The Effects of Drinking Black Coffee

• Not everyone is healthy enough for coffee. Shana Novak/Digital Vision/Getty Images

  One man's medicine is another man's poison, and so it is with coffee. The brew's healthy and damaging effects can depend on your overall physical and mental health. Coffee can stoke the fires of the nervous system or bring calm to oxidizing cells that contribute to Type 2 diabetes. Drinking it black is the healthier choice. You avoid adding dairy fats and elevating blood sugar levels with sweetener, be it raw or one of the chemically processed brands.

Healthy Effects

• The healthy effects of coffee are as complex as its many flavors. The bean contains antioxidants that inhibit the aging process and reduce plaque buildup in the brain that protects against Alzheimer's disease. At the cellular level, chlorogenic acid slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream. This reaction may help prevent chronic diseases such as mellitus, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, and alcoholic cirrhosis. The brew's diuretic qualities aid in keeping gallstones and kidney stones at bay by increasing urine volume.

Damaging Effects - Caffeine

• Black coffee can negatively affect young adults, children and the elderly who are more sensitive to caffeine, and those with compromised immune systems and hypertension. Although caffeine's effect on heart disease remains under speculation, those with heart rate fluctuations should be moderate in their consumption. The oils in the ebony beans can also contribute to elevated blood cholesterol levels, especially the "bad" LDL count. Aside from that it effects blood vessel tone and can cause irregular heartbeat.

  Recent studies advise pregnant women to limit themselves to 3 cups a day to reduce the possibility of impaired fetal growth. In older women, caffeine consumption is associated with osteoporotic fractures.

Damaging Effects - Acid

• Some people say they drink coffee to get their hearts going in the morning, which it does by causing heart rates to rise and stomach acids to churn. An imbalance of acid in the body can be tough on the stomach lining causing ulcers and heartburn. If you like your coffee extra hot, consider the health of your esophagus that must endure the brew's heat on its way down your throat.

Mental Effects

• The mental effects of coffee can leave a person feeling like both sides of a coin. While it promotes alertness, attention and improved mental processes, the same stimulation also increases stress hormones that can lead to insomnia and tension. If you are trying to break the habit, the withdrawal period is the perfect host for headaches, irritability and lethargy.