You might be one of the millions upon millions of people who enjoy a cup of morning coffee every day to start things off right. You may also need the mid-morning pick me up brew, a coffee break with co-workers before, during or after lunch, or any other time during the day. Maybe you even enjoy a smooth cup of decaf in the evening after the long day is finished. Whether your coffee habit constitutes one drink a day or several, you are not alone in a routine that so many people find not only enjoyable but necessary to get through the day.
While coffee is an outrageously popular beverage choice of millions, there seems to have always been confused about whether or not your coffee habit has a positive or negative impact on your health. For example, it’s high caffeine content and status as a stimulant does make it a potentially addictive substance, if consumed in excess. Pregnant mothers should not drink large amounts of coffee because their babies are not fully equipped to metabolize the caffeine. But in general, what are the benefits of drinking coffee regularly, and how do they compare? As a coffee drinker, you might be very excited to hear the answer.
Can Coffee Increase Longevity?
Despite the ongoing debate, coffee has long since been correlated with longer life and better health and longer life. However, a new and extensive study conducted in the UK may have just broken some serious ground, measuring a factor that hasn’t been specifically weighed in the discussion of coffee and longevity: metabolism.
Despite the ongoing debate, coffee has long since been correlated with longer life and better health and longer life. However, a new and extensive study conducted in the UK may have just broken some serious ground, measuring a factor that hasn’t been specifically weighed in the discussion of coffee and longevity: metabolism.
Organized by the UK Biobank, this study measured the mortality of a massive study group of over 500,000 subjects over a 10 year period. Researchers observed the number of cups of coffee subjects consumed on average each day, using non-coffee drinkers as a reference group. The also “investigated potential effect modification by caffeine metabolism,” meaning the impact of their bodies’ ability to metabolize and utilize caffeine more or less quickly.
Researchers used what is called a hazard ratio to illustrate how much of an effect they observed the variable of coffee drinking to have on the subjects health and lifespan. In this case, a ratio of 1 would mean that there was no observable impact of coffee drinking whatsoever, while a ratio of 0.5 would indicate that coffee drinking subjects were half as likely to die as the non-drinkers. The ratios they assigned to the drinkers of 1-8 cups of coffee a day were ranged from 0.94 – 0.86. This concluded that coffee drinkers of any amount saw faced a 6% – 14% lower chance of death, which researchers maintain is a hugely significant figure.
