Cappuccino won’t make your heart stop beating. In fact, it’ll do the exact opposite!

6 Most Widespread Myths About Coffee


There has been written a lot about coffee over the years, both good and bad. You can always stumble upon people that keep insisting on how harmful coffee is. They keep mumbling about how your heart is going to stop one day or how addicted to caffeine you are. Let’s look at the 6 most widespread quasi-truths that people like to associate with this drink.

1. Coffee itself is unhealthy

That is not quite true! As seen in the Coffee Against Alzheimer’s piece, coffee can serve as prevention against a range of illnesses. That is caused by the fact that it contains antioxidants that make it as beneficial to the human body as, say, green tea or fruit: and while we’re at it, coffee indeed is a fruit! Green coffee deserves an entire article, as it is a very interesting product in and out of itself for people looking to lose weight.

2. Caffeine is bad for you!

This is, again, only a half-truth. Coffee naturally contains caffeine (and a good cup of espresso should not have too much of it), however caffeine itself is not bad for you. It merely makes you less sleepy and increases your ability to focus. The latter is thanks to the so-called adenosine. As with everything else, you should apply moderation in this regard as well: of course you’ll not do well after ten buckets of coffee! And there is more – caffeine is great for preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Higher blood pressure – a heart attack

Yes, people with cardiovascular health problems and especially people not used to regular drinking of coffee should be careful about how much coffee they drink at one take. This is due to the fact that right after having your sip of coffee your blood pressure rises and a weaker heart could find it difficult to cope with this sudden change. However, it is also vital to mention that coffee has cardio-protective effects as well (thanks to the antioxidants it contains). For a healthy individual, a regular cup of coffee is absolutely risk-free and, what’s more, beneficial to the heart.

Cappuccino won’t make your heart stop beating. In fact, it’ll do the exact opposite!
Cappuccino won’t make your heart stop beating. In fact, it’ll do the exact opposite!

4. Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach!

A cup of coffee early in the morning may have laxative effects, as it stimulates our stomach and makes it produce stomach fluids. This usually results in (sometimes in too rapid) acceleration of the digestive process. If you however have been diagnosed with stomach ulcers or chronical gastritis, it may be worth your consideration to avoid coffee whatsoever. Alternatively, you may merely add some milk to your morning cup of coffee in order to make the effects on your stomach milder.

5. You are probably addicted to coffee

Now this is where stuff gets more complicated. It’s not possible to determine whether the “addiction” to coffee is of the same nature as the addiction to, say, drugs or alcohol. What we do know though is that both of these forms of addiction have the common feature of the necessity of increasing the doses. The cup that made you super energized in the ripe age of eighteen will not do you much service now.

6. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, avoid coffee!

Another pseudo-truth! It’s not necessary to avoid coffee entirely. Actually, it’s just fine if you merely adjust how much you drink. 150 mg, even 200 mg (about two to three cups a day) of caffeine is just fine for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to consume. However, do keep in mind that if you don’t skip coffee in the course of breastfeeding, the caffeine will be a part of the milk. Your calm baby may turn out to be raging beast after that caffeine-milk stimulus.

This baby probably had a cup of decaffeinated coffee
This baby probably had a cup of decaffeinated coffee