The Dangers of Caffeine- How Much is Too Much?

Consuming your morning coffee should be an enjoyable experience. Your coffee should be served as a medicinal brew, packed with a wide variety of chemicals and compounds that we know have beneficial effects on the human body. But the funny thing about us humans is, we are all biologically unique. What works for one person may not work for another. A diet that is perfect for one individual may make another sick. People react differently to different foods and the chemicals within them. Today's show is all about the most widely used, widely available and accepted, stimulant psychoactive drug known to man. Whether you are drinking a soda straight from the fountain or a fresh cup of coffee or tea, you know it, you love it, you can't live without it. Today's show is all about caffeine, specifically the health dangers of too much caffeine, as well as the optimal range for beneficial caffeine consumption. So sit back, strap in and take a sip. It's time for the Coffee Health and Science podcasts, deep dive exploration into caffeine. As I said, it is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug. We don't really think about it. But caffeine is a stimulant, it is a drug and it is absolutely addicting. And many, many people are hooked on caffeine. This does not necessarily mean that it is a health negative, but we don't tend to look at it like other psychoactive substances, especially since it is legal worldwide. Caffeine is a drug and it is a stimulant. So why do people love caffeine? What does it do to our bodies? I'd like to start by quoting a PubMed article on what caffeine does to the human body. Quote. Caffeine increases energy metabolism throughout the brain, but decreases at the same time cerebral blood flow, inducing a relative brain hypoperfusion. caffeine activates noradrenaline neurons and seems to affect the local release of dopamine. Many of the alerting effects of caffeine may be related to the action of methylzanthine on serotonin neurons. The methylzanthine induces dose response increases in locomotor activity in animals. Its psychostimulate action on man is, however, often subtle and not very easy to detect. The effects of caffeine on learning, memory, performance, and coordination are rather related to the methylzanthine action on arousal, vigilance, and fatigue. Caffeine exerts obvious effects on anxiety and sleep, which vary according to individual sensitivity to methylzanthine. End quote. So it looks like there's quite a bit going on when we drink caffeine, four different actions that affect our brain, according to this paper, and the methylzanthine is a big key to that. Now as was just quoted, caffeine sensitivity varies from person to person. So you may ask how much caffeine is too much caffeine, especially from a health perspective. While according to scientists at the FDA, caffeine can be part of a healthy diet for the vast majority of people, but too much caffeine will pose a danger to your health. And this depends on a lot of factors, things like body weight, medications you might be pairing caffeine with, individual sensitivity, and the ability to process that caffeine, as we've discussed on this show, it really does vary greatly, as I said, from individual to individual. But on average, according to US health experts, 400 milligrams of caffeine per day is about the most you consume without major health issues, on average, that is what is recommended. So how many cups of coffee is that? Well normal, arabica coffee averages around 95 milligrams per cup, again, on average. So that's about four cups, give or take. But coffee caffeine strengths really do vary greatly. For instance, purity coffee has more caffeine than that. It's a little bit of a lighter roast than a lot of coffees out there on the shelves, and that's because it's roasted for health. You've heard experts and guests on this show talk about how light roast has a higher caffeine content than a dark roast coffee. A lot of people get that mixed up because oftentimes dark roast can be more robust tasting. Maybe people drink it faster. Technically lighter roasted coffee has more caffeine than dark roast. But there is an exception to that. This is a very interesting side note. If you measure your coffee in scoops in volume, the previous statement is absolutely true. The same amount of coffee, as far as your volume, your scooping device, which is how most people measure it, the lighter roasted coffee will have more caffeine. But if you weigh your coffee, the opposite is actually true. This is because the light roasted coffee is actually significantly more dense and heavy, and it's still full of a lot of water. It hasn't been roasted out yet. So the same weight of coffee, if you were to weigh out your coffee on a scale, the dark roast actually weighs less, and the total will have more caffeine. But it's because it will be a much bigger pile. Most people go by scoops, like I said, and scoop for scoop, lighter roasted coffee, more caffeinated than dark roasted coffee. But aside from the roast, caffeine content also depends on cultivar, and even harvest-to-harvestic independent. In fact, did you know that robusta coffee actually contains significantly more caffeine than arabica? We all know arabica is considered the higher quality, definitely more sought after being with a better flavor, and a better