The doctor named the pros and cons of instant coffee

What is instant coffee, what kind of product is it

Each manufacturer uses its own production technology when making instant coffee.
Most people who give their preference to instant coffee do not even suspect that, as a rule, in 80-90% of cases its main composition is additives, and only a small part contains substandard beans. Therefore, it is difficult to call instant coffee a natural product. During the production of instant coffee, the Robusta variety is used in most cases.
This is due to the fact that Robusta contains a large amount of caffeine, and its cost is much lower than that of other varieties used to make instant coffee. In order to give instant coffee a coffee aroma and taste, various types of flavoring agents are actively used in its production.

Comparison of nutritional value, composition and calorie content of instant and insoluble coffee

Coffee contains polyphenols, chemical compounds that have antioxidant properties (, ,).

Polyphenols protect the human body from chronic diseases.

In fact, coffee contributes to total polyphenol intake even more than berries or other fruits and vegetables ().

Instant coffee contains higher levels of phenolic compounds ().

It may also have fewer possible carcinogenic properties than regular ground coffee, which must be brewed ().

This may be because the roasting process increases the amount of carcinogens in the coffee beans.

Instant coffee is subjected to milder roasting conditions ().

One study found that because instant coffee is processed differently than instant coffee, it may have more antioxidants in its composition ().

Below is a table comparing the vitamins, minerals and nutrients contained in 180 gram servings of instant and non-instant coffee (as a percentage of the recommended daily intake) (, ):

Instant and non-soluble coffee also contain trace amounts of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin K, thiamine, iron, sodium, manganese, copper and selenium.

Summary:

Instant coffee contains about the same amount of nutrients as instant coffee, but significantly less caffeine. Instant coffee may contain more of certain antioxidants than instant coffee.

Is instant coffee harmful, how does it affect the human body?

Such a popular drink as instant coffee, if consumed in excess, can be harmful to human health, both physically and psychologically. It should be noted that in the case of regular use of this drink, a person can develop a stable and strong addiction, which over time gradually turns into addiction.

Instant coffee of various varieties poses a danger both to individual organs and to the entire human body as a whole. First of all, especially when drinking instant coffee in large quantities, the nervous system suffers from this drink. Some scientists argue that coffee can provoke a serious addiction in a person, whose symptoms are similar to those of drugs.

In addition, instant coffee has a negative effect on the functioning of internal organs, because this drink, when consumed in large quantities, can provoke the oxidation process of the body. Therefore, due to its use, a person may develop various types of diseases in the gastrointestinal tract, as well as the liver.

Attention! Instant coffee can cause a person to develop a disease such as a stomach ulcer or gastritis. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink this drink on an empty stomach. In addition, due to the consumption of instant coffee in large quantities, a person may experience severe intoxication.

May have beneficial properties

Drinking coffee has been associated with many health benefits.

Considering that instant coffee contains the same antioxidants and nutrients as regular coffee, it should provide similar benefits to your health.

Drinking coffee can:

1. Improve brain function . The caffeine content may improve brain function.
2. Increase metabolism . The caffeine in instant coffee can increase your metabolism and help you burn more fat.
3. Reduce the risk of disease . Coffee may reduce the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
4. Reduce the risk of developing diabetes . Coffee may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
5. Improve liver health . Coffee and caffeine may reduce the risk of developing liver diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
6. Improve mental health . Coffee may help reduce the risk of depression and suicide.
7. Promote longevity . Drinking coffee can help you live longer.

However, it is important to keep in mind that many of the studies conducted were observational.

These types of studies cannot prove that coffee causes a lower risk of disease—only that people who habitually drink coffee are less likely to get the disease.

If you're wondering how much coffee you should drink, consuming 3-5 cups of instant coffee per day is optimal. Research often associates this amount with the greatest risk reduction.

Conclusion:

Instant coffee has many of the same benefits as regular coffee, including reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and liver disease.

Is it harmful to drink instant coffee every day: consequences

Frequent consumption of instant coffee can lead to severe dehydration. This drink also has a pronounced diuretic effect. When consumed excessively or regularly, a person begins to lose an element such as calcium from the body. This is dangerous because the skeleton and bones become fragile, which significantly increases the risk of fractures. In order to maximally neutralize the negative effects of instant coffee on the body, doctors strongly advise after drinking it, 10 minutes later, to drink at least 1 glass of plain, non-carbonated, clean water. It is also recommended to drink this drink not on an empty stomach, but only after the main meal.

