Coffee

Coffee is enjoyed by millions of people every day and the “coffee experience” has become a staple of our modern life and culture. This is according to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), an international non-profit scientific society of professionals engaged in food science, food technology, and related areas in academia, government and industry that is based in the US.

While the current body of research related to the effects of coffee consumption on human health has been contradictory, a study in the in the June issue of the journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, which is published by IFT, found that the potential benefits of moderate coffee drinking outweigh the risks in adult consumers for the majority of major health outcomes considered.

Researchers at Ulster University in the UK systematically reviewed 1,277 studies from 1970 to date on coffee’s effect on human health and found the general scientific consensus is that regular, moderate coffee drinking (defined as three to four cups per day) essentially has a neutral effect on health, or can be mildly beneficial. The authors noted causality of risks and benefits cannot be established for either with the research currently available as they are largely based on observational data. Further research is needed to quantify the risk-benefit balance for coffee consumption, as well as identify which of coffee’s many active ingredients, or indeed the combination of such, that could be inducing these health benefits.