Dear Doctor,

I love drinking coffee but my friends keep telling me to go slow, saying too much of it could cause me heart complications. Is this true or it is just street talk? And in that case, would tea be a safer option?

Doris, Kanombe

Dear Doris

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages around the world and contains caffeine as main ingredient, which refreshes the body and stimulates the mind. However, coffee contains more than 100 ingredients with different effects.

It is known to improve physical performance by augmenting levels of adrenaline in the blood. It helps a person to stay alert and stay more focused on the work he is doing. A cup of coffee at end of work done, removes fatigue and refreshes a person. It is also useful to fight depression. It is useful to get over hangovers.

Coffee, particularly the black one, helps one to burn fat in the body and lose weight, thus preventing obesity related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Studies have shown that moderate use of coffee helps to reduce risk of stroke, helps delay onset of Parkinsonism ( a degenerative disease) and reduces premature deaths. By increasing sensitivity of body cells to insulin, it reduces incidence of diabetes. It also contains antioxidants which prevent wear and tear of body tissues and also prevent cancer. Coffee helps in reducing pain in headaches even like that of migraine.

However, in spite of so many benefits, coffee has some disadvantages as well. Excess of coffee(between 4 and 6 cups per day) can precipitate and cause nausea and vomiting. Coffee prepared from old or diseased beans can be very toxic to the body. While stimulating the mind, it can lead to insomnia and restlessness during night.

Though its effects on the fetus in womb is controversial, still coffee can reach the fetal body and cells, which are sensitive to caffeine.

People who take coffee with milk and sugar are at risk of becoming obese and suffer consequences of obesity like heart diseases. Coffee beans contain cafestol and kahweol , two ingredients that can raise levels of low density cholesterol (LDL), which increases risk of heart diseases. These two are avoided by using filtered coffee.

Tea is another very popular beverage, which contains less caffeine compared to coffee. It has abundance of polyphenols, which have anti oxidant properties, preventing wear and tear of body tissues and helping them regenerate and also prevents cancers. However, tea contains fluoride which is bad for teeth in excess. Even tea in excess can cause nausea and vomiting due to gastric irritation.

Sugar and milk added to tea add to obesity and resultant problems.

Both tea and coffee have some advantages and disadvantages. So as to say one is better is not possible.

Excess of both can cause palpitations and disturbances in heart rhythm due to increased adrenaline levels. Both are addicting.

Hence it is advisable to take tea or coffee in moderation, excess of either is harmful.

Dr Rachna Pande  is a specialist in internal medicine at Ruhengeri Hospital