Who is strictly forbidden

1. For older people: hypertension coupled with insomnia are two bosom friends of caffeine-containing drugs;
2. People with diseases of the heart, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary system, kidneys. Disruption of metabolic processes can provoke a sudden deterioration and transition of the disease to the acute stage;
3. For children. This is due to the effect of coffee on the nervous system, which in children is not yet formed;
4. Pregnant women. If you really want coffee, then you should choose a high-quality grain drink in an amount of no more than one or two cups. In large doses, drinking coffee will disrupt normal metabolism in the body of the expectant mother;
5. It is strictly contraindicated for drivers, since it can cause not vigor, but an irresistible and imperceptible desire to fall asleep right behind the wheel.

How does it affect blood pressure? Is it possible to drink with high blood pressure?

Avoiding drinking coffee, especially instant coffee, is primarily recommended for those people who have various types of problems at work or diseases of the cardiovascular system. After all, after drinking coffee, a person’s blood pressure begins to gradually increase by one fraction. In addition, even after drinking one cup of this drink, the pulse begins to slow down sharply due to a strong increase in blood pressure. Therefore, it is also strongly recommended for people who constantly have high blood pressure to refrain from drinking this drink.

Why you can’t drink instant coffee, why it’s harmful

Who is recommended to stop drinking instant coffee? As you know, during the production of instant coffee, a large number of flavorings and flavor enhancers are used. Therefore, this drink, if consumed regularly, can cause significant harm to human health. For example, coffee, especially instant coffee, is strictly contraindicated:

1. During pregnancy or lactation. This is due to the fact that when a pregnant woman drinks instant coffee, the risk of death of the pregnant fetus increases significantly. In addition, due to coffee consumption, disturbances in the development of the fetus can occur.
2. People who have cardiovascular diseases. After drinking coffee, blood pressure begins to rise and the normal rhythm of the heart is disrupted. In some cases, a person may experience shortness of breath after consuming this product.
3. To old people. Drinking instant coffee can lead to hypertension. Also, after drinking coffee, older people tend to experience insomnia.

In addition, vehicle drivers are strongly advised to refrain from drinking instant coffee. This is due to the fact that coffee provokes the appearance of kidney stones. Children should also not be given instant coffee often, as otherwise, after taking this drink, the child will become very agitated, increased aggressiveness and imbalance.

Instant coffee contains slightly less caffeine

Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world, and coffee is the largest dietary source.

However, instant coffee usually contains slightly less caffeine than regular coffee.

One cup of instant coffee containing one teaspoon of powder can contain 30–90 mg of caffeine, while one cup of regular coffee contains 70–140 mg.

Since caffeine sensitivity varies from person to person, instant coffee may be a better choice for those who need to reduce their caffeine intake.

Instant coffee is also available as decaf, which contains even less caffeine.

Too much caffeine can cause anxiety, sleep disturbances, restlessness, stomach upset, tremors, and heart palpitations.

Conclusion:

A cup of instant coffee containing one teaspoon of powder typically contains 30–90 mg of caffeine, while regular coffee contains 70–140 mg per cup.

Instant coffee with milk: benefits and harms, can it be combined?

There are many recipes that allow you to properly prepare a drink such as instant coffee with added milk.
However, it should be noted that it is the method of adding milk to coffee that radically affects whether it is beneficial or, conversely, harmful to the general condition of the human body. What are the benefits of instant coffee? It is worth noting that the benefits of instant coffee with milk will be much greater if you consume it without added sugar. Coffee with milk is recommended to be consumed periodically by people who have low blood pressure. As is known, caffeine, when consumed frequently, provokes the leaching of calcium from bone tissue and bones. When milk is added to coffee, this process of leaching calcium from the skeleton is significantly inhibited.

However, coffee in combination with milk in some cases can cause irreparable harm to the human body. First of all, this drink is not recommended for people who are allergic to dairy products and those who have lactose intolerance. Also, you should not overuse coffee with milk, since this drink, according to some nutritionists, can cause cancer of organs such as the stomach or intestines.

In addition, people who suffer from stomach ulcers should limit themselves from drinking a drink such as coffee with milk. This is due to the fact that the drink provokes various types of inflammatory processes in the digestive organs in the presence of chronic stomach diseases.

Drinking coffee with milk too often can cause large stones to form in the kidneys, which are then almost impossible to dissolve. After all, as you know, milk contains calcium, which is very difficult for the body to absorb. Therefore, after drinking coffee with milk, the main part of the calcium contained in this drink begins to settle in the form of salts in the kidneys, gradually forming stones in these organs.

