Around 90 percent of Americans consume caffeine every single day in one form or another. More than half of all American adults* consume more than 300 milligrams (mg) of caffeine every day, making it America's most popular drug by far. Caffeine is a natural component of chocolate, coffee and tea, and is used as an added energy boost in most colas and energy drinks. It’s also found in diet pills and some over-the-counter pain relievers and medicines.
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What is Caffeine?
Caffeine is known medically as trimethylxanthine, and the chemical formula is C8H10N4O2 (see Erowid: Caffeine Chemistry for an image of the molecular structure). When isolated in pure form, caffeine is a white crystalline powder that tastes very bitter. The chief source of pure caffeine is the end result of the process of decaffeinating coffee and tea.
Medically, caffeine is useful as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic - it increases urine production. Recreationally, it is used to provide a "boost of energy" or a feeling of heightened alertness. College students often use it to stay awake while cramming for finals and drivers use it to push through to their destination. Many people feel as though they "cannot function" in the morning without a cup of coffee to provide caffeine and the boost it gives them.
It's important to know that caffeine is an addictive drug. Among its many actions, it operates using the same mechanisms that amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin use to stimulate the brain. Relatively speaking, caffeine's effects are milder than amphetamines, cocaine and heroin, but it is manipulating the same channels in the brain, and that is one of the things that gives caffeine its addictive qualities. If you feel like you cannot function without it and must consume it every day, then you may be addicted to caffeine.
Curious about how much caffeine you're really consuming in a day? Read on to find out where - and just how much - caffeine is lurking in your diet.
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Caffeine in the Diet
Caffeine occurs naturally in many plants, including coffee beans, tea leaves and cocoa beans, so it’s found in a wide range of food products. What most people don’t know is that caffeine is added artificially to many others, including a variety of beverages like colas. Coca-Cola was originally made with kola nut extract, which naturally contains caffeine and was mostly responsible for the flavor and buzz that early fans of the beverage craved (although the cocaine contained in early formulas of the drink certainly helped increase that craving). Now, colas are made with artificial flavors, and caffeine from another source is added in the production process. Energy drinks are a new trend in caffeinated beverages. They contain an abundance of sugar and other chemicals that help provide that sought-after boost. Caffeine can also be found in many weight loss pills and some over-the-counter pain medicines.
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Caffeine Intoxication and Overdose
Anyone who’s ever had too much coffee can tell you that caffeine intoxication is no fun. Medical experts agree that ingesting more than 250 mg of caffeine in a short period of time can cause restlessness, insomnia, muscle twitching, gastrointestinal disturbance, cardiac arrhythmia and a host of other problems. These symptoms can cause significant social and occupational disturbances [source: Johns Hopkins University -- Bayview Medical Center]. Caffeine intoxication is rarely fatal, although 5,000-10,000 mg of caffeine can actually kill you [source: Dance]. Fortunately, most people won’t ever ingest this much caffeine accidentally - it would take between 30 and 60 cups of coffee in one morning.
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Here are the most common sources of caffeine for Americans:
* Typical drip-brewed coffee contains about 100 mg per 8-ounce cup [source: MayoClinic.com]. If you are buying your coffee at Starbucks or a convenience store or drinking it at home or the office out of a mug, you are consuming it in 12-, 14- or 20-ounce containers. You can calculate the number of milligrams based on your normal serving size. * Typical brewed black tea contains 50 mg per 8-ounce cup. * Typical caffeinated sodas (Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc.) contain 40-50 mg per 12-ounce can. * Super-caffeinated colas like Jolt contain 70 mg per 12-ounce can [source: Center for Science in the Public Interest]. * Typical milk chocolate contains 6 mg per ounce [source: March of Dimes]. * Maximum Strength Anacin contains 32 mg per tablet. NoDoz and Vivarin each contain 200 mg per tablet. Extra Strength Excedrin contains 65 mg per tablet [source: Center for Science in the Public Interest]. * Energy drinks like Red Bull (8.3 oz-sized can) and Rock Star (8.4 oz-sized can) contain about 80 mg per can.
By looking at these numbers and by knowing how widespread coffee, chocolate, tea, cola and energy drinks are in our society, you can see why half of all American adults consume more than 300 mg of caffeine per day. Two mugs of coffee or a mug of coffee and a couple of Cokes during the day are all you need to get there. If you sit down and calculate your caffeine consumption during a typical day, you may be surprised. Many people consume a gram or more every single day and don't even realize it.
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Caffeine and Adenosine
Why do so many people consume so much caffeine? Why does caffeine wake you up? By understanding the drug's actions inside the body you can see why people use it so much.
In the HowStuffWorks article How Sleep Works, the action of adenosine is discussed in detail. While it sounds like advanced science, it's really pretty simple. As adenosine is created in the brain, it binds to adenosine receptors. The binding of adenosine causes drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity. In the brain, adenosine binding also causes blood vessels to dilate, most likely to let more oxygen in during sleep.
