Caffeine is probably one of the most widely-consumed drugs in the country. Millions of Americans get their daily fix with a cup or two (or more) of java. And while drinking coffee does have many health benefits, many of us are concerned that we get too much caffeine in our systems. Not only do we worry about the effect of that much caffeine on our heart and nervous systems, but we also worry about what effect that may have when it comes to caffeine withdrawal. So is there such a thing as drinking too much coffee?
Previous studies have indicated that drinking too much coffee could harden the arteries and lead to a higher likelihood of a heart attack. That’s obviously concerning to those who rely on coffee for a pick-me-up, or even to those who just enjoy their afternoon coffee and cake. But another more recent study has seemed to debunk those previous studies.
The new study, which looked at over 8,000 people in the UK, indicated that drinking up to 25 cups of coffee a day posed no risk of hardened arteries or a higher incidence of heart attack. Those who drank over 25 cups of coffee per day were excluded from the study.
A cup of coffee is 5.07 fluid ounces, which means that 25 cups is just about one US gallon of coffee. That’s a pretty huge amount of coffee, more than all but the heaviest coffee addicts drink. The average coffee drinker in the US drinks about 3.1 cups of coffee per day, or just under 16 ounces.
While it’s good news for coffee drinkers that drinking large amounts of coffee isn’t damaging to the arteries, you still might want to keep it easy with the caffeine if you’re particularly sensitive to its effects. You can try mixing a little decaf in with your full strength brew, especially now that better decaffeination technologies exist. But if you thought you had to give up coffee completely, the good news is that’s not the case.