot of palpitations, we know that they are not more at risk of developing an arrhythmia, that is, an abnormal heartbeat, but if it bothers them a lot, they should reduce their coffee consumption or cancel it completely. Two more things I get dehydrated drinking coffee.
It is true that when I drink coffee, urination increases, just as defecation increases, urination increases. That is, it is a natural diuretic. I'm going to pee more, but coffee hydrates.
When you drink coffee you are hydrating. And it has not been shown that increased addiction causes dehydration. Doctor, if I have heartburn and when I drink coffee my belly hurts.
Well, you should consult with your gastroenterologist what to do, but a good option, although again consult with your doctor is to drink espresso because it has a toast, a characteristic. Other than that it may please your stomach, but the most prudent thing is to consult your doctor. Finally, I want to tell you the following.
We are talking about 400 milligrams of caffeine. There are many things. That is, 400 milligrams per day that you can consume in addition to coffee.
Many other substances or products have caffeine, such as tea, mainly green tea or black tea. The chocolate. Energizers have a spectacular amount of caffeine coffee .
So take care and consume this. Some medicines, cola drinks . Then you can consume 4 cups of coffee, but in that case you could not consume energizers, you could not consume cola, chocolate, etc.
because they would pass 400 milligrams. And if you go over 400 milligrams, you are more likely to have one of these side effects. The last two things and I leave you.
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Because before, coffee was thought to be bad. Good because it was seen that those patients in the 80s and 90s who drank coffee, smoked more, had less healthy diets and were more sedentary. So the studies that were done, as they were not done properly and these consumers were not removed, that is, imagine a person who smokes a lot and drinks coffee.
And I say that by drinking coffee you die more. It is incorrect because in reality more people die from tobacco and it is seen that patients who smoke more, who drink more coffee, smoke more. So the studies of the 80s and 90s were what we call biased.
So support for tobacco reduction should be stepped up . And finally, remember that a black coffee, without sugar, without cream, without milk, with fat is not the same as a single coffee. Why?
Because the benefits of coffee apparently are in the caffeine potassium, magnesium, the antioxidants. But if you add sugar, if you add cream, milk, that can decrease the benefits of coffee. Then be careful.
And lastly, coffee makes me addicted. It was seen that when you take people out of coffee, some days they can feel more tired, more sleepy, less spirited, etc. But they were not seen to be addicted because they do not crave the substance strongly.
So coffee doesn't make you addicted and in a few days these leftover coffee and kitchen receivers will disappear and you probably won't need to use it again if you want to quit. And we already talked about tolerance. More coffee will make you require more coffee.
If you don't drink coffee, a cup will likely reach you to keep you awake, alert, and so on. Give us a hand, follow us, click on the bell leaving your comments and I send you a big hug from our part of the world. Bye Bye.
