Caffeine: The Good and Bad

Caffeine: The Good and Bad
By: Julie Riggs, MEd, RD, LD

When most people think of caffeine, the first thing that comes to mind is staying alert. You may need that first cup of coffee in the morning to start your day, or that Coca-Cola with lunch to finish your day. Surprisingly enough, the latest research suggests that caffeine actually does far more. It can lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease and gallstones, to increasing the risk of miscarriages and migraines. Read on to decide whether or not you should be consuming this addictive food additive.

History

Up until ten years ago, the only foods with added caffeine were soft drinks, and the amount allowable in each eight ounce drink was limited. That all changed when a sweetened, fortified water product called Red Bull hit the US, and the amount allowable was doubled. The success of Red Bull and the copycats that quickly followed began the aggressive marketing of caffeine-containing food products. This caffeine frenzy pushed the allowable levels added to foods quadrupling those of the original products. You can now find caffeine added to candy bars, hot cereal, chewing gum, chips, jelly beans, mints, beer, and lots more. People are more likely to choose a food with caffeine over one that ‘s caffeine free. Having the caffeine in the product increases the probability that the product will be bought and consumed. Since caffeine is a pharmacological agent, a drug, and it leads to physical dependence in people who use it regularly, it induces dependency and builds customer loyalty.

The Good

Parkinson’s Disease: There is fairly convincing evidence that people who drink coffee or consume caffeine regularly have a lower risk of developing the disease. It doesn’t take much-just 100 to 200 milligrams a day for the risk to be lowered. Although, it doesn’t protect everybody. Women who took post-menopausal hormones didn’t see any benefit.

Gallstones: In a huge, long term study done on men and women who both drank two to three cups of regular coffee a day, the results showed a 20 percent lower risk of developing gallstones than non-drinkers. No other caffeinated drinks were found to be protective because they probably didn’t have enough caffeine in them. The theory is that the caffeine may stimulate the gallbladder to contract, which helps empty it of stone-forming cholesterol and bile pigments.

Mental Performance: Caffeine improves alertness and reaction time in people, whether they’re habitual consumers of caffeine or not. The effect is clearly limited to the ability to maintain attention. Things like memory or complex reasoning won’t improve. In the sleep deprived, however, caffeine has a more striking impact. It improves almost everything you can measure. It makes you more alert, you can perform complex tasks better, and your memory is better. If you are falling asleep on the job, you can’t do much of anything. But, if you are given something that can wake you up, you can focus and you are going to do a better job. Studies are currently being done in the military when soldiers aren’t able to get sufficient sleep; the French are also testing the effectiveness of caffeine when driving to prove how effective a caffeine jolt can be. Thousands of drivers are alive today thanks to a well-timed cup of coffee.

Mood: After consuming anywhere from 20 to 200 mg of caffeine, people have reported increased well-being, happiness, energy, alertness, and sociability. One long term study found that those who drank at least two cups of regular coffee a day were about 60 percent less likely to commit suicide than those who drank none. But, on the contrary, consuming more than 200mg can produce increased anxiety, nervousness, jitteriness, and upset stomach in some people.

Physical Performance: Caffeine helps the body burn fat instead of carbs, and it blunts the perception of pain. Both can boost endurance. You don’t have to be a trained athlete to benefit. Aerobic physical endurance and anaerobic performance can both be significantly improved by consuming 200 to 600 mg of caffeine before beginning the activity.

Headaches: When you get a headache, the blood vessels in your brain dilate, or become wider. Caffeine causes blood vessels to constrict, which may explain why it can help relieve headache pain. It’s also a mild painkiller, which is why caffeine is included in prescription and over-the-counter headache medicines.

The Bad

Sleep: Consuming caffeine within three to five hours of bedtime will disturb the sleep of most people. The caffeine interferes with adenosine, which many scientists believe is the brain’s natural sleep regulator. They may not only have trouble falling asleep, but they may also experience frequent, brief awakenings during the night that they won’t be aware of, but will diminish the restorative effect of their sleep. This will then make them more tired the next day, and lead to more caffeine consumption, leading to a cycle.

Fertility: There are conflicting studies on the subject. One study in 1988, says as little as one cup of coffee a day could slash in half the odds of becoming pregnant. Yet, more recent studies conclude that it takes at least 300 mg to cause any negative effect. With the amount of studies being done more recently, I think it is safe to say the effect of low to moderate caffeine consumption doesn’t seem to reduce a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant.

Miscarriage: Similar to the problems with fertility, it is suggested that woman who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant limit their caffeine intake from all sources to 200 mg or less every day.

Birth Defects: There isn’t any real conclusive evidence as to caffeine consumption and birth defects. Any studies done are mainly relying on the memories of women who had given birth to infants with birth defects. So, they may inflate estimates of their past coffee consumption if they believed that coffee increased risk. Just to be on the safe side, the FDA recommends that pregnant women should avoid caffeine-containing foods and drugs, if possible, or consume them only sparingly.

Migraines: While caffeine can help relieve headache pain, daily exposure appears to lower the threshold for provoking migraines in people who are genetically susceptible to them. caffeine only relieves temporary pain and may increase the frequency of headaches and symptoms of migraines, therefore diminishing overall quality of life. Patients with a history of occasional migraines should consume caffeine no more than two day a week.