Caffeine

I came across a status on facebook few days ago asking about the maximum amount of coffee that we can consume everyday before getting intoxicated. I thought that this was a good topic to be discussed as many people nowadays did not now that they actually drink a lot of coffee or should I say caffeine to be exact. Caffeine can be found in many food and beverages around us. The main source is of course COFFEE. Others may include chocolate and soft drinks especially colas. Some of us underestimate the amount of caffeine they ingest per day until they experience symptoms that mimics panic attack. Palpitations, hot flushes, headache, stomach upset and many more. Even when we get those symptoms we might not know that the culprit is actually the caffeine inside COFFEE that we drink. In North America, people going to the ED seeking treatment for caffeine intoxication are getting higher and higher. Children and teenagers are among those who are affected by this due to the caffeine inside colas and energy drinks. Since caffeine is naturally from cocoa seeds, coffee beans and tea leaves we sometime do not know that we are drinking caffeine-contained drink.

So what is caffeine?

Caffeine is grouped together with cocaine and amphetamine which are psychoactive stimulants. To help us understand how caffeine works we need to know how it affects our brain. Usually in our brain while we are sleeping, adenosine are secreted. It binds to its receptors causing the neurons to slow its activity. In addition, blood vessels are dilated to let more oxygen to be delivered. For these receptors, caffeine looks exactly like adenosine in fact more potent. When it binds to these receptors, the opposite effects of adenosine are produced. Neurons increase firing and blood vessels are constricted.

One gland in the brain, called pituitary, perceive this as an emergency condition just like ‘fight or flight’ response. It sends messages to the adrenal glands causing adrenaline to be produce and secreted into the blood stream. Heart started to increase its activity to meet the body requirements. Liver, produced more glucose to supply more energy. So that’s the desired effect we want to study late night for exams.

So how caffeine can be addictive? The answer is through dopamine abundance in our brain. Caffeine like cocaine increases the amount of dopamine in our brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter for pleasure activity like after doing sex. So you’ll feel good after consuming caffeine which in turn, might cause addiction but obviously of milder one compare to cocaine or amphetamines.

Conclusions

If you understand how caffeine works by now, you should be able to grasp the concept on how caffeine helps us to stay awake and feel happy and at the same time may cause addictive effect. As a medical students or as a doctor later on, when a young patient have a complaint of having palpitations or occasional headache plus some stomach related symptoms, you might one to inquire more if he’s consuming caffeine more than he should. A healthy individual according to a research may take 100-250mg that’s 2-3 cups of coffee per day. A dosage of 5-10g may be fatal! So, know your drinks. Coffee, colas, tea and energy drinks all contain caffeine. While food like chocolate have some amount in it. You might be surprised by how much of this substance you use everyday! Be wise and use responsibly.

----> learn more about Caffeine here! http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine.shtml

-----it took me a long time to write this. i know, i'm suck at writing and loves to procrastinate----- ;)