Also, some nutritionists believe that coffee with milk has a negative effect on the functioning of an organ such as the liver. This is due to the fact that the molecules contained in coffee, when interacting with milk, begin to form a mixture that has a negative effect on the liver. After drinking coffee with milk, the adrenaline produced in the body begins to actively stimulate the liver to produce more glucose, which can neutralize most of the toxins contained in coffee with milk.

Separately, you should answer several questions about how instant coffee affects blood pressure:

“Does instant coffee raise blood pressure or lower it?” - Increases it.

“Can I drink instant coffee with high blood pressure?” – Drinking coffee with high blood pressure is strictly prohibited.

Vitamins and minerals included

There are two types of instant coffee, differing in the preparation method - regular and freeze-dried. The first is prepared from crushed coffee beans, dried with steam. Freeze-dried (frozen) powder differs from ordinary powder in the preparation method. It is dried by freezing. This powder has lower acidity and retains more substances from the grains. However, since the process of preparing it is more expensive, such coffee costs more.

A high-quality frozen product contains some useful substances for the human body that are present in grain:

• Vitamin PP (26.49 mg) has a positive effect on the nervous system and stimulates brain function, as it dilates blood vessels in the brain and promotes better oxygen saturation. Also in the body of men and women, it participates in the processes of breakdown of fats and carbohydrates, promoting their conversion into energy, which is then spent on physical activity, breathing, and maintaining body temperature;
• Vitamin B2 (1 mg) is also involved in the processes of converting fats, carbohydrates and proteins into the energy necessary to maintain the vital functions of the body. Indicated for pregnant women, as it stimulates tissue growth and cell division in the fetus.

Also, freeze-dried coffee contains minerals found in natural coffee:

1. Phosphorus (250 mg) is part of bone tissue, useful for men and women in that it helps increase bone density and reduce their porosity;
2. Calcium (100) is the main substance necessary for the formation of bone tissue and ensures its integrity, reduces the fragility of bones, teeth and nails;
3. Iron (6.1), when it enters the human body, combines with oxygen molecules to form hemoglobin, which is good for people suffering from anemia (low amount of iron in the body, low hemoglobin);
4. Sodium (3) is an ion in the intercellular fluid, which, due to its positive charge, creates in it the pressure necessary for transporting nutrients to the cells.

The benefits and harms of instant coffee for humans are no less than natural ones. For example, the amount of caffeine in these drinks is approximately the same - in natural 80 mg per cup, in freeze-dried - 60 mg. However, it is impossible to say which one is more useful based on these data. Despite the slightly lower caffeine content, instant coffee, whose benefits and harms are described below, has a negative effect on some organ systems: the nervous system due to the caffeine content, the gastrointestinal tract due to its high acidity (which can be reduced by adding milk.

Can it cause an allergic reaction in humans?

Can you be allergic to instant coffee?
Instant coffee can become the main cause of allergies in a person if the body is intolerant to caffeine or other components contained in this product. It should be noted that most people do not even suspect that they have a congenital intolerance to coffee. An allergy to instant coffee can begin suddenly in a person and occur spontaneously, depending on the amount of drink consumed, or on an ongoing basis. If a person has been diagnosed with an allergy to coffee, the only way out of this situation will be a 100% refusal to drink it without any exceptions.

The symptoms of an allergic reaction to instant coffee, which appears in a person after drinking it, are almost identical to the symptoms of allergies that occur to food products. Among the pronounced symptoms that may suddenly appear after drinking instant coffee are:

• sudden onset of severe shortness of breath;
• persistent cough or frequent, severe sneezing;
• the appearance of spots on the skin, in the area of ​​​​the appearance of which there is severe itching;
• the appearance of problems in the functioning of the digestive system.

In addition, an allergy to instant coffee can manifest itself in the form of severe chills or pain in the heart area. Often, an allergy to this drink manifests itself in a person in the form of a severe migraine. Therefore, when the first symptoms of an allergy or strange reactions of the body appear after drinking instant coffee, you should completely stop drinking it and consult a doctor.

Calorie content of the popular “cocktail”

It is known that the coffee component of this drink has no calories at all. It can be freely ignored. Therefore, the energy value of the drink depends on dairy products and sugar.

How many calories milk or cream has is usually written on the packaging. For example, 100 ml of milk with a fat content of 2.5% contains approximately 22.5 kcal. The calorie content of this drink depends on the amount of fat. People on diets add skim milk to their coffee.

Sugar contains (per teaspoon) approximately 32 kcal. If you add it to coffee with milk, the calorie content increases significantly. Therefore, it is better to drink the drink in its natural form, without sugar.