This is the amount of caffeine you can safely drink without hurting your heart
Coffee; a lot of us love it and even rely on it to get us through the day. And the substance in coffee that helps us do exactly that, is caffeine. It can be found in coffee, soda, chocolate, energy drinks and more. But drinking (or eating) a lot of caffeine might be hurting your heart. Find out how much caffeine is too much when it comes to your heart health.
Caffeine
When you drink a cup of coffee, you’re drinking around 100 milligrams of caffeine. But it turns out that our bodies all respond to caffeine differently. That means that whenever we drink it, our bodies differ in how long it takes for the caffeine to be broken down. Roshini Malaney, a board-certified cardiologist at Manhattan Cardiology in New York City, told Real Simple: “On average, the maximum concentration of caffeine in your body typically reaches its peak one hour after eating or drinking something caffeinated. However, any effects on the cardiovascular system can last between 10 and 60 hours.” And because our bodies differ, the effect that the caffeine you drink has on your health also differs per person. It depends on how much you drink, where it comes from and how often you drink it.
Amount
So, is there no golden rule when it comes to the amount of coffee you should drink? Dr. Malaney says that the best thing would be to drink two cups a day. Or less of course. When you drink more than four cups of coffee, you’re definitely not doing your heart a favor. So, typically, you would want to stay under the limit of four-hundred grams of caffeine. Whether that is in coffee form, energy drink, soda, chocolate or something else. It would be good to check the amount of caffeine in your drinks and food before you consume it. If you use smaller cups to drink your coffee in, you might drink less than 100 milligrams in one cup. If you stay under that four-hundred milligrams, ideally two-hundred or less, you should be fine.
Health
Caffeine has different effects on our health. First of all it raises our blood pressure. “Caffeine stimulates sympathetic activity in our brains, which is our fight or flight response. This ultimately causes our blood vessels to constrict,” Dr. Malaney told Real Simple. But it also raises our cholesterol levels. Especially the non-filtered kind. So, plenty of reasons to keep track of your coffee intake and maybe lower it a little if you worry about your health. Small amounts have not been proven to have the same effects so luckily you don’t have to swear off coffee forever. Just like with everything: it is all about moderation.
Read more: When is the best time to drink your morning coffee?
Source: Real Simple | Image: Unsplash, Mike Kenneally