What is Coffee Damian Alexander, MD discusses What is Coffee
- 11 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdqr60PuYI
In this video I will discuss
What is Coffee
Coffee is a plant
There are two main species grown:
C. Arabica and C. Robusta
The Robusta strain tends to be bitter and
To have less flavor but better body when compared to Arabica
Arabica is generally preferred, so about 3/4 of coffee plantations are made up of C. Arabica
Another difference is that
Robusta typically contains 40--50% more caffeine than Arabica
Coffee is the third most consumed beverage after water and tea
Due to its caffeine content,
Coffee often has a stimulating effect on humans
Caffeine is thus the most widely
consumed drug in the world,
With 80% of people consuming
some form of it daily
Whether the overall effects of coffee are ultimately positive or negative has been widely disputed
I will look at what both sides have to say
So what does coffee do to the human body
The most studied active component in coffee is caffeine
The main action of caffeine is to block adenosine receptors in the brain
In other words, caffeine inserts itself in places
Where adenosine should insert itself
Cell receptors are just like locks
Caffeine competes with adenosine in trying to occupy
The keyholes of these locks
But caffeine is a different sort of key from adenosine
Because of this caffeine increases brain metabolism
By increasing brain metabolism
It reduces the feelings of drowsiness, brain fog and fatigue
It also stimulates neurons into passing messages faster
The problem is this doesn't actually give you energy
What it does is mask tiredness
So you are still tired, you just don't feel it
Because you don't feel tiredness,
you keep pressing forward
In order to keep pressing forward your body taps into its energy reserves
Which are finite and exhaustible
This is how caffeine eventually causes exhaustion
It gets your body to a point where there is nothing left to give
The approach I favor is to give your body so much of what it already wants that
It can afford to give you a lot of energy
You don't have to force it
Back to coffee
Coffee stimulates the heart, blood circulation and the respiratory system
It thus supports the increase in energy demands
Again, when this effect is continuous it leads to exhaustion
Stimulating the heart and raising blood pressure is bad if you have a heart condition
This is why coffee is not recommended for people with cardiovascular problems
In this video I will discuss
What is Coffee
Coffee is a plant
There are two main species grown:
C. Arabica and C. Robusta
The Robusta strain tends to be bitter and
To have less flavor but better body when compared to Arabica
Arabica is generally preferred, so about 3/4 of coffee plantations are made up of C. Arabica
Another difference is that
Robusta typically contains 40--50% more caffeine than Arabica
Coffee is the third most consumed beverage after water and tea
Due to its caffeine content,
Coffee often has a stimulating effect on humans
Caffeine is thus the most widely
consumed drug in the world,
With 80% of people consuming
some form of it daily
Whether the overall effects of coffee are ultimately positive or negative has been widely disputed
I will look at what both sides have to say
So what does coffee do to the human body
The most studied active component in coffee is caffeine
The main action of caffeine is to block adenosine receptors in the brain
In other words, caffeine inserts itself in places
Where adenosine should insert itself
Cell receptors are just like locks
Caffeine competes with adenosine in trying to occupy
The keyholes of these locks
But caffeine is a different sort of key from adenosine
Because of this caffeine increases brain metabolism
By increasing brain metabolism
It reduces the feelings of drowsiness, brain fog and fatigue
It also stimulates neurons into passing messages faster
The problem is this doesn't actually give you energy
What it does is mask tiredness
So you are still tired, you just don't feel it
Because you don't feel tiredness,
you keep pressing forward
In order to keep pressing forward your body taps into its energy reserves
Which are finite and exhaustible
This is how caffeine eventually causes exhaustion
It gets your body to a point where there is nothing left to give
The approach I favor is to give your body so much of what it already wants that
It can afford to give you a lot of energy
You don't have to force it
Back to coffee
Coffee stimulates the heart, blood circulation and the respiratory system
It thus supports the increase in energy demands
Again, when this effect is continuous it leads to exhaustion
Stimulating the heart and raising blood pressure is bad if you have a heart condition
This is why coffee is not recommended for people with cardiovascular problems