Iced Coffee is a beloved and popular beverage across the globe. A lot of people drink it every day as a morning ritual, a way to get an energy boost before they start the day.
There’s nothing wrong with drinking iced coffee daily.
Coffee has been associated with multitudes of potential health benefits. But then, that’s likely the usual hot coffee —is the icy kind just as healthy? When does it become unhealthy? Let’s find out!
What does iced coffee do to your body?
A lot of studies discuss why regular coffee consumption can do more than just enhance your focus and boost your energy levels.
Let’s find out why it is the go-to drink to enhance mental alertness and diminish fatigue, its health benefits, as well as the repercussions if you consume too much-iced coffee than the body can handle.
What Are The Benefits of Drinking Iced Coffee?
Here are 5 benefits of drinking coffee 👇
1. Lowers Fatigue and Boosts Energy Levels
Caffeine is the main ingredient of coffee. It is a natural stimulant of the methylxanthine class which is also found in tea and chocolate.
According to research, consuming 100mg of caffeine results in higher ratings of alertness and overall mood, as well as lower ratings of mental fatigue.
When compared to placebo and decaf, people experienced less tiredness and headache when having regular coffee.
Caffeine’s ability to alter levels of some neurotransmitters in the brain is probably why it’s mostly used as a cognitive enhancer. It functions by blocking receptors of adenosine. This is a neurotransmitter which enables the release of other neurotransmitters like:
- Dopamine
- Serotonin
- Acetylcholine
Science! ⚗️
So our delicious cup of coffee triggers our increased alertness. It helps improve our attention, which is perhaps the most noticeable effect of drinking coffee ☕
2. Promotes Weight Management
Some studies suggest that coffee can regulate body weight by altering fat storage and supporting gut health.
Other research is proving how increased coffee intake can be linked to decreased body fat, due to coffee enhancing energy levels that promote physical activity. There are even some types of coffee that claim to help you lose weight like enzyme coffee.📏
I think that when partnered with exercise and consistent physical activity, coffee could be an effective beverage for body weight management. 🏋️
3. Lowers Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is largely avoidable by following a few simple steps:
- losing weight
- exercising more
- eating a healthy diet
- avoid smoking
But then, it turns out that coffee can ensure that your pancreas does its job. This is the organ responsible for insulin production.
Insulin is the hormone that controls the amount of sugar in your bloodstream, which means that ensuring a healthy pancreas is important in regulating blood sugar levels.
Additionally, coffee is also rich in antioxidants that help support this ability.
Some research suggests that drinking coffee, both caffeinated and decaf, may lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This tells us that regular coffee consumption could be associated with reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the long run.
But what if you already have diabetes?
However, if you already have diabetes, caffeine's effect on insulin action may be associated with higher or lower blood sugar levels.
You can still drink coffee though. It’s just that the research on the topic of coffee's benefits is pretty mixed.
Drinking coffee should not be dangerous as long as you keep an eye on your blood sugar and stick to coffee with…well, obviously, less sugar. Also, make sure to keep your caffeine consumption to a reasonable level.
4. Supports Brain Health
When you drink coffee regularly (in moderation of course), it can be very good for your brain. In the short term, it may improve mood, attentiveness, learning, and alertness.
The first benefit we mentioned is how caffeine affects our brain by enabling the release of neurotransmitters that enhance overall cognitive performance.
But the thing is, researchers believe that coffee can do more. It’s not just that coffee can perk you up and give you energy when you need it. A lot of observational studies suggest that drinking coffee could help prevent some neurodegenerative disorders.
They demonstrate that moderate to regular coffee consumption could be associated with a reduced risk of illnesses.
Illnesses that coffee can help with include:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Dementia
- Cognitive decline
However, these findings need further confirmation with higher-quality studies.
5. Supports Heart Health
Aside from the effects, it has on the brain, researchers believe that coffee intake also has benefits for your heart health.
Several reviews suggest that regular coffee consumption is tied to a reduced risk of heart disease, and is even associated with a lower risk of heart failure.
The American College of Cardiology wrote that drinking two to three cups of coffee a day can help you maintain a healthy heart.
However, caffeine can affect blood pressure levels. So keep in mind that drinking coffee must still be done in moderation.
The jitters aren’t too alarming. But boy, keep your hypertension in check.
How much iced coffee is too much?
Although caffeine and sugar are the two things that make iced coffee an effective energy-boosting beverage. Too many of these two ingredients might bring more harm than benefit if taken excessively.
Excessive amounts of caffeine in iced coffee
A standard cup of black coffee contains 95 milligrams of caffeine on average. However, a large iced coffee can typically include more than the standard 8-ounce serving.
These might easily exceed 200 milligrams, which is already half of the FDA-recommended daily limit.
Note that this limit is for healthy adults. It might even be lower for those with existing health problems or people who are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
Check with your health provider if the recommended limit applies to you or if you need an even stricter cap for your coffee intake.
In general, drinking more than 4 cups of coffee or its equivalent is when it begins to be detrimental.
When you drink too much coffee, you could end up with some unpleasant effects. You can get irritable, or become sleepless. You could get excessive jitters.
There was an incident in Cebu, Philippines where kids end up getting hospitalized. All because they chugged down one too many cold coffee.
