Is Too Much Coffee Bad for Your Health?

I love a good cup of coffee the first thing in the morning. But there are conflicting studies about coffee. One thing all studies agree on, too much coffee can be bad for your health. How much coffee is too much?

Is coffee bad for me? Too much coffee can be unhealthy and cause certain medical issues such as insomnia, heart palpitations, and raise cortisol levels in the blood. Too much coffee over a long time can also interfere with the functioning of the adrenal glands causing adrenal fatigue.

Is Coffee Good or Bad for Your Health?

Recent studies have made coffee look like a miracle drug as it reduces the risks for a long list of diseases. I love statistics and I love studies, but whenever I read a study about anything, I look first to see who funded that study. That makes a big difference.

One group who is doing a great deal of funded research about coffee is the Vanderbilt University Center for Latin American Studies Institute for Coffee Studies (ICS). Let's take a look at who is funding this institute according to their web page.

The ICS started in 1999 with a grant from a consortium of coffee producing countries, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and other Central American countries under the sponsorship of the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC), National Coffee Association of the USA and the All Japan Coffee Association.

The ICS also received support from the following:

• International Coffee Organization
• Kraft Foods
• Nestle
• Sara Lee
• Starbucks

You have to look at studies for coffee that is supported by all these coffee producers with a cautious eye.

Reading the Studies

Many studies used cups of coffee for measuring coffee in their studies. The ICS reports, “The latest scientific evidence indicates that in moderation (2 to 4 cups per day) coffee may offer key health benefits”. What is a cup of coffee? For the studies, researchers used 6 ounces for one cup of coffee.

So the above statement says that moderate coffee drinking is 12 to 24 ounces of coffee. You need to keep the math in mind when reading any studies about coffee.

They might say cups of coffee or use milligrams of caffeine in coffee. Drip coffee has approx. 145 milligrams (mg) of caffeine per 8 ounces. Most studies I read indicate that drinking more than 300 mg per day is too much. That’s just two 8 ounce cups of coffee.

Also, different roasting of coffee changes the caffeine amount. A lighter roast of coffee has more caffeine in it than a darker roast. An example is Folgers dark roast has less caffeine than their classic medium roast. And most people can tell the difference in how they feel or the jitters they can get.

Caffeine is Addictive

Coffee and caffeine clears the brain fog, elevates your mood and causes you to be more alert. The downside is that you come down from that elevated feeling and then you feel worse. So you then need to get more coffee to get back to that feeling.

Coffee or more accurately caffeine is an addictive substance. When most people stop drinking coffee and all other products that contain caffeine, their bodies will go through withdrawal symptoms, which include headaches, dizziness, constipation or other stomach troubles, fatigue and irritability. These withdrawal symptoms usually go away in at most in ten days.

Why Too Much Coffee is Bad for our Health

Too much coffee gives you the jitters, makes you nervous, sweaty palms, causes sleep problems and maybe you’ve even had heart palpitations after drinking too much coffee. None of those things are healthy and puts stress on the body.

The coffee is causing your body to go into a defense and survival related mechanism called “fight or flight”. Something we all have as part of our makeup. Coffee and caffeine puts our bodies into a constant state of stress and fight or flight mode.

Sure coffee gives you energy but at what cost. Not long after that coffee energy, you feel down again. This energy is because your brain telling your adrenal glands to pump out more and more stress hormones, so the energy is really just stress. 

 

And it’s a well-known fact that stress is a killer. This also weakens the adrenal glands, which in turn causes other health problems.

• The adrenal glands also make DHEA, which is important for good health. Worn out adrenal glands cannot produce as much DHEA.
• A dose of 250 mg of caffeine has been shown to elevate the levels of the stress hormone adrenaline by 200%.
• Coffee raises the levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad type).
• The results of controlled studies in humans indicate that coffee and caffeine consumption decrease the efficiency of calcium absorption resulting in a loss of about 4-6 mg of calcium per cup of coffee, which increases the risk of osteoporosis [1, 2].
• Caffeine reduces the absorption of B vitamins, thiamine, calcium, zinc and potassium.
• Coffee inhibits the absorption of iron. Drinking 150-250 ml (5 oz to 8 oz) of coffee with a test meal has been found to inhibit the absorption of iron by 24-73% [3, 4].
• Caffeine can raise blood pressure and cause anxiety and panic attacks.
• Coffee beans (unless organic) are one of the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops in the world.

