Is coffee good or bad for you?

/ Korea Times file

Coffee has become so popular in Korea that people prefer a cup rather than eating rice or kimchi.

However, besides the benefits, there can also be bad effects from caffeine found naturally in coffee beans.

Coffee can help you lose weight, and black coffee instead of calorie-abundant latte helps.

“As well as being practically calorie-free, coffee may be a mild appetite suppressant,” Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper quotes dietician Nigel Denby as saying.

It also pushes out waste fast by stimulating and increasing bowel contractions.

But too much coffee can increase the risk of crumbly bones or osteoporosis because caffeine speeds up bone loss.

“Caffeine also affects absorption of calcium from the gut and accelerates calcium excretion, potentially leading to bone loss,” the newspaper quotes Julia Thomson, a specialist nurse at the National Osteoporosis Society, as saying.

Calcium is essential for strong bones.