THE RISK

Beside those benefits, coffee drinkers may also have risks such as:

· Cosmetic

Coffee causes staining of the teeth, just like tea.

· Cholesterol

Coffee brewed using a French press method contains oils (cafestol and kahweol) otherwise trapped by more commonly used paper filters. In two short-term studies, these oils are thought to have raised LDL cholesterol levels by 10 percent. The risk is not present in paper filtered coffee.

Coffee made by the Scandinavian method of boiling or by the cafetiere method may cause mild elevation of plasma cholesterol concentration in some people but instant and filter coffee have no such effects. Although coffee elevates plasma homocysteine levels this effect is not large enough to have a significant effect on the risk of heart disease.

· Blood Pressure

A recent study by Harvard Med that set out to prove that the caffeine in coffee would put people at risk for high blood pressure ended up rejecting the hypothesis. 155,000 nurses were followed for 12 years and the results showed that large amounts of coffee did not induce a "risky rise in blood pressure”. As a note, this study did not include men.

In some sensitive individuals, ingestion of coffee after a period of abstinence may cause a temporary rise in blood pressure but there is no persistent hypertensive effect in the long term.

· Effects on Pregnancy

A February 2003 Danish study of 18,478 women linked heavy coffee consumption during pregnancy to significantly increased risk of stillbirths (but no significantly increased risk of infant death in the first year). "The results seem to indicate a threshold effect around four to seven cups per day," the study reported. Those who drank eight or more cups a day (64 U.S. fl oz or 1.89 L) were at 220% increased risk compared with nondrinkers. This study has not yet been repeated, but has caused some doctors to caution against excessive coffee consumption during pregnancy.

Decaffeinated coffee is occasionally regarded as a potential health risk to pregnant women, due to the high incidence of chemical solvents used to extract the caffeine. These concerns have almost no basis, however, as the solvents in question evaporate at 80–90 °C, and coffee beans are decaffeinated before roasting, which occurs at approximately 200 °C. As such, these chemicals, namely trichloroethane and methylene chloride, are present in trace amounts at most, and neither pose a significant threat to unborn children.

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency issued guidelines for caffeine intake during pregnancy with an upper limit of 300mg/day. This figure is in line with that stated in 1999 by the EU Scientific Committee on Food who said that 'While intakes up to 300mg/day appear to be safe, the question of possible effects on pregnancy and the offspring at regular intakes above 300mg/day remains open.

There’s no need to worry about stay consuming coffee, one thing you need to concern is the amount of your intakes very day.

THE HISTORY OF COFFEE

The history of coffee has been recorded as far back as the tenth century. The coffee tree probably originated in the province of Kaffa, in the area known today as Ethiopia. There is no real evidence to show exactly when, or how, it was first discovered that a rich and stimulating brew could be made from the bean (or seed) within the fruit of the coffee bush, but it is thought that before coffee was ever appreciated as a beverage, native people may have chewed the ripe cherries and beans as food. There is evidence to suggest that coffee trees were cultivated in monastery gardens 1,000 years ago, and commercial cultivation followed, although the first reports of this, from the Yemen, were not recorded until the fifteenth century.

There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the drink itself. One account involves the Yemenite Sufi mystic Shaikh ash-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia, the legend goes, he observed goats of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the goats had been eating, experienced the same vitality. A similar myth attributes the discovery of coffee to an Ethiopian goatherder named Kaldi and the Legend of Dancing Goats.

One possible origin of both the beverage and the name is the Kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated (its name there is bunn or bunna). The earliest mention of coffee may be a reference to Bunchum in the works of the 10th century CE Persian physician Razi, but more definite information on the preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates from several centuries later.

Coffee beans were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the bean. The first coffee house was Kiva Han, which opened in Istanbul in 1471.

Coffee was at first not well received. In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in Mecca. However, the popularity of the drink led these bans to be overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim I. In Cairo, Egypt, a similar ban was instituted in 1532, and the coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee beans were sacked. Similarly, coffee was banned by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church some time before the 17th century, along with smoking tobacco and chewing the mild stimulant khat, as it was seen as a Muslim and pagan practice. However, in the second half of the 19th century, Ethiopian attitudes softened towards coffee drinking, and its consumption spread rapidly between 1880 and 1886; according to Richard Pankhurst, "this was largely due to [Emperor] Menilek, who himself drank it, and to Abuna Matewos who did much to dispel the belief of the clergy that it was a Muslim drink.”

Trade in coffee, a much-prized commodity, was jealously guarded by the Arabs who would not allow foreigners to visit their coffee plantations, nor fertile coffee beans to be taken out of the country. However, seed-beans or plant cuttings were eventually taken out of Arabia and cultivated in the Dutch colonies in India and Java. The Dutch became the main suppliers of coffee to Europe, with Amsterdam its trading centre.

Venetian traders first brought coffee to Europe in 1615, and 30 years later a coffee house or 'café' was opened in Venice. The growth of popular coffee houses, which became favourite meeting places for both social and business purposes, spread from the mid-17th century to other European countries including Austria, France, Germany, Holland and England. Lloyd's of London, the largest insurance market in the world, began life as a coffee house in 1688. From Europe coffee was taken to Virginia, USA, and the last three hundred years have seen coffee make its way around the world, establishing itself in the economies and lifestyles of the main trading nations. (taken from CoSIC and Wikipedia web site)

THE BENEFITS

• ANTIOXIDANT

Coffee beans are one of the richest dietary sources of chlorogenic acid and for many consumers this will be their major dietary source. It has been reported that a 200 ml cup of Arabica coffee contains between 70 and 200 mg chlorogenic acid whereas a cup of Robusta coffee contains between 70 and 350 mg. It has been estimated that coffee drinkers might ingest as much as 1 g per day cinnamate esters (mostly chlorogenic acid) and 500 mg per day cinnamates (mostly caffeic acid). Coffee could supply as much as 70% of the total making it far and away the most important dietary source of this group of antioxidants. The roasting of coffee beans dramatically increases their total antioxidant activity. A roasting time of 10 minutes (medium-dark roast) was found to produce coffee with optimal oxygen scavenging and chain breaking activities in vitro.

