Coffee lovers, there's bad news. No matter what previous studies and researches claim, this one is worth noting - a new study has linked high coffee consumption to be life-threatening.
Drinking 5 cups of coffee a day, even if it's decaffeinated, can cause a huge risk of obesity and chronic disease, a new study has found.
Being the first study in the world to look at higher doses of coffee, rather than just one or two a day, it may help shed light on the serious health implications of coffee.
According to the study, 5 cups of coffee everyday could double the fat around your abdomen; and that's the fat that could cause deadly health conditions.
Researchers from the WA Institute of Medical Research and the University of Western Australia had actually aimed at discovering the cardiovascular benefits of coffee consumption, but instead discovered that it was linked to obesity, diabetes and other conditions.
"Studies have shown that coffee consumption lowers the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes," Prof Keving Croft, University of Western Australia, said.
"With this in mind, we studied the effects of CGAs, which are very rich in coffee but also found in tea and some fruits including plums," he explained.
Chlorogenic acids (CGAs), a compound present in coffee, was originally thought to have health benefits such as preventing diabetes; this new study however, sheds light on its tendency to build up fat and increase the risk of obesity.
"The CGAs were previously known for their health benefits - increasing insulin sensitivity and reducing blood pressure and body fat accumulation," he added.
When researchers fed mice an amount of coffee equivalent to 5 cups of coffee for a human, they noticed that the mice developed twice the amount of visceral fat- a fat that collects around the organs in the abdomen and is potentially dangerous to human health.
"We found that the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day had a tendency to increase weight gain, particularly in regards to visceral fat," Assistant Professor Vance Matthews, WA Institute for Medical Research, said.
"There was also increasing insulin resistance (which can lead to diabetes) and glucose intolerance in mice having high levels of CGA," he said.
Furthermore, many other products aimed at promoting weight loss such as green coffee beans, do have high levels of CGA, high intake of which could have a reverse effect, and promote obesity.
When present in low or moderate levels, CGA helps cut down the extra pounds, but an excess of it could mess up with the pathways of fat regulation and cause dangerous fat deposition around the abdomen, contributing to life-threatening health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more.
And this is not just for the bulky, skinny people too can have accumulation of fat in certain cells around their liver and kidneys, which could be worsened by drinking more than 2-3 cups of coffee a day.
The key here is moderation, researchers said. Limit your intake to 1 or 2 cups a day and you're all set.
