What Just One Cup of Coffee Does to Your Liver and Body — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00around the world people drink over 2.25
2. 0:02billion cups of coffee every single day
3. 0:05that's a lot of coffee but is coffee and
4. 0:07addiction that's helping or harming our
5. 0:09livers and bodies especially when
6. 0:11scientists have found that just one cup
7. 0:13has powerful effects there are concerns
8. 0:16for example that caffeine and coffee can
9. 0:18overwork the liver leading to damage or
10. 0:20disease over time and that coffee's
11. 0:22acidity might irritate or harm the liver
12. 0:25similar to how it can affect the
13. 0:26stomach's lining so what does the
14. 0:28research show well Large review
15. 0:30published in the journal of clinical and
16. 0:32experimental hepatology notes that
17. 0:34drinking two or more cups of coffee a
18. 0:36day improves liver function it also
19. 0:38protects against the progression of
20. 0:40almost all forms of liver disease and a
21. 0:43more recent analysis of more than
22. 0:45500,000 participants in the UK biobank
23. 0:48with a follow-up period of almost 11
24. 0:50years reinforces these conclusions
25. 0:52researchers observed at 21% lower risk
26. 0:55of chronic liver disease and a 49%
27. 0:58reduction in Death from that
28. 1:00When comparing regular coffeee drinkers
29. 1:02to non-drinkers and the researchers
30. 1:04found by the way that this association
31. 1:06with lower risk held even for those
32. 1:08drinking decaffeinated coffee but you'll
33. 1:10often see claims that coffee causes
34. 1:12cancer so does it though there has been
35. 1:15some controversy about this in the past
36. 1:17here is what we currently know
37. 1:18researchers recently combined the
38. 1:20results of 28 individual metaanalyses in
39. 1:23other words they looked at mountains of
40. 1:25data their conclusions the highest
41. 1:27quality evidence suggests that as coffee
42. 1:30consumption increases the risk of
43. 1:32developing liver cancer goes down
44. 1:34furthermore they didn't find any solid
45. 1:36evidence that coffee causes any types of
46. 1:38cancer okay but even if coffee appears
47. 1:41to be good for our liver the caffeine
48. 1:42and coffee is a stimulant so surely that
49. 1:45can't be good for our heart and blood
50. 1:46pressure well surprisingly a 2018
51. 1:49metaanalysis showed that people who
52. 1:51consume coffee have a lower risk of high
53. 1:53blood pressure so here's what's likely
54. 1:55going on when we initially drink
55. 1:57caffeinated coffee yes it does constrict
56. 1:59our blood vessels and this initially
57. 2:01raises our blood pressure however coffee
58. 2:03also has a diuretic effect this causes
59. 2:06our body to get rid of fluids lowering
60. 2:08our blood volume which helps to lower
61. 2:10blood pressure but since caffeine is a
62. 2:12stimulant there are other concerns that
63. 2:14coffee can result in our hearts going
64. 2:16into dangerous rhythms however again in
65. 2:18a metaanalysis of seven observational
66. 2:21studies involving over 100,000
67. 2:23individuals caffeine exposure was not
68. 2:25associated with the risk of atrial
69. 2:27fibrillation which is a dangerous kind
70. 2:29of a rhythm
71. 2:30a second meta analysis and a large
72. 2:32population-based cohort study confirmed
73. 2:34this lack of Association now there are
74. 2:37caveats to this there are a couple of
75. 2:39other arrhythmias that could happen so
76. 2:41while modest amounts of coffee appear
77. 2:43safe the guidelines ER on the side of
78. 2:45caution and they suggest that patients
79. 2:47susceptible to cardiac arrhythmias
80. 2:49should avoid consuming large amounts of
81. 2:51caffeine still there are patients who
82. 2:53are more sensitive to caffeine and see
83. 2:55their palpitations connected to their
84. 2:57caffeine intake so if you're one of
85. 2:59those people talk to your doctor about
86. 3:01whether you should avoid caffeine so
87. 3:03we've ticked off the liver cancer blood
88. 3:05pressure and heart arrhythmias but the
89. 3:07next concern is nuanced what does coffee
90. 3:09do to our cholesterol levels and then
91. 3:11we'll have a look at coffee's effects on
92. 3:13dementia risks we have research of over
93. 3:16132,000 adults showing no association
94. 3:19between the intake of filtered coffee
95. 3:22and total cholesterol but filtered turns
96. 3:24out to be the key qualifier here with
97. 3:26unfiltered coffee we do see increases in
98. 3:29cholesterol including LDL cholesterol so
99. 3:31that's clearly not what we want so the
100. 3:33research supports avoiding unfiltered
101. 3:35coffee that means steering clear for
102. 3:37instance of a French press it's also
103. 3:40worth considering to use filter paper if
104. 3:42you're using an espresso machine but
105. 3:44when we have a look at overall
106. 3:46cardiovascular health there is great
