Is Caffeine Bad?

August 28, 2008 – 9:15 pm

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Caffeine is a major ingredient of some popular drinks, like coffee, soda pop, and chocolate. But the major drink consumed by people in North America is coffee. In fact, coffee is a $90 billion-dollar industry and 85% or more people drink 3 to 5 cups a day. There are many risks involved in the consumption of coffee.

There are about 170 mg of caffeine in a regular cup of coffee and 30-40 mg in a cup of decaffeinated coffee. Do you know what caffeine really is? It is a stimulate that makes you feel awake and/or energized. Most people drink coffee to wake up because they didn’t get enough sleep the night before which in reality that isn’t a good solution. Using stimulates in place of sleep needed by the body can have long-term health consequences.

Caffeine increases your heart rate, blood pressure, and can lead to the development of heart disease. Caffeine has also been connected to coronary vasospasms, the cause of a small amount of fatal heart attacks, which can even kill healthy people.

Stress hormones stimulated by caffeine can lead to anxiety, irritability, indigestion, and a weakening of the immune system. Increased levels of stress from caffeine can keep you from making good responses to everyday decisions. Besides anxiety and irritability, which are main mood changes, there are other important problems like depression and attention disorders. Depression may happen when the caffeine wears off since the body is no longer being a stimulated. Also, when you decided to cut caffeine out of your diet, depression may occur while the brain is readjusting to being without it. Caffeine actually decreases blood flow to the brain rather than increases it like some people think. The result is that it negatively effects memory and mental awareness.

Diabetics should avoid caffeine because it causes a temporary surge of blood sugar and then the overproduction of insulin causes a blood sugar crash within a matter of hours. Also, people trying to lose weight may find themselves gaining weight because of the up and down effects of blood sugar.

Many people experience a burning sensation in their stomach after drinking coffee because the caffeine actually increases the acid that causes ulcers. Coffee, even decaf, reduces the pressure on the valve between the esophagus and stomach, which can lead to heartburn.

The consumption of caffeine can lead to adrenal exhaustion and that can lead to inflammation and fatigue. Since caffeine is a stimulant it causes the adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline, which the “fight or flight” response. When you overuse a stimulant the adrenal glands eventually become tired. This happens to many people over 40 because the production of certain hormones drop and caffeine speeds up that downhill drop. People that claim to be able to drink a large cup of coffee before going to sleep probably have adrenal glands that have given up responding. This means they have less resistance to things like stress and infections.

The health risks for men are that coffee can cause problems in the urinary tract and bladder. Eliminating coffee and caffeine can reduce symptoms like constant urination caused by an enlarged prostate gland.

The risks for women include breast disease, osteoporosis, miscarriage, and menopausal problems. Studies show that women who drink coffee have a higher occurrence of osteoporosis than non-coffee drinkers do. Women that take birth control pills have a higher risk of health problems since the body has a decreased ability to get rid of caffeine.

The choice is up to you, but there are proven health risks associated with the consumption of caffeine and coffee. It might be hard to cut it out of your diet especially if you are one of those people that drink 3 to 5 cups daily. A good solution would either be to cut down on the amount you have or try healthy coffee, which is more natural and has less caffeine.

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