If you only know that coffee can refresh you, then you are out!

This is the 4644th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

Workers, coffee soul! Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, drink coffee before working! Coffee is not only a "must-have" for workers in work and life, but also a "weapon" for socializing. So, how much do you love coffee? It is estimated that an average of 3 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day worldwide. In recent years, my country's coffee consumption has continued to rise, especially in first- and second-tier cities. The more "rolling" the place is, the higher the demand for coffee! As a life-extending artifact, coffee, as we all know, its main skills are refreshing and relieving stress. But in recent years, with the continuous deepening of research on coffee, the additional skills of coffee have also been gradually discovered. Next, let's take a look at the newly discovered additional properties of coffee.

Regulate cardiovascular disease

A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that compared with people who do not drink coffee, drinking 0.5-3 cups of coffee a day is associated with a 12% and 17% reduction in all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality, respectively, and a 21% reduction in the risk of stroke. At the same time, this study also emphasized that ground coffee is more effective! Researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy also found that compared with people who do not drink coffee, people who drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day have lower blood pressure, including peripheral arterial pressure, aortic pressure, and arterial pressure closest to the heart, indicating the positive role of coffee in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Regulate blood sugar

Studies have shown that for patients with type 2 diabetes, excessive intake of sugary drinks is associated with an increased incidence of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease, while drinking coffee, tea, low-fat milk and boiled water can reduce the risk of all-cause mortality.

Anti-inflammatory effects

In addition to the well-known caffeine, coffee also contains polyphenols, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce oxidative stress in the human body. In addition, if milk is added to coffee, the anti-inflammatory effect of coffee can be enhanced, doubling the anti-inflammatory effect of immune cells, achieving the effect of 1+1>2.

Regulate intestinal function

In 2023, researchers from Harvard Medical School in the United States published a study in the journal Immunity, a subsidiary of Cell, showing that xanthines in coffee and tea can promote the differentiation of helper T cells 17 (Th17). Th17 plays a key role in the intestines. It can help build a protective barrier in the intestines to resist infection, etc. Xanthine is widely present in coffee, tea and chocolate. Drinking tea and coffee regularly may have a certain protective effect on the intestines.

However, drinking more coffee is not necessarily better. The latest research shows that drinking more than 6 cups of coffee a day increases the risk of dementia by 53%! So if you want to reap the benefits of coffee, you really need to pay attention to the amount! There is no difference in the risk of death and disease between people who drink more than 3 cups of coffee a day and those who do not drink coffee on a regular basis. In other words, 0.5-3 cups of coffee a day is the best dose for prolonging life, and drinking too much is useless.

References

1 Gregory M. Marcus. Acute Effects of Coffee Consumption on Health among Ambulatory Adults. N Engl J Med 2023,388:1092-1100.

2 Simon J, Fung K, Raisi-Estabragh Z, et al. Light to moderate coffee consumption is associated with lower risk of death: a UK Biobank study. European journal of preventive cardiology. 2022,6;29(6):982-991.

3 Pham K, Mulugeta A, Zhou A, et al. High coffee consumption, brain volume and risk of dementia and stroke. Nutr Neurosci. 2022,25(10):2111-2122.

4 Magalhães R, Picó-Pérez M, Esteves M, et al. Habitual coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity. Mol Psychiatry. 2021,26(11):6589-6598.

Duan J, Matute JD, Unger LW, et al. Endoplasmic reticulum stress in the intestinal epithelium initiates purine metabolite synthesis and promotes Th17 cell differentiation in the gut. Immunity. 2023,7:S1074-7613(23)00092-4.

Author: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Tongji Hospital, Shanghai

Li Yingjie