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Caffeine, More Good Than Harm

Source: Jean Tang, Women’s Health

The cup of coffee that most of us use as a crutch to get going in the morning, or to make us sharper before concentrating on a task and that is so warm and smooth going down, must be bad for us right? Not necessarily.

Researchers have been analyzing caffeine for years and have not found substantial proof that it is bad for us. In fact, because it improves alertness and function, small amounts can actually be good for us.

Caffeine Increases Dopamine Levels in the Brain Which is Why it Feels Good

Caffeine is a natural stimulant which increases adrenaline in your bloodstream and increases your respiratory rate. In your brain, caffeine intercepts adenosine, the chemical that slows down our nerves and signals the need to sleep. It also increases dopamine levels, stimulating pleasure centers. That’s why people truly enjoy their caffeinated drinks.

Coffee has been found to improve cognitive functions by blocking that brain-slowing adenosine, says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Scranton. When given caffeine, severely sleep-deprived Navy Seal trainees improved their alertness, vigilance, learning, and memory by as much as 60%, according to Dr. Lieberman, who administered the test.

Smokers Are To Blame for Coffee’s Bad Rap

That myth the caffeine is bad for us exists in part because smokers tend to drink a lot of coffee and they have more health problems. But nicotine, not caffeine, is the culprit. Experts say as long as you don’t have high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, or anxiety, drinking caffeinated beverages is not a health risk.

Caffeine Improves Exercise Performance

In terms of athletic performance, caffeine “might be the difference between first place and last,” Dr. Vinson says. Without caffeine, not only are you a little slower mentally, you’re lagging physically. “Caffeine stimulates you to exercise 10% to 15% longer” because it keeps you from getting as tired, explains Terry Graham, Ph.D., a nutritionist who specializes in caffeine at Ontario’s University of Guelph.

However, recent research advises strongly that people not drink a cup of coffee immediately before exercise. That consumption so close to a workout can cause problems.

It’s also a mild analgesic, so you can work out longer before you start to feel sore. However, a troubling new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that caffeine may decrease blood flow to the heart during exercise. More research is needed.

The Journal of the American Medical Association recently reported that caffeine doesn’t put you at risk for hypertension, although something else, unknown to scientists, in sugared and diet colas does.

In people with normal blood pressure, any change in heart rate is not only “too small to measure,” Dr. Graham says, but it disappears within minutes of your first cup. If you already have high blood pressure, however, avoid excessive intake, says Lynne Shuster, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic’s Women’s Health Clinic, because caffeine can exacerbate a pre-existing condition. The same goes for those who suffer from heart arrhythmia or anxiety - caffeine can trigger arrhythmia in those who are prone to it and can worsen anxiety.

However, Caffeine Can Be Addicting

Many people have experienced those headaches when they went off coffee for a couple of days. You develop a tolerance to caffeine over time, and when you no longer take any in, your body, expecting that daily dose, reacts with headaches and irritability. The more caffeine you consume, the more severe the withdrawal symptoms, but some people can get hooked on just a cup a day.

Everything in Moderation

A Greek study suggested that moderate to heavy coffee intake is associated with a higher level of inflammation. An immune system response, inflammation can be harmful because too much of it can produce chemicals in the body that have been linked to heart disease and diabetes. But just because coffee was associated with inflammation doesn’t necessarily mean it caused it.

These researchers don’t discourage caffeine consumption, but do warn against caffeine in excess. A safe limit, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is around 400 milligrams - or four cups of coffee - a day.

But if you’re still worried about excess caffeine, try tea instead of coffee. Tea has so little caffeine (25 milligrams per cup compared to 125 milligrams per cup of coffee) that for most, it soothes rather than agitates.

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