To a nerve cell, caffeine looks like adenosine. Caffeine therefore binds to the adenosine receptor. However, it doesn't slow down the cell's activity like adenosine would. As a result, the cell can no longer identify adenosine because caffeine is taking up all the receptors that adenosine would normally bind to. Instead of slowing down because of the adenosine's effect, the nerve cells speed up. Caffeine also causes the brain's blood vessels to constrict, because it blocks adenosine's ability to open them up. This effect is why some headache medicines like Anacin contain caffeine -- if you have a vascular headache, the caffeine will close down the blood vessels and relieve it. coffee
So, now you have increased neuron firing in the brain. The pituitary gland sees all of this activity and thinks some sort of emergency must be occurring, so it releases hormones that tell the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline (epinephrine). Adrenaline is the "fight or flight" hormone, and it has a number of effects on your body:
* Your pupils dilate. * Your breathing tubes open up (this is why people suffering from severe asthma attacks are sometimes injected with epinephrine). * Your heart beats faster. * Blood vessels on the surface constrict to slow blood flow from cuts and also to increase blood flow to muscles. * Blood pressure rises. * Blood flow to the stomach slows. * The liver releases sugar into the bloodstream for extra energy. * Muscles tighten up, ready for action.
This explains why, after consuming a big cup of coffee, your hands get cold, your muscles tense up, you feel excited and you can feel your heart beat increasing.
In the next section, we'll go into detail about caffeine's long term effects on the body.
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Caffeine and Dopamine
Caffeine also increases dopamine levels in the same way that amphetamines do. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that activates pleasure centers in certain parts of the brain. Heroin and cocaine also manipulate dopamine levels by slowing down the rate of dopamine reabsorption. Obviously, caffeine's effect is much lower than heroin's, but it is the same mechanism. It is suspected that the dopamine connection contributes to caffeine addiction.
You can see why your body might like caffeine in the short term, especially if you are low on sleep and need to remain active. Caffeine blocks adenosine reception so you feel alert. It injects adrenaline into the system to give you a boost. And it manipulates dopamine production to make you feel good.
The problem with caffeine is the longer-term effects, which tend to spiral. For example, once the adrenaline wears off, you face fatigue and depression. So what are you going to do? You consume more caffeine to get the adrenaline going again. As you might imagine, having your body in a state of emergency all day long isn't very healthy, and it also makes you jumpy and irritable.
The most important long-term problem is the effect that caffeine has on sleep. Adenosine reception is important to sleep, and especially to deep sleep. The half-life of caffeine in your body is about six hours. That means that if you consume a big cup of coffee with 200 mg of caffeine in it at 3:00 p.m., by 9:00 p.m. about 100 mg of that caffeine is still in your system. You may be able to fall asleep, but your body will probably miss out on the benefits of deep sleep. That deficit adds up fast. The next day you feel worse, so you need caffeine as soon as you get out of bed. The cycle continues day after day.
This is why 90 percent of Americans consume caffeine every day. Once you get in the cycle, you have to keep consuming the drug. Even worse, if you try to stop consuming caffeine, you get very tired and depressed, and you get a terrible, splitting headache as blood vessels in the brain dilate. These negative effects force you to run back to caffeine even if you want to stop.
If you are interested in breaking the caffeine cycle in your own life, the book Caffeine Blues (especially Chapter 10) can be very helpful.
In addition to the dangers we just discussed, there are some surprising benefits we'll learn about in the next section.
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Health Benefits of Caffeine
Caffeine has long been on the list of don'ts for people hoping to lead a healthy lifestyle. Doctors pointed to caffeine's negative effects on the nervous system and how it can increase anxiety, stress and food cravings, in addition to inhibiting sleep. Recent studies, however, have shown that coffee and caffeine may actually have some significant medical benefits.
There have been more than 19,000 studies on caffeine and coffee in the past 30 years in an attempt to determine its exact effects on the human body. One of the most thorough and exhaustive studies was done by Harvard University, in which they examined 126,000 people over an 18-year period. The findings indicate that people who drink one to three cups of coffee a day are up to 9 percent less likely to contract diabetes. What's interesting is what happened to those who drank six or more cups of coffee per day - men slashed their chances of contracting diabetes by 54 percent, and women by 30 percent [source: Kirchheimer].
Other studies have shown similar results in many facets of human health:
* Regular coffee drinkers are 80 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease. * Two cups a day gives you 20 percent less risk of colon cancer. * Two cups a day causes an 80 percent drop in cirrhosis. * Two cups a day prevents gallstone development by 50 percent. * It has also shown to be beneficial in asthma, stopping headaches, boosting mood and even preventing cavities [source: Kirchheimer].
Some of these findings may have something to do with other healthful properties of the coffee bean, but most can be directly linked to caffeine. Researchers are even developing drugs for Parkinson's disease containing caffeine derivatives.
*Another interesting study by The Byrd Alzheimer's Institute in Tampa, Fla., showed that lab mice injected with caffeine were protected against developing Alzheimer's disease. The injections even helped reduce symptoms in those that had the disease. The findings lead doctors to believe that up to five cups of coffee a day could have the same positive effect on humans [source: Arendash].
Rutgers University carried out a study in July 2007 that showed regular exercise combined with daily doses of caffeine can increase the destruction of pre-cancerous skin cells in mice. Once again, the findings have not yet been tested on humans, but the indication is that it will have similar effects [source: Lu].
One thing is clear -- despite the recent findings, most doctors still recommend moderation in regard to caffeine intake. While these recent studies give hope to those who are hooked on their morning cup of joe, there is still a long way to go to determine the long- term effects of caffeine use.
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