Come mornings and a bleary you needs a good pick-me-up for the day ahead. So you turn to your favourite brew, a steaming cup of foamy, aromatic Coffee for a smack of pure energy to get you charged up. The brew is considered as a gift from heavens for countless people who’ve tried to avoid drooping off at their desks and run like a high powered machine on good old caffeine. And it’s healthy too in small cups, brimming as it is with antioxidants and minerals. It helps you be focused and breeze through that presentation like a savant and boosts metabolism, burning off some of that clingy fat. The aromatic drink lowers risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and also cuts down chances of having type 2 diabetes. What a glorious drink.

Organic, high quality coffee certainly deserves praise but it’s expensive and what we actually end up drinking is about a gallon of brown pesticide-infused murky stuff which comes with a lot of nasty side effects. Before coffee enthusiasts get their hackles raised here are some serious risks the drink is known to kick into effect.

Your Cup of Java Might Be Responsible For Your Digestive Troubles

Since we reach for our favourite cuppa first thing in the morning, it leads to production of hydrochloric acid in our stomachs. Ideally, the acid is used to digest meals but with increased coffee intake it falters and the body has issues digesting large meals. The decreased amount of hydrochloric acid fails to digest proteins and other components which are a huge source of energy. This leads to digestive problems like gas, bloating, IBS, diverticulitis and sometimes colon cancer.

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Blame the Coffee for Your Rumbly Stomach

The acids and caffeine in coffee eats into the delicate lining of the stomach and small intestines which causes ulcers, IBS, gastritis and Crohn’s disease. Helicobacter pylori bacteria is responsible for the ulcers in our stomachs and the acid in coffee contributes to the weakened lining in our stomachs, helping the devilish H. pylori latch onto the stomach wall easier. The dark beverage irritates the lining of small intestines causing cramps and irritable bowel syndrome, basically the angry rumbles in your stomach which draws stares in your direction.

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The Dark Brew Causes Acid Reflux

Coffee is also the perpetrator of acid reflux or heartburn, that burning sensation in the chest we get after a cup too many. Caffeine relaxes the esophageal sphincter causing hydrochloric acid from the stomach to go up the throat and burn the delicate lining of the esophagus. Coke and other caffeinated drinks are also responsible for this as well as decaf, so you should put down that next cup of coffee.

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Using Coffee As Your Laxative Might Not Be a Good Idea

Now a lot of people grab a cup of the heady brew for their daily trip to the bathroom because it aids peristalsis or the contraction of the bowel muscles which expels waste from the body. While coffee might be aiding happy pooping hour, it also increase gastric emptying owing to which the contents of the stomach are quickly passed into the small intestines, often before they’re fully digested. We lose out on a lot of essential nutrients in the process because the food is passed even before the nutrients are absorbed. Inflammation and irritation of the gastrointestinal tract follows so using coffee as your favourite laxative might be a bad idea.

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That Cup of Joe Deters Mineral Absorption

For those who are heavily dependent on about a gallon of coffee to get through their day, mineral absorption by their bodies slows down, no matter what they eat. This happens owing to the way coffee affects iron absorption in stomachs and affects the ability of kidneys to retain minerals like calcium, zinc and magnesium. Since magnesium is responsible for smooth bowel functioning suffice to say that heavy coffee drinkers are in for a world of discomfort.

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After the Coffee High Comes the Coffee Crash

Downing a cup of Joe may make you feel like you’ve been hit by a stick of pure energy but it’s really coffee messing with the part of your brain that releases adenosine, the chemical that signals fatigue. Coffee turns off the brain’s adenosine receptors tricking us into feeling more energized than we actually are. When the caffeine wears off, we feel more stressed out and cranky. Symptoms are grouchy people screaming for more coffee and banging their fists against walls in cases of coffee unavailability.

Excessive coffee also releases stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine which speeds up our heart beat, increases blood pressure and stress levels.

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We’ve seen the victims of coffee withdrawal; hollow eyed, snappish and grouchy so don’t let yourself get addicted to the winking, welcoming brew. Put that cup down right now.

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