Rising over the last few decades to become one of the UK’s most popular beverages, we now consider ourselves to be a nation of coffee drinkers – you need only look at your local high street to find coffee branches to confirm this.
The rise in popularity for coffee has been bountiful for large coffee brands, but many people have started to wonder what it’s doing to our health. This month we’ll be taking a look at how drinking coffee could improve your health. We also consider how much coffee you can drink before it has a negative impact.
Benefits of drinking coffee
Firstly, let’s start by looking at the benefits which coffee can bring. There have been various studies done over the years, all tying coffee drinking as habit to health benefits – some even including claims that it can help you live longer.
Now though, two new studies have shed light on the ability of a daily cup of coffee to reduce a person’s risk of dying early by 12%. Studies at University of Southampton and University of Edinburgh also claim that coffee can help reduce the risk of getting liver cancer.
With the sheer number of studies conducted, it can be hard to decipher which ones are genuine. There are many claims that it can help with depression, Alzheimer’s and even diabetes, and while that doesn’t always constitute conclusive evidence, it has to be accepted that there are benefits for many people when it comes to drinking coffee.
Here is a full list of the suspected benefits of coffee from studies carried out across the globe:
- Lower risk of heart disease
- No increase in chances of dying
- Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Reduced risk of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s & Multiple Sclerosis
- Decreased risk of depression
Of course, there is also the easily attributable energy boost people feel from coffee, one of the main reasons people drink coffee and one of the most well-known benefits.
How much coffee can I drink in a day?
You’ll probably be able to find people on the internet recommending amounts of caffeine, but this strict limiting is usually only applicable for people who are pregnant (see below). The NHS guidelines states that caffeinated drinks – such as tea and coffee – are fine to drink “as part of a balanced diet”.
A rough guideline to follow is four cups of coffee a day, equating to about 400mg, with the caveat being that if you notice adverse effects such as headaches, quickened heartbeat or stomach upset you should cut down on the number of cups to see if it is the coffee causing these symptoms.
400mg is a good limit to set yourself, but it’s obviously up to the individual how much they can handle. Caffeine is a stimulant found in many drinks – including energy drinks and squashes – so it’s important to factor this into your drinking habits.
Can I drink coffee if I’m pregnant?
When it comes to pregnancy and coffee drinking, the levels given as a guideline by the NHS are: 200mg of caffeine a day. This means you have to factor in all caffeine based items along with your coffee, often leading most women to cut coffee from their diet if there is a food or drink more preferable to them.
A single cup of instant coffee is roughly 100mg, so clearly it’s possible to get your daily boost while pregnant, but officially, the less caffeine you consume while pregnant the better.
When it comes to making the most of your daily coffee intake, there is no better way to enjoy it than through Nu Vending coffee machines. Our machines employee the latest technology and come with fantastic service options to ensure you and your staff always have caffeine at the ready when you really need it.
