Amenacier writes "Recent studies by Finnish and Swedish researchers have shown that drinking moderate amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people. The reason for this is as yet unknown, although it has been hypothesized that the high levels of antioxidants found in coffee may play a role in preventing dementia and Alzheimer's. Alternatively, some studies have shown that coffee can protect nerves, which may help prevent Alzheimer's. Other studies have shown that coffee may also help to protect against diabetes, another disease which has been shown to have links to Alzheimer's disease. However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations."
A couple days back Slashdot also posted an article on how just 3 cups of coffee can affect the mind by also creating delusions.
Not all delusions are of the "I must be in an alternate universe" type. Some are far more subtle, and may just have the effect of an error in judgment.
An old couple both have Alzheimers. They're watching TV and an advert
for a burger joint comes on.
"Hey," the man says, "burgers would be
great! Could you make some? I'd like lettuce, tomatoes and onions on mine.
Don't forget! Lettuce. Tomatoes. Onions."
Wife replies "Lettuce,
tomatoes and onions. Got it. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions."
About 2
hours later she comes out of the kitchen and hands him a plate of bacon and
eggs. "You idiot," he cries, "you forgot the toast!"
Now I'll be able to remember all of those awesome hallucinations I've been having!
Forget the hallucination stuff. Look at the spider web studies.
Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you, and I think most people would be shocked at how extremely the spiders were affected by caffeine, which you can see in this photo [substation.co.nz].
My wife's mother has Alzheimer's, and she lives with us, so I'm acutely aware of what it does to people, and heavy doses of caffeine is definitely the lesser of two evils here. But it will still be nice to have a treatment that doesn't have it's own harsh side effects.
Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you,
I'd agree with that. I had a couple of cups the other day, and my web turned out completely crap - didn't catch any flies either. You know, not all of us have been bitten by a radioactive spider or are in any other way closely related to spiders. You'd be better off warning people off chocolate by showing pictures of dead dogs - at least they're mammals.
No matter what your mother-in-law says, you're not an insect. It is an insecticide of sorts and is a useful way for the plant to prevent insect problems. Caffeine has very different effects on humans.
of the people who claim that "wine" is good for you one glass a day. Fools! Its not the wine, its stuff from the grapes, which mind you are also present in fresh grapes, rasins, and grape juice. Wine gets the props though cause then it makes people feel better about getting drunk every night.
Same here, ya there might be a few healthy tidbits, but the negatives far out weight the health benifits.
Which is great for me. They've been telling me for years that I'm overdoing things. meh Drink a few beers, lower stress levels, drink coffee all day at the keyboard, eat only when I'm hungry. Exercise now and then. Stay away from pharmaceuticals. Normal sorts of stuff. Dreams? Hallucinations? Sleep problems? Not me, and I can sleep anywhere. Dreams are good, hate the recursive ones where you dream you woke up, but it's all good.
I knew if I waited long enough there would be a study that showed what I do is not only not bad for me, but in all likelihood good for me. Shame that one study about semen preventing cervical cancer if taken orally was fake!
The worst part is that we've had several generations of misinformation about the "evils of drink" because of religious zealots who accepted the backing of the Women's Christian Temperance Union [wikipedia.org].
We still see their effect today with churches that use grape juice instead of wine for communion:
Although many times the WCTU was very involved in religion in a positive manner, they did not agree that wine should be used in their ceremonies. They asked the Church to stop using wine in their ceremonies during an Episcopal convention, and to use un-fermented grape juice instead. Their direct resolution stated that they wanted the church to use grape juice because wine contained "the narcotic poison, alcohol, which cannot truly represent the blood of Christ."
A Christian friend of mine noted recently that there is a lot of hypocrisy about certain traditions--wanting to take his faith seriously but still comment on the absurdity of part of how some look at it, he wrote the following:
In answer to the tradition of Christmas, I don't think many Christians would say that Christ was born on 25 December, rather that they wanted to celebrate his incarnation as a human and figured a midwinter date was as good as any (with about as much ev
The benefits of alcohol depend on which specialist you talk to. A cardiologist might recommend it because the alcohol tends to reduce plaque build up in the arteries. A gastroenterologist will tell you to avoid it because metabolizing alcohol leads to fatty build-up in the liver. The neurologists tell you that it kills your nerve cells.
What this all means depends on your body chemistry. If you come from a family with a history of heart trouble, the alcohol might help keep that under control. Sure you'll get some fat build up in the liver, but your body can cope with that. Someone with a history of degenerative neurological disorders might want to shy away from it.
Most things in medicine are trade-offs and affect people differently.
Sorry for the analogy, but it illustrates the dynamic well in my mind:
Several people are standing on a roof. Walking ten steps north will put some near the center, and others very close to the north edge. Similar for ten steps in other directions. Walking in any direction makes everyone closer to that edge, but for those dangerously close to another edge, the tradeoff is worth it. And if the goal is to be near the center, each person should walk a different direction; advice that "walking north is good fo
Subsequent to the studies that say wine is good for you are some more studies that say the same benefits can be found with moderate use of any type of alcohol.
