A 50-year-old woman suddenly developed severe muscle weakness and fatigue. It was so severe she ended up in the ER. Her blood tests showed lower than normal levels of the vital nutrient potassium. After a lot of medical sleuthing, it was found that she was a coffee addict. She drank over 10 cups a day and spent generous amounts of time in the loo (bathroom). She was in the bathroom, it turned out, so many times a day, I wonder when she had the time to brew the darn coffee?
It turns out that the massive coffee ingestion caused excessive urination, which turned on the aldosterone system, and lots of precious potassium was lost in the urine. The good news is that when she was taken off caffeine (not that caffeine’s bad, but anything is not good in excess), and was supplemented with potassium and antibiotics, she got better.
Moral of the story is, enjoy the brew, but don’t overdo. (Clinical Medical Insights 2012)