107. 3:48news a massive long-term study from the
108. 3:50UK Associated regular coffee consumption
109. 3:53of up to five cups a day with
110. 3:55significant reductions in the risks of
111. 3:57heart attacks strokes and other
112. 3:59cardiovascular diseases so let's take a
113. 4:01look at one last area that's impacted by
114. 4:03regular coffee consumption and that is
115. 4:06dementia an important study on the link
116. 4:08between coffee consumption and dementia
117. 4:10was published in 2021 it looked at
118. 4:13information from the UK bio bank that
119. 4:15involved over 365,000 participants over
120. 4:18an average followup of 11.4 years they
121. 4:22found that compared to people who don't
122. 4:23drink tea or coffee drinking two or
123. 4:26three cups of tea or coffee a day was
124. 4:28associated with a whopping 28% lower
125. 4:31risk of dementia but what the authors
126. 4:33found is a U-shaped Association so I do
127. 4:36want to exercise caution here a lot of
128. 4:38the time when we look at these
129. 4:39observational studies we can find
130. 4:41u-shaped Association curves so while
131. 4:44observational research can show us
132. 4:45exciting possibilities we need
133. 4:47controlled studies to make sure that we
134. 4:49understand what's causing the effect we
135. 4:51see now I want to address a claim that's
136. 4:53widely circulated online is it really
137. 4:56true that we shouldn't drink coffee
138. 4:57first thing in the morning you'll find
139. 4:59plenty of Health influences giving this
140. 5:01advice so what's the logic behind it
141. 5:04well there are two main reasons given
142. 5:06the first is that people claim that it
143. 5:07causes an unwanted rise in cortisol
144. 5:10levels cortisol plays many important
145. 5:12roles in the body and one of them is
146. 5:14helping us to feel awake and alert
147. 5:16cortisol levels they naturally rise
148. 5:18rapidly when we first wake up peing
149. 5:21after about 30 minutes but neither do we
150. 5:24want too much cortisol because over the
151. 5:26long term It's associated with negative
152. 5:28effects like weight gain raised blood
153. 5:30pressure muscle weakness and
154. 5:32osteoporosis and yes coffee can make
155. 5:34cortisol levels go up and that's why
156. 5:36some people think it's better not to
157. 5:38drink coffee when you first wake up
158. 5:40because your cortisol is already at its
159. 5:42highest level but the logic doesn't hold
160. 5:44up and here's why coffee loses much of
161. 5:47its power to elevate cortisol levels
162. 5:49once our bodies get used to it after
163. 5:51just 5 days of regular coffee intake
164. 5:54people have stopped having a cortisol
165. 5:55response to the initial cup of coffee so
166. 5:58the first reason given to avoid an early
167. 6:00morning coffee is flawed it doesn't
168. 6:02appear to be a problem for our cortisol
169. 6:04levels the second reason that's often
170. 6:06given relates to our adenosine levels
171. 6:09adenosine helps to trigger sleepiness
172. 6:11and it naturally builds up in the body
173. 6:13during the day caffeine blocks adenosine
174. 6:16which is why it helps us keep awake the
175. 6:18theory here is that when we wake up our
176. 6:20adenosine levels are at their lowest so
177. 6:23caffeine won't have much of any benefit
178. 6:25because there's hardly any adenosine to
179. 6:27block but there are two problems here
180. 6:29the first is that blocking adenosine
181. 6:31isn't the only impact of coffee so even
182. 6:33if it isn't as effective for this
183. 6:35purpose first thing in the morning it
184. 6:37could still make sense to drink it right
185. 6:39away the second is that caffeine it
186. 6:41stays in our system for a really long
187. 6:43time so it's effects of blocking ad
188. 6:45Denine continues long after you drink it
189. 6:48that means that delaying our first cup
190. 6:49of coffee by a little bit isn't going to
191. 6:51make that much difference in fact this
192. 6:53gives us a reason not to delay drinking
193. 6:55coffee the average halflife of caffeine
194. 6:58in the human body is about 5 hours so
195. 7:00that means that after 5 hours you'll
196. 7:02still have about 50% of the caffeine in
197. 7:04your system after 10 hours it would be
198. 7:0725% and after 15 hours it will be
199. 7:1012.5% and since caffeine is a stimulant
200. 7:13it affects our sleep so some people will
201. 7:15say that caffeine doesn't affect their
202. 7:16sleep and that they can still get to
203. 7:18sleep easily even if they have a coffee
204. 7:20late at night but even if you can get to
205. 7:22sleep caffeine affects the quality of
206. 7:24our sleep so you likely won't be as
207. 7:26rested as what you could be in the
208. 7:28morning so what makes sense to have our
209. 7:30coffee earlier in the day and avoid
210. 7:32degrading our Sleep Quality so I tell my
211. 7:34patients to aim to have their last cup
