According to studies, approximately 98 percent of North Americans regularly incorporate caffeine into their diet, at an average of 230 milligrams per day.
This wide consumption makes caffeine the most widely used drug on the marketplace.
Caffeine can be found in coffee, tea, soda, protein bars, enhanced water, candy and, recently in the news, energy drinks.
Rockstar supplies a whopping 160 mg of caffeine per 16 fluid oz. serving – almost hitting the 200-300 mg per day mark recommended for adults. Competitor 5-Hour Energy packs 200 mg of caffeine per serving.
And despite multiple warnings from pediatricians, energy drink sales are expected to double in the next five years thanks in part to widespread consumption by the younger generation.
And now the question becomes: Is caffeine good for you? There’s only one good, three-word sentence to sum up the answer.
Everything in moderation. There are possible benefits.
A 2011 study published in medical journal Muscle & Nerve, which had 14 male subjects take 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight – for example, a 150-pound male took approximately 408 mg – before exercise, concluded that caffeine improves muscle performance during short-duration maximal dynamic contractions in a dramatic way.
And this is not the only study to support such a claim. Another experiment, published in 2006 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, showed that a “caffeine-containing supplement may be an effective supplement for increasing upper-body strength.”
Caffeine can also improve body composition. According to a study done just last year and published in the journal of the Obesity Society, a combination serving of 200 mg caffeine and 20 mg ephedrine was effectively shown to “produce significant reductions in fat mass.”
Two years ago, a study by the University of South Florida and the University of Miami showed that individuals with high amounts of caffeine in their blood were shown to have a lesser risk of contracting Alzheimer’s disease, possibly showing that caffeine can reduce the risk or delay the onset of dementia-like cognitive disorders. It is important to note that this study has not proved or shown biologically, in any way, that caffeine does help limit dementia; it has only provided a statistical link, and much more research will be done in the coming years.
And yet, caffeine, specifically in coffee, can possibly do even more incredible things.
For instance, medium to high consumption – three or four cups – of caffeinated coffee has been found to reduce the risk of liver cancer by 40 percent, skin cancer by 5 percent, oral cancer by 49 percent, suicide by 50 percent and type 2 diabetes by 25 percent.
With this continuously growing body of evidence cheering for caffeine, what could possibly be wrong with it?
Overconsumption.
A review done in 2011 at the Harvard School of Public Health dictates that overconsumption - around 500-600 mg a day – of caffeine can lead to or cause anxiety attacks, hallucinations and addiction (very common), and impair learning.
Also, kids are found to be more susceptible to caffeine’s poor side effects than adults are it can possibly limit or hamper their growth.
But, the most shocking find of the review – published in Frontiers of Neuroscience journal in 2011 – is that caffeine was found to be very similar to drugs such as morphine, heroin and cocaine. The study states that “caffeine shows the most similarity to cocaine and reinforces cocaine-seeking behavior after elimination of the drug.”
With both risks and benefits to caffeine consumption, the best thing to do is be cognizant. Keep up with the current research and news, look into what products may be affecting your family and try to keep your daily caffeine intake to 200-300 mg a day, which is around two or three cups of coffee.
David Allen is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