In severe cases, you could get headaches, vomiting, or even seizures.
Excessive amounts of sugar in iced coffee
Regular black coffee alone only contains 2 calories. Meanwhile, the typical iced coffee with milk and sugar sold in large coffee chain stores can contain between 120 and 200 calories.
Yikes!
This exceeds the advised maximum daily intake of added sugars for healthy adults which are around 100-150 calories. Take the American Heart Association’s word for it.
Multiple research has shown how excessive sugar consumption has been linked with:
- Obesity
- Type 2 diabetes
- Heart disease, and more
This means that even though caffeine has been shown to have some health benefits for the body, adding too much sugar to iced coffee may make things worse.
Iced coffee can make you gain weight
Especially in drinks with milk and sugar, indulging too much can lead to you gaining weight.
So does sugar in iced coffee make you gain weight?
As I mentioned earlier, the primary ingredient in an iced coffee that functions as a stimulant to perk up our brains and keep our eyes open is caffeine.
The drawback to this is that it also interferes with your sleep schedule. So what, you ask?
Well, unfortunately, despite the alleged metabolism-boosting effects of caffeine, poor sleep is linked to uncontrollable appetite. And that tasty midnight snack could ultimately result in undesirable weight gain.
But then caffeine is not the only crux. The other 2 ingredients in everyone’s go-to drink are equal culprits: milk and sugar.
These two have the potential to tip the balance of your weight loss efforts and instead boost hunger and cravings for sweet food items.
Iced coffee can give you an energy overload
You might get sensations called jitters when you consume too much coffee. Again, caffeine is a nervous stimulant. Too much of it will overstimulate the brain and trigger these so-called jitters.
These manifest as anxiety, shakiness, nervous energy, heart palpitations, and then eventually a feeling of crashing down.
Although it can typically be unsettling, coffee jitters are commonly not dangerous and may only affect temporarily.
Half the caffeine you ingest gets metabolized in the body in about 6 hours. But the effects including the jitters can last even longer for those with low caffeine tolerance.
Source: https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/745416175822978506/
Other side effects of having too much Iced coffee
Anything in excess can be very bad.
Aside from coffee jitters, below is a list of side effects of having too much coffee:
- Anxiety
- Abnormal Heart Rate and Palpitations
- Caffeine Addiction
- Digestive Problems
- Frequent Urination and Urgency
- Increased Blood Pressure Levels
- Insomnia
- Rebound Fatigue
- Rhabdomyolysis (Muscle Breakdown)
Is iced coffee healthy?
Iced coffee is just like your regular coffee, and that’s because of the beverage’s main ingredient —caffeine. The presence of this neuro stimulant is what makes iced coffee a good energy booster, metabolism enhancer, and even body weight regulator (or not so much).
Other ingredients can possibly nullify the effects of caffeine in your system. So it might be much healthier to add little to no sugar or cream into your drink.
This way, drinking iced coffee every day should be fine…but again, in moderation. Don’t go crazy on caffeine, right?
FAQ
Is iced coffee bad for you? Now that we’ve gotten into the facts about Iced coffee, I bet there are other stuff you want to find out if you are drinking iced coffee every day.
Is caramel iced coffee bad for you?
Caramel iced coffee is just made out of coffee, milk, and caramel. Some recipes include whipped cream as a topping, even.
Just like iced coffee, this beverage is just like your regular coffee, only a sweeter variant with lots of fat in the additional ingredients. Giving in to this sugary treat shouldn’t be bad occasionally.
Drinking it every day, however, will most probably cause unwanted weight gain.
Is it wrong to drink iced coffee every day?
Drinking iced coffee every day is not bad. Some research even suggests that regular consumption of coffee may enhance the benefits that caffeine can offer.
However, this is on account that your coffee is regular black coffee, void of cream, milk, or sugars.
Are iced lattes bad for you?
Having iced lattes are not bad for a regular healthy adult. As long as it is consumed in moderation and its fatty and sugary ingredients are not in excessive amounts.
It might even be a fancy yet healthy beverage for you.
Is black iced coffee good for you?
Black iced coffee is definitely good for you! This is the “healthiest” variant of the beverage, as it has no milk or sugars added.
Black iced coffee is perfect for everyday drinking. 👍
Is iced coffee bad for you on your period?
While small doses of iced coffee are harmless for people who have periods, there is a possibility that drinking iced coffee during your period can make cramps worse.
Caffeine blocks a hormone that makes blood vessels present in the uterus smaller, which in effect slows blood flow.
Additionally, caffeine also has a possibility of causing inflammation and bloating that adds to the pain caused by menstrual cramps.
Is iced coffee bad for you when you're pregnant?
Pregnant women are allowed to drink iced coffee. However, their recommended daily limit is half that of a regular healthy adult.
200 milligrams or less is the safe amount for consumption during pregnancy, as recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
You can drink iced coffee every day!
Thanks for reading until the end of this post. With what I’ve gathered so far, iced coffee isn’t all that bad. Like everything else —even the healthiest stuff— should be taken in moderation.
You can definitely drink iced coffee every day, but probably minus the sugar, cream, and milk. Or at least don’t go crazy with them.
So go ahead, and get your coffee fix today!
