Which Type Of Employees Consume The Most Coffee, And Do They Drink Too Much?

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Journalists and other members of the media consume more coffee than any other type of professional, with police officers and teachers following closely behind, according to the results of a new survey of 10,000 professionals conducted by UK-based public relations firm Pressat.
Plumbers and trade workers were fourth on the list, followed by nurses and medical staff. Company executives, telemarketing, IT technical support, retail staff employees and drivers round out the top 10.
Eighty-five percent of those polled reported consuming at least three cups of coffee per day, and nearly 70 percent of them said that their working ability would be negatively affected if they weren’t allowed to consume the caffeinated beverage. It also found that men tended to drink slightly more coffee (5 percent) than women.
“It seems that drinking coffee is a necessity on the job in a wide variety of professions,” the Pressat team explained. “The highest consumers, sinking over four cups daily, were those with stressful careers… Could it be that being overstretched or working late pushed the workforce to consume more caffeine?”
Dylan Byers of Politico called the survey results “welcome news,” explaining that he drinks “at least four cups a day” and is “pretty much useless without it.” He’s clearly not alone, which begs the question – how much coffee is too much coffee?
Last December, researchers from the University of South Carolina Aiken published research that concluded that the daily recommended dose of caffeine should not exceed 200mg, Roy Greenslade of The Guardian explained on Friday.
That’s equal to about two mugs or four cups of coffee per day, the authors reported. Drinking more than that just to get through a day of work can increase the risk of various health issues, including elevated anxiety levels, strokes and heart problems – issues the survey found that 62 percent of workers were not aware of.
According to FoxNews.com writer Julie Revelant, National Coffee Association statistics indicate that 63 percent of all Americans drink coffee every day, and that the beverage is a good source of magnesium, potassium, niacin and other nutrients.
Dr. Arfa Babaknia, a family medicine physician at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, added that the caffeinated beverage is the largest single source of antioxidants in the average person’s diet, and Revelant noted that research has found it could decrease the risk of several types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Type 2 diabetes and possibly age-related retinal degeneration.
On the negative side, coffee can decrease iron and calcium absorption, increase heart rate and anxiety, cause gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and worsen the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), she added. It could also increase blood pressure in those who don’t drink it every day, and blood glucose levels in diabetics.
“The sweet spot seems to be no more than 4 cups or 400 milligrams of coffee a day to get the health benefits and curb your cravings without any side effects. But the right amount really depends on how it makes you feel,” Revelant said. Dr. Babaknia added that “as long as coffee doesn’t make you jittery, hyper, give you a headache or cause insomnia, there is no limit.”
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