Health benefits of Caffeine
Over the years hundreds of studies have been conducted to properly define caffeine as 'friend' or 'foe'. The got-to-have-it feeling over morning coffee has long been scrutinised, but studies today show that caffeine does indeed play a positive role in our overall health. Check out some of these astonishing health benefits:
- Caffeine helps to cure headaches, including migraines that tend to occur after surgery. Caffeine, for this reason, is an FDA-approved product for use with painkilling medications to help improve pain relief. (Consult your healthcare expert or pharmacist if you are unsure about using caffeine in combination with any painkillers you are already taking.)
- Caffeine helps you have increased mental alertness. Drinking caffeinated drinks throughout the day helps keep your mind sharp and alert. In some cases, dieticians suggest combining caffeine with glucose as an energy drink to improve mental performance.
- Caffeine helps improve athletic performance by increasing physical endurance. It works by topping up endurance and delaying exhaustion. Caffeine may not be as effective in short-term, high-intensity exercises, but it helps reduce feelings of exertion while exercising for longer periods of time.
- Individuals who experience orthostatic hypotension, dizziness on standing up, may benefit from caffeine. Dizziness experience in this condition is caused by low blood pressure, but caffeine works to increase blood pressure in individuals with low blood pressure.
- Certain studies show that caffeine may be beneficial in preventing Parkinson's disease. Individuals who consume caffeinated beverages like coffee, tea, and cola in healthy amounts seem to be less likely to develop Parkinson's disease.
- Caffeine appears to improve breathing and airway function for up to four hours in people with asthma.
- Caffeine may help improve weight when used along with other weight-loss medicines. In certain cases caffeine has been used in combination with ephedrine to reduce weight short term. Using this combination along with a diet that limits fat intake to 30% calories and moderate exercise will help to decrease your weight even more effectively.
- Drinking coffee and tea is often associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that the more caffeine the lower the risk. Men who consume 417 mg of caffeine per day from either tea or coffee are said to have 20% lower risk of developing type 2diabetes compared to men who take less than 37 mg per day. Women who consume 258 mg to 530 mg of caffeine per day from either tea or coffee are said to have 10% to 30% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to women who consume less than 140 mg per day. Similarly, adults who consume 416 mg or more caffeine through green tea have a 33% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to adults who consume 57 mg per day or less.
- Drinking caffeinated beverages that provide you with 400 mg or more of caffeine seem to reduce the risk of developing gallstone disease. Doses of 800 mg caffeine per day are the most effective in this case.
- Caffeine given by mouth or intravenously (by IV) appears to improve breathing in infants that are born prematurely. Studies show that it reduces the number of episodes of shortness of breath by at least 50% over 7-10 days of treatment.
- Caffeine can also be used to treat headaches after epidural anaesthesia.