While Brits have traditionally been a nation of tea-drinkers, coffee has certainly taken the lead in recent years. But with coffee shops sprouting up on every corner, are we overindulging?
Professor Sarah Berry offers a word of caution, advising against late-day coffee consumption.
“People do become tolerant to coffee over time, but caffeine can still disrupt your sleep if you drink it in the evening,” she warned in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. “As a rule of thumb, I’d suggest that everyone stops drinking caffeinated coffee at 5pm and either switches to decaf coffee or something else that’s caffeine free.”
Besides its alertness-boosting properties and delightful taste, coffee is also linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, Gloucestershire Live reports.
Decaf can offer similar benefits, with Professor Berry noting: “Apart from the caffeine, the chemical make-up of decaffeinated coffee is very similar to caffeinated coffee and it is still packed with those beneficial polyphenols.”
She further advises that for regular caffeinated coffee, the average person can safely consume up to four or five cups a day. However, she added: “You’ll see the greatest benefits and the least side effects at two to three a day. After five, I’d be slightly cautious.”
Thomas Sanders, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Kings College London, underscores the need for certain individuals to exercise caution over their coffee consumption. “People who have bladder or prostate problems might want to be more careful when they have a cup of coffee, as the diuretic effect could be more potent,” he advised.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom – the humble cup of joe is linked with some health perks, too. “Coffee drinking has been associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer, and one view is because of its effect on gut motility,” added Professor Sanders.
The impact of coffee on gut health can vary greatly from person to person, often influenced by genetic makeup and how the coffee is consumed. He continued: “For some people, black coffee can increase gastric secretion of acid; but not always. The evidence is equivocal, although some people do say if you’ve got an acidic stomach, avoid black coffee.”
On a brighter note, moderate coffee consumption is generally harmless, even though its alertness-boosting effects may be short-lived, typically kicking in about 20 minutes after drinking and lasting only a couple of hours.
Nevertheless, coffee’s influence extends beyond immediate stimulation, as it can affect sleep. One study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine revealed that caffeine intake six hours before bedtime could lead to disrupted sleep, long after the buzz has dissipated.
