THE COFFEE BUZZ, DRUG OF CHOICE

THE COFFEE BUZZ

It seems we can’t survive without the world’s most popular drug, coffee.  The more modern we get the more we seem to need it.  Caffeine pumps up our adrenalin, robs us of our sleep, and yet we must continue to move our systems full speed ahead. 

After a night of drinking and partying, there is nothing like a couple tins of Red Bull, which has three times the caffeine as a can of coke..  Our 24-hour society seemingly can’t exist without a jolt of Diet Coke or Red Bull.   Whether you are at the all nightclub scene, a college student or marathon runner you need mankind’s oldest stimulant, caffeine.  It certainly gets you more alert and energetic.

Because caffeine fights physical fatigue and increases your alertness, it the most popular mood altering drug in the world, vastly eclipsing nicotine and alcohol.  You can get it in diet pills, pain relievers, and at the espresso bar. 

Caffeine is the only habit-forming drug we give our kids, in the form of cokes and chocolate bars.  Sales of $2 Red Bulls and other energy drinks as Red Devil, Roaring Lion , Rock Star, SoBe Adrenaline Rush, Go Fast, and Whoop Ass are booming.

Comparisons           Caffeine

Chocolate bar, 6 oz                  25mg

Tea, 8 0z                                    50 mg

Brewed coffee, 12 oz             200 mg

Mountain Dew, 64 oz          300 mg

Red Bull, 8l3 oz                       80 mg

Coke, 20 oz                              60 mg

Excedrin, 2 tabs                    130 mg

Over 200 years ago, people figured out the buzz from tea and coffee.  It is an alkaloid in the leaves, seeds, and fruit of tea, coffee, cacao, kola trees and over 60 other plants.  In 1830, a German chemist, Runge, isolated the drug from the coffee bean.  Later it was found in kola nuts and cacao.

With the ushering in of the industrial revolution, the caffeinated drinks replaced beer, as workers left the farms for the factories. It kept them from falling asleep at the machines, and hot boiled water with coffee decreased the incidence of disease in the crowded cities.

The pattern of sleep and wakefulness used to be governed by the sun and the season.  Our work had a schedule built by the sun.  But with the invention of the electric light bulb, our work switched to one timed by a clock in an indoor job.  Our society certainly needed to adapt.

How does caffeine keep you awake?  It interferes with adenosine, a chemical that acts as our natural sleeping pill.  The hypnotic effect of adenosine is blocked and keeps us from falling asleep. 

Caffeine is a drug of choice for long-distance travelers who need to block their human circadian rhythms.  But we pay a heavy price for all this extra wakefulness.  We as a society are tremendously sleep deprived.  Because of inadequate sleep, we need the crutch to make up for the sleep deficit that is cause by our use of caffeine.

Red Bull is a drink used by the Asian for many years, named Krating Daeng (red bull).  It blended caffeine, with an amino acid called taurine and a carbohydrate glucuronolactone.  Red Bull was started in 1989 in Europe by an Austrian Mateschitz.  He added more flavor, carbonation and beautiful packaging and we got our first energy drink.

There was no market for it.  Until marketing came up with a slogan, “You have better things to do than sleep. Red Bull gives you wings it rocks around the clock”.  It became a mix with vodka, tequila, champagne and Jagermeister.  Ten years ago it was marketed in the U.S.   Today Red Bull sells two billion cans a year in a hundred countries.  Coke is refreshing but has no benefits like a drink that has a function and gives you pleasure.

Coffee is portrayed as benign, but it has potential harmful effects.  It raises blood pressure and thus increases the risk of heart disease.  Under 300mg seems to be ok (two twelve ounce cups of coffee).  It is still a drug. 

Coffee drinkers have higher risks of cancers of the kidney, bladder, breast, and pancreas.  Coffee drinkers also have a high incidence of osteoporosis.  It is also a diuretic, and temporarily boosts blood pressure.  Taking too much can make you jittery and uncomfortable and you stop.  Taking over 300 mg, results in  more tension, anxiety and even panic attacks.

Caffeine has some benefits as well.  It can relieve pain, migraines, and reduce asthma and depression.  Being a mental stimulant, it makes one more alertn, cognitive, and improves reaction speed.  Tasks like driving, flying, and solving math problems seemed improved.

The FDA has it on its safe list as a food additive.  Withdrawal symptoms of irritability, lack of energy and headaches all disappear within 4 days of quitting.  If you work during the day, you might do as well without caffeine.

Certainly the ritual in the morning of having coffee with a doughnut can be relaxing and useful, like the Brits afternoon tea parties.  But with Starbucks on every corner, with free refills, it has become a six-dollar extravaganza.  

But I guess we all need is the buzz.

                  Source: Nat. Geographic, Jan 2005

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