How much coffee is too much coffee?

Drinking coffee has now become more of a style statement while it is also a necessity for many and the second segment of people includes me. I have had people tell me to cut down on my coffee intake and truth be told, I don’t think they are wrong. I am an avid coffee lover and I do tend to go a little overboard a few times with it. I did a little research on how much coffee is too much so let’s get into it a little.

A University of South Australia study suggests a couple of cups to start your day probably won’t hurt — and may even be good for you. But drinking six or more cups of coffee a day can increase your risk of heart disease by up to 22%.

For the study, the researchers used a U.K. database of more than 300,000 adults, aged 37 to 73, to explore how the caffeine-metabolizing gene affected people’s ability to process caffeine and their risk for heart disease. The investigators found that carriers of a gene variation were able to metabolize caffeine four times faster than others. But Hypponen said that doesn’t mean they can safely drink more coffee.

Coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide, with an estimated 3 billion cups consumed every day. But Hypponen noted that a cup of coffee may mean different things to different people.

“If we assume one cup is … a standard measure of cup, it would approximately contain 75 mg of caffeine,” she said. “If we look at caffeine content only, a double espresso is roughly equivalent to a normal coffee.” A grande iced latte at Starbucks, meanwhile, contains up to 150 mg of caffeine.

“The effects of caffeine on the heart tend to be short in duration and mild, unless very high levels are consumed,” he said. “Coffee also contains a variety of compounds that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.” A cup or two of Joe may even have its perks. The researchers found that study participants who drank decaf coffee, or none at all, had higher rates of heart disease than those who drank one or two coffees a day.

So anything over a certain limit is too much and unhealthy however knowing the limit is always advisable.