Why coffee remains the best drink

Qualities of coffee drink make it the best to drink and enjoy during festive seasons due to its psychoactive properties among others.

Sunday, January 05, 2014
Dr Joseph Kamugisha

Qualities of coffee drink make it the best to drink and enjoy during festive seasons due to its psychoactive properties among others.Some people think that coffee with its chemical nutrient ‘caffeine’ is not an ideal drink to take all times but actually coffee has many tangible health benefits.Caffeine is a natural substance found in various plants such as coffee beans and a variety of leaves that are transformed into tea. In industrialisation, cola nuts are commonly used. Cola nuts are caffeine-containing fruits that impart flavor to various beverages but commonly Coca Cola.When you ingest caffeine in a cup of tea along with other naturally existing co-nutrients like flavonoids (powerful antioxidants) as well as small amounts of minerals like magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and even calcium in food substances. Your body will absorb required amounts of caffeine to exert a positive health impact than when taken in drinks like coca-cola.Caffeine is a central nervous stimulant. Put another way, once in the bloodstream, caffeine behaves like a psychoactive drug, increasing alertness and inhibiting drowsiness. This property makes coffee a desirable drink during times of Joy and excitement as seen in festive seasons. It is also best to take when you feel tired or want to relax.Caffeine taken in tea is always of low amount that cannot harm your body. Caffeine can be toxic to human health when you take in more than 10 grammes in a short period of time or continuously.The tea we drink usually contains 140 milligrammes or less and would become dangerous when you take more than 70 cups. It is rare under normal circumstances to drink 70 cups of tea in a short period of time.The coffee we drink is too little to cause an impact and possibly inflict an overload to the central nervous system and the heart.Although caffeine is blamed on its acidic effect in the body, our body systems possess natural ways to buffer effects of acid forming substances in the body.But lucky enough the preferred dietary system involves various kinds of food materials such as greens, legumes, and possibly a variety of fruits. Another undesirable effect of caffeine in blood is its possible potential to extract calcium from your bones but there are regular physiologic mechanisms to control and overcome this challenge in case you take many cups of coffee daily.Regular light exercises are enough to maintain your caffeine level in blood and possibly protect calcium degradation from the bones.Therefore, if you take one or two cups of coffee daily is health for a human being provided that other diet and lifestyle mechanisms are relatively healthy.Even people with diabetes can drink one or two cups of coffee daily; one can have coffee without sweetener for obvious blood insulin or blood sugar related reasons. It should be noted that organic form of coffee provides better effect to our health because it contains less acid concentrations.This is why many coffee dealers and companies search for organic varieties of coffee world wide. Marketing firms have tried to support shops and brands that make the effort to provide organic choices of coffee products.    Dr Joseph Kamugisha is a resident oncologist in Jerusalem, Israel