Millions of people start their day with a cup of coffee. There is usually not enough time to brew a drink. This is why instant coffee is so popular. Life found out if instant coffee is harmful to human health?
What is instant coffee made from?
Mass production of instant coffee was launched in 1938 by Nestle. And for 80 years there has been a debate about the benefits and harms of instant coffee. The raw material is coffee beans that have lost their presentation. Powdered milk, flavorings, sugar are added to them.
Today there are three types of this drink. Powdered is the cheapest. Finely ground coffee beans are placed in a vacuum where drops of liquid pass through them. Particles of grains are instantly dried and turned into powder.
Granulated instant coffee is slightly more expensive than powdered coffee, although it is from the powder that the granules are formed: it is re-moistened with steam, the grains stick together into granules.
And another type is freeze-dried instant coffee. Coffee beans are ground into dust and frozen with water. Then a special apparatus extracts liquid from them, forming dry coffee bars. They are re-ground, turning into grains larger than the powder. Flavorings are not added to sublimated coffee, because the preparation technology allows you to preserve the real taste and aroma.
For the body, there is no difference in the types of instant coffee: freeze-dried affects health in the same way as powdered or granulated.
Is instant coffee good for the body?
There are few benefits to the body of an instant drink. Experts note that coffee has a diuretic effect and helps to remove excess water from the body, relieve swelling.
Another advantage of the drink is its low price, speed of preparation and a quick opportunity to cheer up.
Instant coffee – harm?
Instant coffee causes psychological dependence faster than grain. Muscovites are less attracted to sweets, alcohol and cigarettes than coffee, says Yulia Shevtsova, a psychiatrist and narcologist at the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology. For residents of the capital, regular consumption of this drink has become a habit. According to Medikforum statistics, more than half of Russians drink at least three cups of coffee a day. At the same time, as experts note, to the question “Is it harmful to drink a lot of instant coffee?” The answer is unequivocal: harmful.
First of all, the nervous system suffers. There is more caffeine in instant drink than in natural grains. Due to the frequent consumption of the “solution”, the nervous system is loosened: it is difficult for a person to get involved in work in the morning without a cup of coffee, and as soon as the body returns to normal after a caffeine shake, the next portion of an invigorating drink enters it. Irritability, nervousness, insomnia appear.
Coffee increases blood pressure, because of this, the cardiovascular system suffers. Instant coffee contains chlorogenic acid, which can cause heart disease and provoke a heart attack.
“Certain variants of the ADORA2A gene can cause people to feel anxious and panicky. Such people should adjust the amount of caffeine consumed per day, taking into account the type of metabolism, down, – explained the geneticist and CEO of the Genotek medical genetic center Valery Ilyinsky.
The calcium needed by our joints is washed out of the body with the help of caffeine. Therefore, even young coffee drinkers can have problems with their knees or pain in their elbows.
Instant coffee irritates the walls of the stomach and hits the mucous membranes. Gastritis, ulcers, hyperacidity are possible diseases of lovers of this drink. And although advertising slogans state that instant coffee is harmless and helps to keep a figure, you should not believe this. Marketing ploys can lead to cellulite in women and skin problems in men. Aromatic and flavoring additives are not natural components, they can also adversely affect human health.
Endocrinologist Anna Goncharova notes that you should not drink instant coffee on an empty stomach. If you really want to, you can treat yourself to a drink 30-40 minutes after eating – so intoxication of the body will be less dangerous. And after 15 minutes, drink a glass of water to avoid dehydration.
Drink only natural coffee from freshly roasted beans.
