NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF/CONSUMER REPORTS) — Maybe you drink it in the morning, or at noon to refuel. For a lot of people, it's hard to imagine a day without coffee.
Whether you make a whole pot or a cup at a time — studies show that having more than a cup of coffee a day could be good for your health. But how much coffee is too much?
"Coffee could actually lower your risk of certain liver diseases, some types of cancers, and Type 2 diabetes — and there’s some evidence that it can also lower your risk of heart disease and respiratory disease," said Althea Chang-Cook with Consumer Reports.
Other research even suggests that, if you drink coffee you could live longer than non-coffee drinkers, in part because coffee is rich in antioxidants.
Great, but how much coffee is healthy, and how much is too much?
"In general, the average person can safely consume up to 400 mg of caffeine per day, the amount in three to five 8-ounce cups of coffee," Chang-Cook said.
If you have a medical condition or caffeine sensitivity, it's always best to check with your doctor, and always listen to your body. If your heart is thumping much faster than usual, and you feel extra shaky and jittery, it’s probably time to lay off.
If you love coffee, but still want to sleep at night, Consumer Reports says to finish your last cup around 2 p.m., that way the majority of caffeine you’ve consumed has left your body by bedtime.
While generally, coffee can be good for you, Consumer Reports says it is still important to pay attention to what you add to your coffee drink.
"For every teaspoon of sugar you add, you are consuming 16 calories and 2 ounces of whole milk adds another 38 calories and 2 grams of fat," Chang-Cook said.
If you like both coffee and tea and like to switch between the two, you can still see health benefits. In fact, in a study published last year, researchers found that people who drank two to three cups of coffee plus two or three cups of tea per day had about a 30% lower risk of dementia and stroke compared with people who didn’t drink either.