The most interesting part of their findings is that they saw subjects who drank 8 plus cups of coffee a day reflect the most positive results. Most sources recommend no more than 400 mg of caffeine a day, which 8 cups of coffee would exceed by about double! That’s where the factor of caffeine metabolism comes into play. Those subjects which had a higher caffeine “tolerance” (ie.they metabolize caffeine more quickly) tended to drink much more coffee every day, and therefore not only reaped more of the natural health benefits but had the lowest risk of death out of any group in the study. In fact, the results of this study showed that the caffeine content made no difference at all to the risk of death.
While we still must be careful not to overindulge in less healthy components of coffee like cream or sugars and should be mindful of our personal tolerance for caffeine, this study may yet put our nerves at ease. There’s no guilt in that morning coffee or any other serving for that matter! You’re doing yourself and your health a bigger favor than you realized with every sip you take each day.
https://longevitybox.net/the-more-coffee-you-drink-the-longer-you-live-says-huge-research-report/
一喝完咖啡，感覺有股強烈便意襲擊肛門括約肌的人也不少！根據統計，有1/4的人在喝完咖啡20分鐘內就出現「屎命召喚」，究竟是為什麼呢？醫師指出，咖啡中的化合物帶有緩瀉效果，但若長期以咖啡幫助排便，久了後容易造成「腸道麻痺」，一不喝咖啡就上不出來的窘境。
肝膽腸胃科醫師張振榕在《醫師好辣》的「醫師小教室」單元分享，一喝咖啡就想跑廁所的人並不孤單，因為根據統計，有1/4的人在喝完咖啡20分鐘內會有便意感覺，讓人想上廁所，但這並非咖啡因的關係，而是咖啡化合物本身就帶有「緩瀉」的效果。但他提醒，若長期使用咖啡幫助排便，長久下來容易造成腸道麻痺，導致一不喝咖啡就「上不出來」的窘境。
張振榕指出，想要遠離便秘，讓便便順順地排出，建議大家平時可多攝取牛蒡絲、黑木耳、紫菜、泰國芭樂等高纖食物，並且搭配每天2000c.c.的水分，加上適度的運動，就能幫助你促進體內代謝，讓你和便秘說掰掰。
1990年4月刊登在《腸道》期刊上的文章，首先針對有飲用咖啡習慣的成年人進行問卷調查，發現約有29%的受訪者在喝下第一口咖啡後，在20分鐘內會出現「屎命召喚」的情況。該篇文章第二部分的臨床檢測，找來14名受測者， 以測壓探針及硬式乙狀結腸鏡檢查咖啡對乙狀結腸肌肉的影響，結果發現，其中6名宣稱自己對「咖啡屎命召喚」免疫者，喝完咖啡後乙狀結腸肌肉果然沒有過分收縮，其餘8人在吸收咖啡4分鐘後，乙狀結腸壓力持續上升，30分鐘後進入「攔不住」階段。
科學家原以為是咖啡因作祟，但從實驗結果得知，即使是無咖啡因的咖啡也會引發「屎命召喚」。研究作者布朗（S.R. Brown）說，喝咖啡4分鐘後就有反應很有趣，在這麼短的時間裡，咖啡無論是通過腸道，或是經由血液，都不可能一下子到達乙狀結腸。他推測，可能是咖啡引起某些胃腸反應後，再間接對直腸產生作用，但這個機制仍不明。
晨光健康營養專科諮詢中心院長趙函穎營養師指出，咖啡因可刺激中樞神經讓疲倦者恢復短暫精神，另有研究發現，咖啡因含有的抗氧化成分，可刺激腦部神經，還能預防帕金森氏症、老人痴呆等；加強腸胃蠕動，對於本身有便秘困擾的人具有排除糞便的效果，幫助新陳代謝。此外，若本身有輕微偏頭痛者，攝取少量咖啡因還能舒緩頭痛。
但為了提神就拼命喝咖啡嗎？趙函穎說，過量咖啡會帶來副作用，咖啡因能幫助腸胃蠕動，也會刺激胃酸分泌，若長時間大量飲用，有些胃弱者恐出現胃潰瘍、胃酸逆流等症狀。另外，咖啡因也會引起腎上腺交感神經作用，過量會失眠、血壓上升、心悸、呼吸急促或是焦慮等。因此建議每日咖啡因攝取應為300毫克以下最安全，以一杯240c.c.的黑咖啡含有100～150毫克的咖啡因、1杯240c.c.拿鐵含有80～120毫克咖啡因看來，每天最多喝2～3杯為上限。
https://health.ettoday.net/news/1376200
營養師推薦健康代替品減低對咖啡因依賴
早晨一杯咖啡，提神又醒腦?，但飲得多隨時咖啡因上癮。有註冊營養師表示，攝取過量咖啡因會令心跳加快、出現手震等情況，而患有焦慮和骨質疏鬆症人士亦不宜多飲。建議想戒咖啡的朋友「以花茶代咖啡」，逐步減低身體對咖啡因的依賴。
每日上限為400毫克咖啡
香港專業教育學院（IVE）葵涌院校應用科學系講師兼註冊營養師黃蘊芝博士表示，各國對攝取咖啡因沒有統一的標準，一般而言每天不應攝取超過300至400毫克咖啡因，即約3至4杯咖啡（一杯為250毫升，跟據咖啡種類而定）。
羅布斯塔咖啡因較高
黃蘊芝指出，咖啡豆品種、飲用份量及沖調方式都會影響咖啡因的攝取量。市面上常見的咖啡豆可分為阿拉比卡（Arabica）與羅布斯塔（Robusta）。阿拉比卡主要用於精品咖啡，而羅布斯塔主要用於即溶咖啡，當中羅布斯塔的咖啡因較高、味道較濃。
患焦慮和骨質疏鬆不宜多飲
至於哪一種咖啡的咖啡因含量較低，黃蘊芝表示濃縮咖啡（Espresso）飲用量少（一杯約50毫升），因此相對的咖啡因含量亦較低。
她續指，咖啡因會刺激中樞神經，具有提神作用，但過量攝取，會導致心跳加快、手震、失眠、胃部不適，「患有焦慮的人士不宜飲用，以免加重病情；而有骨質疏鬆的人士亦不宜多飲咖啡，以免影響鈣質的吸收。」
以脫咖啡因咖啡和花茶代替
想減少對咖啡的依賴，不少人都會以可樂作為替代品，「1杯12安士的可樂含20至50毫克的咖啡因，但由於糖分和熱量較高，不建議經常飲用。」黃蘊芝建議可以喝脫咖啡因咖啡，「味道一樣，但不含咖啡因，可減少對身體的影響。」
另外，她亦建議喝花茶和綠茶，「花茶和綠茶的咖啡因含量較低，花茶如洋甘菊或玫瑰花茶都有舒緩壓力的作用，而綠茶中更蘊含抗氧化劑兒茶素，具有抗衰老及保護身體之效。」
香港專業教育學院（IVE）葵涌院校應用科學系講師兼註冊營養師黃蘊芝博士
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