Coffee as a Functional Beverage

This chapter discusses the various aspects of coffee consumption in both acute and chronic instances. It describes the evidence to support caffeine’s role in exercise performance. The role that coffee consumption has in preventing some of the most devastating and prevalent diseases should justify the classification of coffee as a functional beverage. The fact that coffee is consumed by so many people and can be a potent dose of caffeine could indicate that daily coffee consumption can be important in augmenting energy expenditure and, as a corollary, weight loss. Caffeinated beverages have no effect on the risk of thyroid cancer, and coffee intake has been shown to have no association with the risk of pancreatic cancer. One general consensus reached in examining the relationship between coffee and type 2 diabetes is that coffee drinking is associated with higher insulin sensitivity and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.