What’s the Optimum Daily Coffee Intake?
If you’re a coffee addict like us, and especially if you’ve got a commercial coffee machine to hand in your workplace, you’ll know how easy it is to keep sipping away until you’ve had a few cups too many. There are differing views on what the optimum coffee consumption is, with some claiming less is more, whilst others insist coffee has great health benefits. As with most things, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question, so here we simply outline a few things to take into account when working out your personal optimum coffee intake.
Energy
As much as we love the taste of coffee, a natural advantage is its high caffeine content, which is often necessary to get us through the day. Individuals react differently to varying levels of caffeine, so if more than one cup sends you into overdrive, it might be wise to restrict yourself, and if you’re only having one cup, think carefully about the time of day at which you most need the energy boost. At the other end of the scale, avid coffee drinkers may have become a little more immune to the impact of caffeine, and will therefore need a few more cups to get them through. As long as you don’t drink so much that it effects your performance or keeps you up at night, there’s no harm in allowing yourself a few cups throughout the day.
Type of Coffee
Drinking several cups of black coffee is unlikely to cause you any harm, but our commercial coffee machines can create some pretty spectacular beverages, and the more ingredients you add, the less healthy your drink may become. If you’re drinking multiple lattes made with full fat milk every day, this will account for a significant portion of your daily calorie intake. Of course, as soon as you start adding sugar or syrups, this escalates even further. We love a speciality coffee as much as the next person, but it may be worth limiting this to just one a day and fulfilling the rest of our coffee needs with a simple coffee- either black or with just a dash of milk.
Personal Reaction
We hope this is an obvious point, but it’s still one worth making. Coffee has different effects on different people, so if you find that you’re experiencing headaches or needing to head to the bathroom a little too often, it might be a sign you need to cut back on the coffee. Remember to keep drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated, as drinking coffee as your sole beverage is an unhealthy habit!
Of course, there are always exceptions to normal guidelines, so pay attention to personal circumstances as well. for example, high coffee consumption is thought to have negative health effects for pregnant women, so although you might feel like you need the energy, it’s probably not worth the risk.
