Caffeine
is the world’s most popular stimulant - the drug that 4 out of
5 Americans take on any given day. Most of the caffeine we consume comes
from coffee.
The United States buys nearly one-half of the world supply of coffee
beans. It is said that a food service operation can stand or fall on
its reputation of
the coffee it serves. Every mid-morning and mid-afternoon working day millions
of office and factory workers abandon jobs for an employer-paid “coffee
break.”
Over 15,000,000 Americans are hooked on coffee; and most of them don’t
even know it, so insidious is its addictive onslaught. The child or adult may
unknowingly ingest several hundred milligrams of caffeine daily.
Like narcotics, alcohol or cigarettes, coffee and caffeinated beverages are addictive,
destructive drugs which each year predispose millions of Americans to crippling
illnesses and sometimes fatal diseases.
Coffee and tea are the two most popular beverages in America. Less than
9% of
the population drink neither coffee nor tea. Coffee is America’s No. 1
drug problem.
CAFFEINE
WITHDRAWAL
Caffeine withdrawal can occur from just missing one cup of coffee in the morning.
Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal are headaches, irritability, inability to work
effectively, nervousness, restlessness and lethargy. A steady user of caffeine
may, at times, experience tight headaches in the back of the neck area and
be quick to anger or irritation.
CAFFEINE
ACTS AS A STIMULANT
Caffeine is a toxic stimulant. Body reactions are speeded up. This
is not a natural thing for the body. What it does is activate the "Fight or Flight" response.
Executive Fitness Newsletter, October 13, 1984, stated: “It’s
important to remember that the caffeine in coffee is a powerful
substance. It can stimulate the central nervous system, increase
heartbeat and metabolic rate, increase the secretion of stomach
acid, and step up secretion of stomach acid, and step up kidney
and bladder action. It’s also well known for its annoying
ability to affect sleep.” The article goes on to say that
in higher doses, caffeine can cause “coffee nerves” with
a wide assortment of symptoms “including anxiety, irritability,
headaches, light-headedness, nausea and diarrhea.”
Coffee can cause a temporary increase in blood sugar, but it is quickly followed
by a decrease, and stimulates the release of adrenalin, which causes body tissues
to be broken down into sugar and fat. Too much insulin is produced, and the
blood sugar falls to a low level.
CAFFEINE
IS A POISON
Caffeine, which is the main chemical in coffee, is a powerful poison! A drop
of caffeine injected into the skin of an animal will produce death within a
few minutes. An infinitely small amount injected into the brain will cause
convulsions. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee is quite small. Yet
we drink coffee because of the effect of the caffeine, just as we smoke because
of the effect of the nicotine. Both are drugs, both are habit-forming! Both
are poisons.
COFFEE-DRINKING & STOMACH
ULCERS
Two modern disorders: The general public usually associates ulcers and heart
trouble with coffee drinking. J.A. Roth and A.C. Ivy, whose animal experiments
on coffee are famous, state in Gastroenterology, November, 1948: “Caffeine
produces gastro-duodenal ulcers in animals to whom the drug is given in a
beeswax container so that their stomachs are absorbing caffeine continually.
Also,
caffeine produces very definite changes in the blood vessels of animals,
which are similar to changes produced by prolonged resentment hostility and
anxiety.”
COFFEE
LINKED TO HIP FRACTURES
The Providence Journal wrote in October 1, 1990: “People who
drink more than two cups of coffee or four cups of tea a day could be increasing
their risk of hip fracture in old age, according to a new study.“The
study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology,
is the first to link caffeine consumption with hip fractures that occur in
older people whose bones have weakened. A hip fracture often marks an elderly
person’s final decline into dependency or death.
Dr. Douglas P. Kiel, a professor of medicine at Brown University, and his colleagues
looked at how much coffee or tea 3,170 people reported drinking over 14 years.
Then they looked to see which ones fractured their hips, a sign that bones
had become brittle. They found that heavy caffeine drinkers were 53% more likely
to suffer hip fractures.
“Caffeine has long been suspected of draining calcium from the bones,
because people who consume it have higher levels of calcium in their urine. Loss
of calcium leads to osteoporosis, the brittle-bone condition that afflicts many
elderly people, and results in an estimated 250,000 hip fractures each year.”
INFERTILITY
Trying to become pregnant? Then you should stop drinking caffienated drinks. Among
104 women who drank just one cup of caffinated coffee a day were half as likely
to become pregnant during any given menstrual cycle
as those who
drank less, according to a 1988 study by Allen Wilcox of the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Most of the studies conducted since then have also found that caffeine
impairs fertility, but usually only at three or more cups of regular
coffee a day.
But the research is only as good or bad as the women’s memories.
For example, scientists at John Hopkins University found that among
2,500 women
who were trying to become pregnant, consuming more than 300 mg of caffeine
a day reduced their chances of succeeding in any given month by 17%. But
those results were based on the amount of coffee and soft drinks
the women could
remember having consumed as many as ten years earlier.
Even so, “it’s probably prudent for women who are trying to become
pregnant, and especially for those having trouble, to cut back on caffeine,” says
Mark Klebanoff of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
in Bethesda, Maryland.
DOES
COFFEE CAUSE CANCER?
There is mounting evidence suggesting that if you want to avoid certain cancers,
you are well-advised to kick the coffee habit.
Roasting coffee produces tars and has the same characteristic as coal tar.
- One study revealed that not only was coffee drinking associated with increased
risk of bladder cancer, but the drinking of non-diet cola drinks also was linked
to this problem.
- Coffee drinking increases the risk of birth defects.
- Coffee drinking increases blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease.
It is commonly thought that the drinking of coffee, soft drinks, and other
caffeinated drinks is a minor matter as far as our health is concerned. But
is it? We cannot estimate its effect on mind and emotions, discrimination and
judgment. And then there is the harmful effects of the stimulation on the heart
and other vital organs.
Coffee
and other caffeine beverages are poor substitutes for water. The body
need
fluids, but not stimulating drugs. Giving up the coffee habit is relatively
easy to do for most folks — once a commitment has been made. Since
caffeine is a less toxic drug than alcohol and street drugs, the majority
of coffee drinkers can give up the habit without the sort of difficulties
that both alcoholics and drug addicts typically experience. While it
is true that caffeine has been around a long time, that is not necessarily
its best enforcement. Russian roulette has been around for some time,
too!
When giving up caffeine, eat and drink nothing that does not contribute
in some way to good nutrition for the body. Any food or drink that
contains neither
vitamins, minerals or enzymes should automatically be crossed off the list.
While breaking “the coffee habit” be sure to drink plenty of fresh
juices and water.
“Just how widespread is coffee drinking? The average American drinks over twenty-six gallons of coffee per year, but perhaps more germane to the discussion is caffeine itself. Coffee has over three hundred chemicals; caffeine is only one of them.” - Carol Simontacchi, The Crazy Makers
By Katy Chamberlin
by Katy Chamberlin