Caffeine Alone Is Not Bad For You; It Is When You Have A Caffeine Addiction That Your Health Is Affected!

When you have a caffeine addiction, your health can be affected but caffeine is a naturally occurring drug.

Even in small amounts, it can have a stimulating effect, so its use and the belief that it can cause long term health problems, has been the subject of much debate.

Here we will mostly be exploring the caffeine in coffee but don’t forget that there are varying amounts found in black and green tea, all colas, energy drinks, cocoa and dark chocolate. So it is not difficult to end up consuming too much and suffering from a caffeine addiction.

Many studies have been carried out trying to prove that caffeine increases the risk of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses but no conclusive proof has been found.

In fact the Ayurvedic doctors sometimes use the stimulating effect of coffee to enhance the effectiveness of some herbal formulas. As always, you should go by the way you feel after drinking your usual “fix” and remember that moderation is the key;

•One cup a day is considered low intake

•One to five cups a day as moderate

•Five or more cups a day as high

Do remember that you have to include all sources of caffeine when calculating your daily intake.

While it has not been proven that caffeine addiction causes disease, the following are problems that could be made worse by a high intake of caffeine;

•Backache

•Tremors

•Sweating

•Palpitations

•Rapid breathing

•Sleeplessness

•Migraine attacks

•High blood pressure

•Kidney disease

•Heart problems

•Osteoporosis (coffee increases rate of excretion of calcium)

•Anxiety and depression

•Adrenal exhaustion

You will find that if you stop drinking caffeinated drinks you will suffer withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and shaking. This is because you have a caffeine addiction, and your body is craving the caffeine. To me this proves that the caffeine is not good for your body in large amounts. Decaffeination methods

These days you can buy decaffeinated coffee and low caffeine tea. The worry with this is that the chemicals used to extract the caffeine, are more harmful to you than the caffeine. There are various ways of decaffeinating coffee and these are all carried out on the green unroasted beans and usually require the use of steaming or boiling water and, in certain cases, solvents;

•Roselius process which use benzeneDirect method which uses methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. Sometimes these coffees are referred to as naturally processed, but don’t be fooled

•Indirect method uses methylene chloride or ethyl acetate but, because the initial process uses water, this process is often referred to as “water processed” even though chemicals are used

•Swiss water process which uses only water

•In the CO2/O2 process either carbon dioxide or oxygen are used together with charcoal as a filter

•Triglyceride or direct contact method which uses the natural oils from the coffee beans

As you can see, the last three processes are the healthier alternatives but I would recommend sticking to the real thing and cutting your consumption to one (max two) cups a day of organic coffee.

After all even decaffeinated coffee contains some caffeine and the two other stimulants theobromine and theophylline, are not removed and have similar effects to caffeine. Adding boiled milk to your drink will reduce the effect of the caffeine.

Tea contains about half the caffeine of coffee and can also be decaffeinated using methods similar to the direct method and the CO2 method.

If you feel that you have a caffeine addiction or you feel that you are being affected by food additives it would be a good idea to look at the page on detoxing to see how to deal with this. Other addictions to consider are smoking and sugar addictions.

Of course if you know of anyone that is addicted to drugs or alcohol they need to seek help without delay!