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Writer's pictureAnna Rathbun, NC

Is coffee good or bad?




Like everything else - coffee is neither good nor bad. Coffee is helpful as an antidepressant and a bowel stimulant and damaging to overworked adrenals and nervous tension. The interesting thing about coffee - is not whether it's good or bad but what caffeine can tell us about your liver.


Judy came to see me because she had started having trouble sleeping. “Argh, I used to enjoy a cappuccino with lunch and now coffee past 9 am keeps me awake?” What’s going on? Judy’s ability to process caffeine was going haywire.


How fast you metabolize coffee provides clues on how well your liver is detoxifying other things. Caffeine is metabolized early in the liver’s 2-part process. When phase 1 liver detox is slow, the caffeine will stick around longer. The liver works like a balance scale so when phase I and phase II are perfectly in balance then caffeine, healthy food and not so healthy toxins are processed and removed perfectly.


Judy was also using a turmeric supplement to help reduce inflammation, though she didn't know if it was helping. Turns out turmeric and curcumin (the concentrated form), slows down phase I liver detox and speeds up phase II which is great for most people, but not if you are extra caffeine sensitive.


So Judy enjoyed more foods that increase phase I liver detox – green tea, oranges, dill, B vitamins. And she avoided other phase I lowering foods – turmeric, garlic, onions, grapefruit.


Do you have to carefully schedule your coffee intake? Do you feel unwell after a ‘healthy’ curry with onions and garlic? These healthy foods are medicine for some and not for others. Fill out the questionnaire here to evaluate your own liver function.


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