William Morehead
November 24, 2009
Table of Contents
Caffeine M . I . C . D . S .
H e a l t h /
Page 1- What is Caffeine/Is it Good or Bad For You Page 2– Caffeine and Energy/Caffeine Addiction Page 3– Caffeine Withdrawal and Common Myths
Page 4– Resources and Bibliography
M o r g a n
W H AT I S C A F F E I N E ? Caffeine is a drug that is naturally produced in leaves and seeds of a lot of plants. It not only is naturally created it is also artificially created and added to many foods and drinks. Caffeine is considered a drug because of the fact that it stimulates your central nervous system. This results in an increase in energy and people begin to feel more awake and alert, also for many people it not only gives them a temporary energy boost, but also a better mood. The the most widely consumed being products containing caffeine are coffee, tea, cola nut, cocoa pod, guarana, and mate, according to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
IS
Caffeine Molecule
C A F F E I N E G O O D O R B A D F O R YO U ?
It turns out that caffeine is proven to be bad for humans. This is because we intake an average of 280 milligrams of caffeine a day this is equal to 17 ounces of coffee or 84 ounces of a soft drink. A healthy amount of caffeine would be around 30 mg or less although even this can lead to changes in mood and behavior. When the intake gets above 100mg per day then this can lead to caffeine dependence and symptoms of withdrawal with the halt of the caffeine intake. Caffeine is also proved to be bad for your organs as well.
With drinking coffee or soda this contributes to raising your heart rate, because of an increase in coritsol which is the primary stress hormone in the human body. In some studies they have proven that a small dose of caffeine before a physical activity actually increased peoples performance during that activity. So the answer to this question is caffeine good or bad for you, both is the answer. In small doses caffeine can benefit most people, but with a daily large intake of caffeine it does not benefit your body at all.
Page 2
Caffeine
D O E S C A F F E I N E R E A L LY P R OV I D E E N E R GY ? The answer to this question is yes. As mentioned before in the previous section it has been proven that taking a small amount of a product with caffeine can actually benefit your performance. Two experiments which exhibit this are two tests involving golf and soccer. The one which provides the more clear and promising outcome is the one
involving golf. In the golfing test where there were twenty male golfers. ten were given a sports drink with caffeine, the other ten were given a placebo drink. After the four hour game of golf the caffeine drinking golfers ended up doing better than the placebo group, and feeling more energized and awake even after the four hour game of golf. In this
experiment the group who received the noncaffeine drink thought that they would be drinking a drink with caffeine. Both groups before hand were told that they would all be receiving a caffeinated sports drink and no one was informed that there was a placebo drink involved in this trial.
C A N YO U B E C O M E A D D I C T E D TO C A F F E I N E ? Below is the part of the chart in which the investigation team at Johns Hopkins University gathered data from their research and trials.
No, you can not be addicted to caffeine, but you can become dependant on products that contain caffeine. You may think dependency and addiction are the same thing. In this case how they are involving a can of soda or cup of coffee they are somewhat closer that normal, but they are still very different. Being dependant on something means that you rely on it, and usually that your body needs it to function. An
example is someone can be dependant on an inhaler, but that doesn’t mean they are addicted, because their body relies on the inhaler to work properly. Addiction is when your body doesn't need the certain something to work properly yet you become addicted to it and crave it and have a need for it all the time. In the case of caffeine many people become dependant on it, because without it they become to experi-
ence symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, sleepiness or drowsiness, difficulty working, irritability, depression, flu-like symptoms, and impairment in cognitive functions. People become scared to experience these, and they pick up on when they don’t have the cup of coffee or soda that they have to deal with these symptoms this is why many become dependant on caffeine, because for their body
Chart taken from the John Hopkins Bayview Medical School Caffeine Dependence Research Team, at the website below.
http://www.caffeinedependence.org/caffeine_dependence.html
William Morehead
Page 3
W I T H D R AWA L Withdrawal occurs when someone has a daily intake of 100mg or more of caffeine. This creates a dependency for products with caffeine present in them. Most people who have a dependency with caffeine means that for their body to function normally that they need their daily dose of caffeine. If the body is left without its daily dose than the follow-
MYTHS
ing symptoms could occur, headaches, fatigue, sleepiness or drowsiness, difficulty working, irritability, depression, flu-like symptoms, and impairment in cognitive functions. This is called withdrawal when people are not getting their daily dose of 100mg of caffeine ore more per day. Usually many of the withdrawal symptoms tend to begin as one and lead into
one another such as if someone has a headache then they begin to not be able to handle their work. With this ability to not handle work than they begin to get irritated very easily so they may begin to yell and start to take it out on others. This withdrawal is very important to recognize, because many cases have been known to get very overpowering.
ABOUT CAFFEINE
Many myths surround the topic of caffeine today. One of these myths being that is you intake caffeine that it will stunt your growth. This myth started a while ago when it was said that drinking caffeinated beverages would stunt your growth, because that
DOES
A C LO S E R LO O K
caffeine was linked to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is the loss of bone tissue and this then results in the weakening of bones, and very fragile bones. It was then proved that caffeine did not put you at higher risk for osteoporosis it was the fact that many coffee
and soda drinkers had a lower calcium intake than the normal person. It was also then proved that this could be fixed by adding a few tablespoons of milk into your coffee.
C A F F E I N E D E H Y D R AT E ?
Many believe strongly that the intake of caffeinated beverages dehydrates you and leaves you will less water in your system. This is a false statement a large group of tests and trials have been run. With
these trials it has been proved that the intake of a caffeinated cup of coffee doesn’t decrease your water level it actually increases the flow to you kidneys. So the myth that a cup of joe in morning
will dehydrate you is strictly a myth. You will urinate just us much as if you had a cup of water coffee does not dehydrate it is actually an excellent hydration source.
Bibliography and Resources "Caffeine" Medline Plus. November 16, 2009. 11/20/09. <http:// www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/caffeine.html>. "Caffeine enhances cognitive function and skill performance during simulated soccer activity." PubMed.gov. August 19, 2009. 11/20/09. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19827465?tool=MedlinePlus>. "Caffeine." Teens Health. N/A. 11/20/09. <http://kidshealth.org/teen/ food_fitness/nutrition/caffeine.html>. "Caffeine." My Fit. November 23, 2009. 11/20/09. <http:/www.myfit.ca/ archivesviewanarticle.asptable=supplements&ID=18&subject=Caffeine> "Coffee and Kidney Function/Fluid Balance." The Coffee Science Info Centre. N/A. 11/20/09. <http://www.cosic.org/coffee-and-health/kidney -function>. "Does Coffee Stunt Your Growth?." Yahoo Health. January 22, 2007. 11/20/09. <http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/7198/ does-coffee-stunt-your-growth/>. Gloria from American Heart Association Hot Line "Information about Caffeine Dependence." Caffeine Dependence. July 9, 2003. 11/20/09. <http://www.caffeinedependence.org/ caffeine_dependence.html#health>.