all-around experience, but robusta actually packs a bigger caffeine punch, a much bigger caffeine punch. With robusta coffee, containing as much as double the caffeine as arabica. So if you can't seem to get off that low-quality, big-box store coffee and you don't know why, well, the reason that you might like it so much may lie in the caffeine level aside from anything else. Place the caffeine in a robusta coffee. Speaking of high caffeine, do you get the jitters when you drink coffee? One of the most common concerns that I see with coffee drinkers, one of the most frequent messages that I get, aside from upset digestion, is about caffeine sensitivity and the jitters coming on when people drink coffee. Well first, right off the bat, I always recommend decaf as an option. If you can't handle any serious amounts of caffeine, you can switch to a delicious decaf coffee, always Swiss water processed, never chemically decaffeinated. Remember to always pick up Swiss water process decaf like the way purity does it, because otherwise they've used chemicals to decaffeinate that coffee. And decaf still contains a little bit of caffeine, about five milligrams, so you can still get a pick me up, and if it's been Swiss water processed, it's going to be delicious like a purity coffee decaf, use code CHS podcast, of course, but any good organic coffee with Swiss water processing, that will definitely keep you away from those jitters. Aside from that, there are other steps you can take though, if you want that caffeine dosage. We've talked about L-theanine on this show before. L-theanine is a supplement that you can find. It's actually an amino acid, and it's primarily found in tea leaves, green tea, black tea, and some mushrooms as well. It's a very, very interesting compound, this amino acid, and it helps counteract the jitteriness of coffee. That's why a lot of people can drink tea, but not coffee. Aside from that though, L-theanine as a supplement is said to help ease anxiety overall, ease stress and even reduce insomnia. Very, very interesting supplement. Before trying it out yourself, learn more about all of the side effects and things like that, but it's pretty benign, and the L-theanine again, it'll help with the jitters, and it'll also help ease anxiety stress and maybe even reduce insomnia, again, present in that green and black tea. In my experience, what you've eaten that day plays a huge role in your caffeine tolerance overall. I know personally, if I haven't had any food and I go and I take a large dose of caffeine, I'm going to have much more higher risk of things like jitters and anxiety. Also healthy fats, just for me, seem to play a role as well. If I haven't had an avocado, if I've only eaten things that might burn very quickly with a high metabolism, that can affect the caffeine jitters as well in my experience. So having a nice, healthy meal full of healthy fats like avocado and nuts and lots of vegetables, having a full stomach can really help negate that caffeine jitteryness. And as I said before, there are reasons why you want to be consuming caffeinated coffee. We're going to go deep in another episode on the exact differences when it comes to disease prevention and the meta studies on caffeinated and non-caffeinated coffee, but it is a balance you need to play here. We're honest here on the Coffee Health and Science podcast, and we know there's a lot of great research behind caffeinated coffee, but we know there are some dangers to caffeine too. So we really want to explore this from a health perspective and balance this out just right so that we can take control of our diet and our health and our overall wellness. So let's talk about the negative effects of caffeine now. Almost all of the long-term health concerns associated with caffeine consumption, they all revolve around the stimulant properties of caffeine, right? The disruption of the sleep, insomnia, repeated sleep disruptions, and all of the emotional and physical issues that can crop up along with that. And that list is long, you know, things like anxiety and depression, digestive issues, and more. It'll cause inflammation if you're not getting proper sleep, and we all know that all types of disease can stem from inflammation. So keeping your sleep solid, keeping your sleep healthy, and keeping that sleep hygiene strict will really go a long way in all your overall health and wellness. If your body is sensitive to caffeine or if you abuse it for a meaningful period of time, it can really take a huge toll on your health. A sleep disruption is horrible long-term and can lead to a myriad of health benefits. So you have to be sure that you're incorporating caffeine into your diet in a healthy way. Watch your diet, watch what you eat, watch what you drink, don't drink caffeine too late, don't drink too much caffeine, supplement with altheanine if you have to, switch to decaf if you have to. Everybody is different. Listen to your body. Another interesting little side note about decaf, as we mentioned, it contains a little bit of caffeine, five milligrams, so you can still get a pick me up. But a lot of the stimulant qualities of decaf may come from the other compounds in coffee, some of the plant-fein, all some of the plant alcohols. Have you ever noticed that you get a little bit of a perk when you just smell your coffee? Well, that's your body kicking into