212. 7:36of coffee within 4 hours of waking up so
213. 7:39if you want to delay your first cup of
214. 7:41coffee by a couple of hours because of
215. 7:43what you've heard an influencer say
216. 7:45that's entirely your call but I wouldn't
217. 7:47have any more caffeine after 4 hours of
218. 7:49waking up but leaving timing aside how
219. 7:52can even a single cup of coffee affect
220. 7:54us well there are a surprising number of
221. 7:56benefits and there's a sweet spot where
222. 7:58we can get just the right amount of
223. 8:00caffeine to maximize the benefits and
224. 8:02avoid any problems so let's start with
225. 8:04exercise performance and the key
226. 8:05ingredient is caffeine multiple studies
227. 8:08show that it improves Exercise capacity
228. 8:10during prolonged exercise so greater
229. 8:12than 90 minutes as well as
230. 8:14high-intensity training between 20 and
231. 8:1660 Minutes it even helps with short
232. 8:18duration high-intensity exercise from
233. 8:21about 1 to 5 minutes it seems to improve
234. 8:23the speed of our movements both in the
235. 8:25upper and lower body and that's
236. 8:27according to a met analysis that
237. 8:28combined 12 separate randomized clinical
238. 8:31trials together there's also great
239. 8:33research showing that caffeine helps us
240. 8:35react faster delays fatigue and improves
241. 8:37performance in tennis so from what we
242. 8:39know today it appears that the optimum
243. 8:41amount of caffeine for these
244. 8:42performance- boosting effects is about
245. 8:45200 milligrams that's what you'd get in
246. 8:47about 1 to two cups of coffee and that
247. 8:49same cup of coffee can give us
248. 8:50impressive cognitive benefits but
249. 8:52intriguingly the impact of our brain's
250. 8:55performance doesn't seem to come from
251. 8:56only caffeine researchers recently found
252. 8:59that coffee but interestingly not
253. 9:01caffeine alone stimulated regions of the
254. 9:03brain responsible for visual processing
255. 9:06memory and goal setting our brain's
256. 9:08functions are complex so while coffee
257. 9:10has measurable effects we need a lot of
258. 9:12other nutrients to be at our Peak
259. 9:14Performance and that's why I take
260. 9:16micrites a number of ingredients
261. 9:18associated with brain health but just
262. 9:20because I take a supplement does in no
263. 9:22way mean that you should as well a
264. 9:24single cup of coffee can also boost our
265. 9:26mood one study found that people's
266. 9:28ratings of the overall mood was
267. 9:30significantly increased after a cup of
268. 9:32coffee interestingly decaf coffee also
269. 9:34had measurable impacts but while coffee
270. 9:37is associated with plenty of potential
271. 9:39benefits to our liver heart brain and
272. 9:41muscle performance what's the perfect
273. 9:43amount well the US FDA set a level of up
274. 9:46to 400 Mig a day for healthy adults if
275. 9:49we have more than this then we can run
276. 9:51into problems like sleep disruption so
277. 9:53what does that translate to in terms of
278. 9:55cups of coffee well the amount of
279. 9:57caffeine and coffee it ranges widely
280. 9:59depending on the type and how it's
281. 10:01brewed as well as other factors a finer
282. 10:03grind for instance releases more
283. 10:05caffeine when brewed a cup of coffee may
284. 10:07have as little as 80 Mig but it can go
285. 10:09all the way up to 400 most sources
286. 10:12though will say that a typical cup of
287. 10:14coffee brewed at home will contain about
288. 10:16100 Mig of caffeine so looking at all of
289. 10:19these studies that we've gone through it
290. 10:20appears that the sweet spot is around 2
291. 10:22to 3 cups of coffee a day at that level
292. 10:25we can lock in the benefits but we can
293. 10:27minimize the side effects specifically
294. 10:29to our sleep again caffeine lasts in our
295. 10:31body a really long time so we don't want
296. 10:33to overdo it I tell my patients that
297. 10:35regular coffee consumption is fine for
298. 10:38most people and can be part of a healthy
299. 10:40lifestyle and as we've seen there are
300. 10:42some surprising health benefits but one
301. 10:44thing that I also tell them is not to
302. 10:46add cream or sugar consuming sweets and
303. 10:49saturated fats is associated with a
304. 10:51whole host of negative Health outcomes
305. 10:53the health benefits we've seen when it
306. 10:55comes to drinking coffee might sound
307. 10:57like a lot of those often claimed for
308. 10:58certain supplements but there's an
309. 11:00important difference most supplements
310. 11:02have nowhere near the amount and quality
311. 11:04of data that we have for coffee a lot of
312. 11:07supplements are just a waste of money
313. 11:09based on hype but not all there are some
314. 11:11supplements that actually work so make
315. 11:13sure to check out this next video here
316. 11:15where I go through all of the research