• ALLERTNESS

There are a large number of studies showing that caffeine increases alertness. Effects of caffeine on alertness are often more easy to demonstrate in subjects in a state of low alertness. Thus caffeine can counteract the effects on alertness of benzodiazepine administration, the early morning, night-time working, a cold or sleep loss.

• ANTIDIABETIC

One study reported that coffee consumption improved glucose tolerance whereas two other studies reported that coffee consumption resulted in a deterioration in glucose tolerance. In addition, a single dose of 200 mg caffeine has been shown to impair glucose tolerance in 30 healthy subjects. The available results on effects of coffee or caffeine intake on glucose tolerance are also contradictory.

• STIMULANT

Coffee contains caffeine, which acts as a stimulant. For this reason, it is often consumed in the morning and during working hours. Students preparing for examinations with late-night "cram sessions" frequently use coffee to keep themselves awake. Many office workers take a "coffee break" when their energy is diminished.

Recent research has uncovered additional stimulating effects of coffee which are not related to its caffeine content. Coffee contains an as yet unknown chemical agent which stimulates the production of cortisone and adrenaline, two stimulating hormones.

• COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

Many people drink coffee for its ability to increase short term recall and increase IQ. In tests of simple reaction time, choice reaction time, incidental verbal memory, and visuo spatial reasoning, participants who regularly drank coffee were found to perform better on all tests, with a positive relationship between test scores and the amount of coffee regularly drunk. Elderly participants were found to have the largest effect associated with regular coffee drinking. Another study found that women over the age of 80 performed significantly better on cognitive tests if they had regularly drunk coffee over their lifetimes

• REDUCE ALZHEIMER’S DESEASE RISK

Several studies comparing moderate coffee drinkers (about 2 cups a day) with light coffee drinkers (less than one cup a day) found that those who drank more coffee were significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life.

• REDUCE ASTHMA DESEASE RISK

A study of 72,284 Italians showed that there was an inverse association between intake of coffee and prevalence of asthma. Risk of asthma fell by 28% when three or more cups of coffee were drunk every day. The Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) studied 20,322 Americans and found that risk of current asthma fell significantly by 29% and risk of wheeze fell insignificantly by 13% when regular coffee drinkers were compared with non-coffee drinkers.

• HEADACHE MEDICATION

Coffee contains caffeine, which increases the effectiveness of pain killers, especially migraine and headache medications. For this reason, many over-the-counter headache drugs include caffeine in their formula.

• REDUCE GALLSTONE DESEASE RISK

Drinking caffeinated coffee has been correlated with a lower incidence of gallstones and gallbladder disease in both men and women in two studies performed by the Harvard School of Public Health. A lessened risk was not seen in those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

• REDUCE PARKINSON’S DESEASE RISK

A large prospective study consisting of 29,335 Finnish subjects found a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease among habitual coffee drinkers. A further study consisting of 6710 men and women, also conducted in Finland, reported similar findings and concluded that 'The results support the hypothesis that coffee consumption reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease, but that the protective effect of coffee may vary by exposure to other factors'.

• PROTECT AGAINST LIVER CIRRHOSIS

Two studies, each on the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program cohort in California, originally demonstrated that coffee drinking might protect against liver cirrhosis. In the first study, 59 cases of liver cirrhosis were diagnosed and it was shown that subjects who drank four or more cups of coffee per day had 80% less chance of developing liver cirrhosis than non-coffee drinkers. In the second study, it was reported that coffee drinkers had 23% less chance of dying from liver cirrhosis than non-coffee drinkers. A third cohort study of 51,306 Norwegian adults which diagnosed 53 case of liver cirrhosis showed inverse associations between total and alcoholic liver cirrhosis mortality and coffee consumption.

• PREVENTION OF DENTAL CARIES

The tannins in coffee may reduce the cariogenic potential of foods. In vitro experiments have shown that these polyphenolic compounds may interfere with glucosyltransferase activity of mutans streptococci, which may reduce plaque formation. In rat experiments, tea polyphenols reduced caries.

Caffeine is not recognised as a drug of abuse and there is no evidence for caffeine dependence. Some particularly sensitive people may suffer mild symptoms of withdrawal after sudden abstention from coffee drinking. A 150 ml cup of instant coffee contains about 60mg caffeine and filter coffee contains about 85 mg. For those who like coffee but are sensitive to caffeine, the decaffeinated beverage contains only 3 mg per cup. ( taken from Wikipedia and CoSIC web site )

But, everything has positive and negative side and so has coffee. Beside its benefits, there are also risks. And that, will be discuss next.

COFFEE FACTS

Coffee is enjoyed as a drink by millions of people world-wide and has been for at least a thousand years. Drinking coffee mostly being connected with bad habit, since coffee could make some people “addicted”. But as a coffee fan, I’d like to inform you some facts that coffee can perform benefits to our body related to health conditions.

Coffee contains caffeine, which is a mild stimulant, and in many people coffee drinking enhances alertness, concentration and mental and physical performance. Although it contains a wide variety of substances, it is generally accepted that caffeine is responsible for many of coffee’s physiological effects. Because caffeine influences the central nervous system in a number of ways and because a small number of people may be particularly sensitive to these effects, some people have attributed all sorts of health problems to coffee.