Coffee is one of the most popular drinks among different nations, and every day more than two billion cups of it are drunk around the world, and it is the most expensive commodity that is traded legally after oil, and it is the favorite drink of poets and philosophers, and it is said that the French philosopher Voltaire drank about 50 cups of coffee coffee daily.

The Arabs were the first to roast coffee

As with most foods that have existed for centuries, the beginnings of coffee are shrouded in mystery, but it is historically proven that the Arabs were the first to use it after they succeeded in roasting and boiling it.

The modern and modern version of “roasted coffee” (al-qahwa) originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the 13th century, and was very popular in the Islamic community because of its invigorating power, which proved useful during the nights of tahajjud and worship, and the first known coffeehouses appeared in Makkah in the 15th century, Then in Istanbul in the 16th century.

The modern version of "roasted coffee" (qahwa) originated in Arabia during the 13th century and was very popular (Pixels)

By drying and boiling coffee beans, the Arabs monopolized the market. In fact, there was not a single coffee plant outside the Arabian Peninsula or Africa until the 17th century, when an Indian pilgrim named Baba Bodan transported coffee beans from Mecca to India, and from those few Bodan beans a trade resulted. New Asian and European coffee occupied the world and still is.

In 1616 the Dutch established the first coffee plantation owned by a European country in Sri Lanka, and in 1696 the French began cultivating coffee in the Caribbean, followed by the Spaniards in Central America, and the Portuguese in Brazil.

But, what do we know about this "medicine" that we take 2 or 3 times a day?

What happens inside your body when you drink coffee in the morning?

The quick magic effect of coffee

A 2019 study of 80 people between the ages of 18 and 22 found that the effect of coffee on the body begins even before you take the first sip from the cup.

Another study showed that people performed better on tests of analytical reasoning after inhaling the aroma of coffee, but the study also suggested that there was a "placebo aspect" to the effect related to the brain's prior knowledge of the energizing effect of coffee.

In this context, Dr. Mike T. Nelson says, "There is a possibility that the use of any supplement will have a placebo effect."

But the real and powerful effect of coffee begins 10 minutes after consuming it, and the peak concentration of caffeine in the blood reaches after about 45 minutes, according to a report by the British newspaper “The Guardian”.

How does coffee wake you up?

Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant, making you more alert and focused. It relates to adenosine receptors in your body, which is an organic compound found naturally in the body and helps regulate heart rate, blood flow, and sleep-wake cycles. When adenosine binds to these receptors, It triggers physiological responses that result in decreased activity, and often promotes drowsiness and sleep.

The caffeine in coffee tricks your nerve cells and binds to them instead, preventing adenosine from doing its job, and this enhances alertness, while at the same time allowing brain-stimulating neurotransmitters such as dopamine to work, which stimulates the mind and body and adjusts the mood, according to the "Guardian" report.

The caffeine in coffee tricks your nerve cells and this promotes alertness, which stimulates the mind and body and adjusts the mood (Getty Images)

What is the effect of coffee on human health?

"Traditionally, coffee has been seen as a bad thing," says Marc Gunther, head of nutrition and metabolism at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Research in the 1980s and 1990s concluded that people who drank coffee had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but things have improved since then," according to a BBC report.

Gunter said that with more large-scale population studies coming out over the past decade, scientists now have data from hundreds of thousands of coffee drinkers, but what does the scientific research tell us?

Is coffee consumption beneficial or harmful to human health?

Does coffee cause or prevent cancer?

Coffee has been linked to an increased risk of cancer because it contains acrylamide, a carcinogen found in foods including toast, bagels and potato chips.

However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded in 2016 that coffee is not carcinogenic unless it is very hot (above 65°C).

Not only that, but other research has found that coffee may actually have a protective effect, as some studies have shown a link between drinking coffee and a decrease in the severity and frequency of colon cancer in patients.

In 2017, Gunther published the results of a study that looked at the coffee drinking habits of half a million people across Europe over a period of 16 years. The study found that those who drank more coffee were less likely to die from heart disease, stroke and cancer. These results are consistent with research in other parts of the world. the world, including the United States.

Gunter says there is enough consensus from observational studies that people who drink up to 4 cups of coffee per day suffer from fewer diseases compared to those who don't drink any.

And the potential benefits of coffee can go further than that, as the coffee drinkers in Gunter's study were mostly smokers and did not follow a healthy diet.

This may indicate that if coffee reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer even in smokers, it may be stronger than we think, as it bypasses the effects of unhealthy behaviors, according to the BBC.

Researchers: Drinking 4 cups of coffee a day can be beneficial as part of a healthy diet for healthy people (Shutterstock)

Does coffee extend life?

In recent years, all studies have confirmed that coffee consumption has many health benefits, and a scientific study published by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) platform shows that drinking more coffee leads to a reduced risk of death.

And this was not a small study, in which about 20 thousand people participated, the researchers tracked their health for a full decade, and the average age of the participants was 37.7 years.

During those 10 years, 337 (1.7%) of the study participants died. The researchers then reviewed the amount of coffee each person in the study reported drinking, linking consumption to risk of death across all possible causes of death.

The researchers found that participants who drank “at least 4 cups of coffee per day” had a 64% lower risk of dying compared to those who did not drink coffee, and that for every additional two cups people drank, they were 22% less likely to die compared to those who drank less. .

The benefits were most pronounced among the elderly in the study, with participants over the age of 45 having a 30% lower risk of dying for each additional two cups of coffee per day.

Scientists expected that the health benefit from drinking more coffee simply increases, because the risk of death in general rises with each year of age.

"Our results indicate that drinking 4 cups of coffee per day can be beneficial as part of a healthy diet for healthy people," said study author Dr. Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra in Pamplona, ​​Spain.