gear when it has those natural phytochemicals entering your nasal membrane. There's a lot of good stuff in there, not just the caffeine. We will go into the differences, like I said, but don't be afraid to switch to decaf if you have to. It really is a great, great option, again, especially a high quality one like purity. Now caffeine doesn't just enter our diet through coffee. If you're a soda drinker, for instance, you're getting a good amount of caffeine. I mean, a 12 ounce can of coke has 34 milligrams in it, diet coke, 46 milligrams, and a harder soda like Mountain Dew, a little more potent, 54 milligrams. So over a half a cup of coffee in a little can of soda, and there's a lot of other nasty stuff in there too, obviously, like the dyes and the sugar and all that stuff. A 16 ounce can of monster energy drink, 160 milligrams, yikes. That is a lot of caffeine to be dedicated to an energy drink. Another side note, guys, if you're concerned with your health, don't drink these energy drinks. You've got to get off the energy drinks, all of the dyes and chemicals and all the touring and weird, weird stuff in there on top of the sugar and the end of caffeine. If it's your one vice, you know, that's one thing, but there are so many great beverages with caffeine that you could substitute and put in there and it would be such a game changer for one's health. So watch out for those 160 milligrams, 16 ounce energy drinks when it comes to your caffeine consumption. When it comes to tea with healthy and in, of course, to ease the buzz, green tea clocking in at just 28 milligrams per eight ounce mug, whereas black tea stronger at 47 milligrams, both containing that L-theanine, as I said. Here's an interesting one. You take a look at the levels of caffeine and chocolate. It might surprise you. Dark chocolate contains 12 milligrams per ounce. We all know the dark chocolate being more potent with caffeine, but even the most delicious milk chocolate can contain a whopping nine milligrams per one and a half ounces. That's like two cups of decaf coffee. Really, really interesting when you put it in that perspective. The dark chocolate containing 12 milligrams per ounce, but even the milk chocolate, nine milligrams per 1.55 ounces was this one piece of research that I could find. Very interesting. You got to think about when you give your kids chocolate how much caffeine they might be getting, right? I mean, there really is very few guidelines on caffeine in children. We tend here in America to feed our kids chocolate and soda as well. You can really, really get a high dosage on these little children's body with the stimulant like caffeine without a lot of thought. As I said, there's little guidelines out there. The FDA has not set a regulation or even recommendation for caffeine consumption in children. It's a bizarre that that doesn't exist. I did find that the Mayo Clinic recommended that teens from 12 to 18 should probably limit their intake to 100 milligrams per day, a quarter of the adults. Even all the way up to 18, it says that, you know, as their brain is developing, probably don't want to hammer it with the stimulant. We will talk a little bit about that later, but then there's also the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends that children under 12 should not consume caffeine at all. So under 12, again, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, no caffeine. This is very interesting. While I see the reasoning in this, obviously, especially in a society like the United States of America where so many kids are eating like crap and on screens too much and already sleeping poorly. I totally understand this, but I do know that some cultures feed their children coffee. I've got a great, great friend who immigrated from Argentina and she was saying how in Argentina, or at least where she's from in Argentina, they give little kids coffee. No problem. Just a little coffee, not a ton. And I was surprised when I heard that, but apparently not an issue there. So I don't know. Some cultures okay with it here in America. Again, the FDA hasn't put their foot down, but there are some recommendations. You got to be careful. You got to be careful with that sleep health, especially when it comes to those teens. I want to stay up all night anyways. So this was a very in-depth exploration of caffeine. How much is too much? Don't exceed that 400 milligram mark if you want to follow those guidelines. And that's right around the same dosage that is recommended in a lot of the health studies, right? Three to five cups of coffee a day. That's about right. That seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to caffeine and coffee consumption. Just remember folks, if you're going to stick to 400 milligrams a day, make sure that you use those 400 milligrams on the best. The best coffee you can find. The best chocolate you can find, whatever you do, make sure it's the best folks. Because how you choose to intake your caffeine could have a significant impact on your health and wellness. I hope you enjoyed this exploration with me. I really enjoyed putting this piece together. So I think that you enjoyed it as well. Thank you so much for subscribing and staying tuned. We'll see you next time on the Coffee Health and Science podcast, everybody. Have an extraordinary day. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.