Drinking this many cups of coffee a day could be fatal

A video uploaded by AsapSCIENCE to YouTube has suggested that drinking 70 cups of coffee contains enough caffeine to kill a 70kg person. Apparently this amount of caffeine can trigger heart

palpitations or cardiac arrest - but what do the experts have to say? A study, published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, was carried out by researchers from US

and UK universities and was funded by US National Institutes of Health grants.  The researchers used lifestyle and medical information collected from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study,

which had 43, 727 adult participants who were monitored from 1970 to 2002.  Data on lifestyle, including coffee consumption, was collected by face-to-face interview and a medical examination

gathered information on blood pressure, blood chemistry and cardiovascular fitness levels, among other things.  Information on deaths was taken from electronic death registers and death

certificates.  The researchers compared different levels of reported coffee consumption to see if any were linked to an increased risk of death from any cause, or from any specific cause

such as cardiovascular disease. They analysed the potential link in men and women separately.  At the end of the study, the researchers reported a “positive association between coffee

consumption and all-cause mortality [death from any cause] was observed in men and women younger than 55 years. On the basis of these findings, it seems appropriate to suggest that younger

people avoid heavy coffee consumption (averaging >4 cups per day). However, this finding should be assessed in future studies of other populations”.  NHS Choices published its conclusion

on the study, which reads: “This study suggests men and women under the age of 55 who drink large amounts of coffee (more than 28 cups a week) may be at a higher risk of death from any cause

than those who report drinking no coffee.  “This study was large and covered a wife age range (20 to 90 years), but it also had many drawbacks, meaning the results may not be accurate or

reliable overall.  “Taken on its own this study does not prove that drinking less coffee makes you live longer, or that drinking even very high levels of coffee (greater than 28 cups a day)

does any harm. However, drinking such a large amount of coffee may be a sign of a generally unhealthy lifestyle, which may go some way to explain the link that was observed.  “It is

important to remember that in its caffeinated form, coffee is a stimulant, so drinking large amounts of it can lead to unpleasant side effects such as irritability, problems seeping,

restlessness and even in some cases nausea and vomiting.” A humble cup of coffee could help protect million of Britons from going blind, according to research.   Scientists discovered that a

daily espresso, teamed with a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables, has a protective effect on the eyes.  They found that coffee consumption can help ward off age-related macular

degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.  The debilitating condition already affects 600,000 people in britain and is set to increase significantly in the next

few years as people live longer.