Many people crave and appreciate coffee, but they are haunted by feelings of guilt, thinking that they have drank too much of it, especially as they get older, and they fear its effects on health.
But science says something different, as a study revealed that consuming coffee at a rate of 4-6 cups (so that the volume of one cup is 125 ml) per day is associated with a reduced risk of developing weakness.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Department of Health Sciences at the Faculty of Science at the Dutch Free University of Amsterdam, and its results were published in the European Journal of Nutrition, and the British newspaper The Telegraph wrote about it.
Professor Taher Masoud, clinical advisor to the Royal Osteoporosis Society and a consultant physician at Nottingham University Hospitals, affiliated with the NHS in the United Kingdom, explains to the newspaper that “frailty does not only mean that older people suffer from poor mobility, but they are also more vulnerable to falling, which may increase the risk of bone fractures, and increase the likelihood of hospitalization, in addition to early death.”
The researchers conducted a survey of 1,161 adults over the age of 55 through the Amsterdam Aging Study.
Participants’ physical health was assessed using a model known as the Unique Five-Component Frailty Pattern, developed by Dr. Linda Freed in 2001, which focuses on some of the features of frailty, namely unintended weight loss, weakness, fatigue, slow walking, and lack of physical activity.
Unique ingredients
The research results supported the idea that moderate to large coffee consumption led to improvement in these aspects, and thus may reduce the risk of frailty in older people.
Research supports the benefits of drinking coffee, as each of its unique components plays a role in making it a rich source of nutritional benefits.
Coffee contains caffeine, which helps reduce fatigue, enhance alertness, and improve muscle movement, which enhances mobility and reduces weakness.
It also contains polyphenols, which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and a lesser-known compound, trigonelline, may enhance cognitive health and improve memory.
Dale Stanford, a nutritionist at the British Heart Foundation, added to the newspaper, “Drinking two or three cups of coffee a day may be associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to not drinking it, but drinking more than 4 or five cups of coffee a day may increase caffeine intake beyond the maximum recommended daily limit of 400 milligrams.”
Effects of excessive caffeine intake include a temporary increase in blood pressure and heart rate, anxiety, nausea, and headaches, and may cause sleep disturbances.