Coffee Can Shrink Your Brain

A 2021 study found that drinking six or more cups of coffee per day could increase the risk of dementia by 53 percent compared with those that drink one or two cups each day. Not only can too much coffee increase the risk of dementia, but also an increased risk of having a stroke. [5]

The study, based on 17,702 participants aged 30 to 37 years old, also found that high coffee consumption was associated with smaller total brain volumes along with the increased risk of dementia. The study was strictly about caffeinated coffee, not decaffeinated.

More Bad Health News about Coffee

If a person were to be injected with 500 mg of caffeine, within an hour that person would exhibit the signs of mental illness with hallucinations, paranoia, manic and depressions. 

That amount of caffeine taken over the course of a day would only exhibit more mild forms of the above, for which many people regularly take antidepressants and tranquilizers. [6]

There are conflicting studies, whether or not coffee is dehydrating, most studies state that anything over 16 ounces per day will be dehydrating.

There are many more caffeine products on the market today under the guise of energy drinks and some of them have as much as 100 to 200 mg of caffeine per ounce compared to brewed coffee, which has 13.5 mg of caffeine per ounce.

Today there is a large increase in road rage, and interestingly that seems to correspond with the huge increase in caffeine products on the market and consumption. We seem to have become a nation addicted to caffeine, more so than ever before.

Giving Up Coffee 

If you are one of those that just doesn't like how coffee makes you feel and want to quit the habit, there are a number of great coffee substitutes. Of course, there are all kinds of herbal teas that do not have caffeine. If you miss something hot in the morning, there are caffeine free drinks like Teeccino, Dandy Blend and Pero. 

 

All of these coffee alternatives taste great and are perfect for early morning or to replace that mid-afternoon coffee, especially since there is no caffeine in these drinks, they will not interfere with your sleep.

Waking Up The Mind Without Caffeine 

 
Maybe you enjoy that mental buzz but hate the jitters that coffee gives you, and green tea is just not your thing. You can try taking L-Theanine for that mental clarity. L-Theanine is found in green tea and to a lesser extent black teas and is full of health benefits. It is great for waking up the mind, and increasing mental clarity and focus. L-Theanine will give you mental energy without the caffeine jitters.

Caffeine Supplements

To make matters worse for our health, there are many types of supplements with caffeine in them. Most of these supplements are for either weight loss or energy. It is not advisable to drink coffee and take caffeine supplements at the same time. This can really enhance the negative effects of caffeine on our health.

Coffee Conclusion

Is too much coffee bad for your health. The answer is yes, but at what point is too much can be up to each individual. 

 

Personally, I have quit drinking coffee for years at a time, and I did notice my energy levels were high and even all day long, none of the ups and down. There are other drinks that produce energy without the caffeine ups and downs and jitters. Several types of teas can give you energy and mental clarity without the jitters, even though they also contain caffeine. 

I still enjoy coffee in the morning, but I make it half caffeinated and half decaffeinated. Most people can still enjoy coffee in moderation.

An excellent book concerning the negatives of caffeine is Caffeine Blues by Stephen Cherniske, M.S.
 

About the Author

Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Copyright © 2009-2021 Sam Montana

Sources:

[1] PubMed - Barger-Lux MJ, Heaney RP. Caffeine and the calcium economy revisited. Osteoporos Int. 1995 Mar;5(2):97-102. doi: 10.1007/BF01623310. PMID: 7599455. 

[2] Journal of Nutrition - Hasling C, Sondergaard K, Charles P, Mosekilde L. Calcium metabolism in postmenopausal osteoporotic women is determined by dietary calcium and coffee intake. J Nutr. 1992;122(5):1119-1126

[3] Am J Clin Nutr - Morck TA, Lynch SR, Cook JD. Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee. Am J Clin Nutr. 1983;37(3):416-420.
[4] NCBI - Hallberg L, Rossander L. Effect of different drinks on the absorption of non-heme iron from composite meals. Hum Nutr Appl Nutr. 1982;36(2):116-123.
[5] Nutritional Neuroscience - High coffee consumption, brain volume and risk of dementia and stroke
[6] Stephen Cherniske, M.S. Caffeine Blues 1998 p. 124-125.