Coffee is good for your health
The Dutch love coffee, we drink about 150 liters of coffee per person per year. Those who enjoy their cup of comfort every day can rub their hands because coffee is also good for your health.
The coffee plant originates from Ethiopia. The plant was discovered by the Arabs around the thirteenth or fourteenth century and later, around the sixteenth century, by the Europeans. In the seventeenth century, Dutch merchants did see trade in coffee, which was later also referred to as black gold. The Dutch therefore started with the foundation of large-scale coffee plantations in South and Central America and later also in Africa.
The coffee plant mainly grows in humid tropical areas where the average temperature is 18 to 22 degrees Celsius. The plant flowers once or twice a year. It takes three to four years for the plant to bear coffee cherries. Each coffee cherry contains two coffee beans.
Worldwide, the most important coffee bean varieties are Arabica and Robusta. After manual or machine harvesting, the raw coffee beans are released from the coffee cherries under the influence of water or high temperatures. Raw coffee beans are odorless. Only during the roasting - or rather roasting - up to 200 degrees Celsius, the well-known coffee smell is created. By compiling different bean blends, the quality and taste are guaranteed.
During the brewing process, the carbohydrates, proteins and fats remain behind in the sediment. As a result, black coffee provides hardly any energy (kilocalories). Drinking three cups of coffee provides about 10 percent of the daily potassium and magnesium needs and 8 percent of the daily iron needs.
Caffeine: a pick-me-up
Adenosine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that promotes sleep and suppresses wakefulness. The caffeine in coffee inhibits the effect of adenosine, making us feel more alert and less tired after a caffeine shot. Endurance athletes sometimes use this effect to improve their performance.
Healthy adults can consume 400 milligrams of caffeine (about four cups of coffee) daily without any negative effects to be expected. However, consuming too much caffeine is unhealthy. You can then suffer from restlessness, anxiety, irritability, headache, trembling, dizziness, ringing in the ears and palpitations.
For those who do not tolerate caffeine well, there is of course also decaffeinated coffee.
Health benefits
Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day seems to have a protective effect on the development of cancer of: the endometrium, liver, mouth and throat, bladder, breast, colon, esophagus, leukemia and pancreas. In addition, drinking two to four cups of coffee a day is associated with an approximately 10 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. There is also strong evidence that drinking five cups of coffee a day (versus no coffee) is associated with a 30 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
These protective effects have been found for coffee with and without caffeine. In addition, drinking coffee would protect against fatty liver disease, gallstones and Parkinson's disease. Airway function is also said to improve up to four hours after coffee consumption (beneficial in people with asthma).
Two to four cups a day
Drinking coffee daily (without sugar) contributes to fluid intake and fits into a healthy diet. A cup of coffee is actually very healthy, provided you drink it in moderation. You can drink about four cups of coffee a day from filtered coffee and automatic coffee (from liquid coffee concentrate, freeze-dried powder or with paper filters). You can drink about two to three cups of coffee a day from espresso, coffee from cups and automatic coffee (with a metal or nylon filter).
Children should not drink coffee. Young people between the ages of 13 and 18, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding are advised to drink a maximum of one cup of coffee per day.
Source: Gezondheidsnet.nl
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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As is often the case, the scholars disagree:
http://www.gezondheid.be/index.cfm?fuseaction=art&art_id=11056.
A maximum of 2 or three cups of coffee per day without a filter?
I'm afraid I'm not getting old.
When I still worked, it was 5 or 6 cups a day.
Now it's a bit less, 3 to 4 cups.
By the way, I sleep very well if I drink coffee before going to bed.