 Is it safe to drink coffee every day? I've found an article titled, 10 Reasons Why You Might Want to Quit Coffee. The caffeine in coffee increases catecholamines, your stress hormones. The stress response elicits cortisol and increases insulin. Insulin increases inflammation and this makes you feel lousy. Well, that's funny. It turns out that coffee drinkers around the world have some of the longest health spans have the longest brain health, best brain health and that's because of the polyphenol content. Now, catecholamines are actually pretty doggone good for you. As a heart surgeon I know that if I need to get the most out of my heart function in a patient with lousy heart, I will actually give them intravenous forms of catecholamines. So the idea that catecholamines are bad for you and particularly for your heart just doesn't fly in the way of how catecholamines work. By the way, cortisol does not increase weight gain. I follow cortisol levels in all my patients and believe it or not cortisol levels do not correlate with weight gain another myth. Number two, habituation to caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity, making it difficult for your cells to respond appropriately to blood sugar. High blood sugar levels lead to arterial deterioration and increased risk of mortality related to cardiovascular disease. High blood sugar levels do lead to arterial deterioration and that's something I address in my new book. It turns out that blood sugar elevation actually damages the protective lining that guard all of your blood vessels from damage and it's the blood sugar that is the problem. But not so fast. You can blunt the effect of any elevation of blood sugar by adding a sweetener called allylose to your coffee or do like the Viennese do and add cinnamon to your coffee. That'll completely block that blood sugar elevation and you can keep having your coffee. Number three, unfiltered coffee has the highest amount of beneficial antioxidants yet also leaks the most diaper genes into your system. These dieterpenes have been linked to higher levels of triglycerides, LDL and VLDL levels. It's true, drinking unfiltered coffee raises your LDL because it actually blocks some of the LDL receptors in your liver. Is that a bad thing? It turns out it has no relationship with heart disease whatsoever. One of the great myths of heart disease is that LDL contributes to the development of heart disease. What's important is whether that LDL is activated, whether it's rusty or rancid or oxidized. And the more polyphenols you have in your system including from coffee the less your LDL oxidizes. So we're missing the boat. We don't need to focus on LDL. We need to focus on not oxidizing your LDL and that's exactly what coffee consumption does. Number four. The helpful chlorogenic acids that may delay glucose absorption in the intestine have also been shown to increase homocysteine levels, an indicator for increased risk of cardiovascular disease which tends to be elevated in diabetics. Well, I don't agree with that either. Number one, chlorogenic acids cause sources of mitochondrial uncoupling. And the more we uncouple our mitochondria the less chance we have of diabetes. Moreover, homocysteine is primarily a problem with changing homocysteine into methionine and that's dependent on methylfolate and methyl donors like methyl B12 or with SAME or trimethylglycine and not with your coffee consumption. If this was a problem then habitual coffee drinkers would have the worst cardiovascular disease and the worst brain health and the exact opposite is true. Number five. The acidity of coffee is associated with digestive discomfort, indigestion, heartburn, GERD and dysbiosis in balances of the gut flora. Well, sorry, study after study shows that coffee consumption improves dysbiosis because it's a rich polyphenol substance that is an impressive prebiotic for good gut bacteria. Now, yes, the caffeine in coffee can lower esophageal sphincter pressure. That's that little tight little thing that keeps all your stomach contents and stomach acid down in your stomach where it belongs. Caffeine in certain people can lower that resistance and make that kind of spring open. That's why having coffee after dinner in my humble opinion is one of the dumbest things you can do because that will lower your resting esophageal sphincter pressure and cause reflux. Number six. Addiction is an issue with coffee drinkers and makes it really difficult to rely on the body's natural source of energy. Ask any coffee drinker how it feels to withdraw from coffee and you will mistake their story for that of a drug addict. You can get habituated to coffee, particularly the caffeine in coffee. That's why it's important to watch your coffee consumption. But here's the good news. Studies show that people who drink five cups of coffee a day have better cardiovascular health, better brain health than people who drink less than that or people who drink none at all. Choose your poisons. Seven. Associative addictions trend with coffee. Who doesn't immediately think of warm frothy sweet cream and sugar when they picture coffee? I don't. Surely the business of coffee has inspired a culture addicted to the sugary fatty taste of what has become more of a meal than a drink. That morning latte is the epitome of food lacking nutrition density yet packing energy. The problem is we as a society run from bitter taste. And big food knows that to cover the bitterness they put in sugar and they put in milk products. The problem with adding sugar is sugar. The problem with adding milk is that any of these milk products whether it be half and half, or it be 2%, these milk products bind the polyphenols in coffee. So it negates any possible benefit. Remember the idea of these Frappuccinos is a modern big business invention and it has no place in your life. Number eight. Five HIA and organic acid and component of the neurotransmitter serotonin, the happy chemical, seen in the brain tends to be elevated in coffee drinkers, which means they may be at risk for lower levels of serotonin synthesis in the brain. Serotonin is necessary for normal sleep, bowel function, mood and energy levels. It is a vicious cycle as caffeine can disrupt sleep and promote anxiety and depression. We all know someone who tends to be tired, wired and over caffeinated. That's partially true because primarily coffee drinkers are probably not drinking coffee like it's supposed to be made. And you can't make these associations. Remember association does not mean causation. For instance, we've known for years that skinny people had a higher incidence of cancer. But it was because most skinny people were smokers and it was actually the smoking that was associated with cancer not being skinny. In addition, we didn't know the effect of the microbiome on our health outcomes and we didn't know that most of our serotonin comes from manufacture by our microbiome. And again, your microbiome needs the polyphenols in coffee to get the products like serotonin to your brain. Number nine, elevated urinary excretion of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium have been noted in coffee drinkers and imbalance in your electrolyte status can lead to serious systemic complications. How come all the Italians aren't dead? How come all the Greeks aren't dead? How come all the Turks aren't dead? These are people who consume huge amounts of coffee and I don't hear them dying in the streets of electrolyte disturbances. Look, we as a country have profound electrolyte disturbances because we've been told to have low salt in all of our diet and our soils are depleted in all of these trace minerals. So please get your trace minerals from food. Don't be afraid of the salt shaker and have your coffee. Last but not least, number ten, constituents in coffee can interfere with normal drug metabolism and detoxification in liver, making it difficult to regulate the normal detoxification process in the liver. Another issue to be aware of with coffee intake is how certain medications such as levothyroxin, which is a thyroid medication, as well as tricyclic antidepressants are poorly absorbed, making symptoms curiously work for patients. Well, first of all, I give plenty of thyroid medications and no, we do not give medications with any food or any liquid except for water for at least 15 minutes. Same way, antidepressants, it turns out we now know that antidepressants primarily work by altering the gut microbiome favorably. And if you want to alter the gut microbiome favorably, there's no better way than with the polyphenols in coffee, provided you're not putting the milk, sugar, and cream in it like most people do. I think you're going to love this one. There are things in your kitchen you probably use every day that are poisoning you and your family.