Same here, ya there might be a few healthy tidbits, but the negatives far out weight the health benifits.
Actually, that's not true, unless you can point out the negatives of drinking 175ml of red wine per day. Good luck, because they do that and more in countries with some of the highest life expectancies in Europe. The thing about food is that what is good for you is usually good for you in small amounts, but that what is bad for you is NOT usually bad for you in small amounts. All things in moderation, and there are very few of these 'negatives'. That's what they mean by a balanced diet.
that's certainly a plausible explanation. i think the only way to know for sure is to determine the exact pharmacokinetics of the various active compounds found in alcoholic beverages. otherwise, you're just identifying health correlations of various lifestyle choices, which, of course, can be caused by any number of a vast and complex set of factors.
this is somewhat similar to the misconceptions held by a large segment of the public and medical community regarding the health effects of narcotics like heroin. heroin/diacetylmorphine is an exogenous opioid just like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. in potency it has a MEDD factor of somewhere between morphine and oxycodone (the active ingredient of OxyContin). and while the process of psychological addiction is highly complex, and there is still much to be learned about it, the general pharmacology and mechanism of action of opiates like morphine and diacetylmorphine are well understood.
however, after drug prohibition went into effect and the opiate-using demographic shifted from well to do upper-class whites like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas De Quincy, and Edgar Allen Poe, as well as other normal everyday people, to lower-class minorities and the poor/homeless, people began associating opiate usage--and especially heroin abuse--with a wide variety of detrimental health effects, including weight-loss, tooth decay, anemia, and general poor health.
this public perception was shaped by prohibitionist propaganda, what was portrayed in the media, and reinforced by the masses of drug addicts living in the streets. however, when physicians actually conducted research into the health effects of heroin use, they found that it caused none of these effects in normal healthy individuals. instead, they discovered that almost all of the negative health effects commonly attributed to heroin use was caused by concurrent use of other more physically harmful substances (like crack/cocaine/meth) or some other lifestyle factor, such as homelessness, poverty and years of living on the streets--and the resultant malnutrition, poor dental hygiene, and lack of medical care.
through empirical research it was discovered that heroin, just like any other opiate, has very little toxicity and isn't particularly harmful to one's body. it's not neurotoxic like alcohol, PCP, and stimulants such as cocaine & meth; it's not cardiotoxic like cocaine, meth, caffeine and other stimulants; and it's not hepatotoxic (liver-damaging) like alcohol and OTC painkillers such as APAP/acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol)--which is the leading cause of liver damage & acute liver failure in western nations.
in fact, as a CNS depressant and hypotensive, heroin actually lower's one's blood pressure and can be therapeutic (or at least attenuate the cardiotoxicity of stimulants). instead of making people age faster the way that meth/coke/crack does, heroin abuse actually slows down aging, and oftentimes chronic users who start using at a young age can look like they haven't hit puberty even as they reach adulthood.
of course, since it's not socially acceptable like tobacco or alcohol use, and opiate dependence is considered a crime in our society, those that can lead functional lives on opiates keep their habit to themselves. so even though there are many doctors who are closet morphine addicts, or businessmen and lawyers who are pill poppers, it's generally the stereotypical gaunt & destitute-looking homeless heroin addicts that are the most visible to the public and consequently receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, leading to erroneous conclusions being drawn about the effects of chronic opiate use.
Researchers actually aren't saying much. This is simply another attempt by news media (like Slashdot) to make sense of statistics (which may as well be magic to most people), and twisting them into exciting headlines. I've had a bit of experience with the marriage of research and media, and it's pretty terrible. Research needs media in order to excite the public so that they in turn get more funding, but they have to excite the public by acquiescing to weak understanding of causality in the minds of the pe
> Middle-aged people who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day...
Doesn't that amount fall into the "danger" range for hallucinations? I wonder if there's any relationship between the parts of the brain that would be responsible for hallucinating and the parts that cause Alzheimer's? Also, if coffee can help block damage caused by cholesterol, would meds like Lipitor do the same thing? If it's a matter of antioxidants, wouldn't taking decent amounts of Vitamin C (which has a relatively hig
I would much rather have hallucinations than worsening memory loss. Hell, having to re-learn five times in a row that my mother has died was bad enough...
...a few months ago, after a particularly heavy coffee session, a video popped up on my PC screen that had some big fat sweaty bald bloke dancing across a big stage shouting "Developers" over and over again... and it was ALL the fault of that Java Sumatran blend...
has it occurred to anyone that it may have nothing to do with chemical interactions at the level they're describing it? there's a fairly well known study with old nuns, where it was shown that active minds are less likely to get alzheimers. could it be that the stimulated brains of coffee drinkers is the real protective effect? if so, perhaps soda-fueled developers will also have lower rates of alzheimers.
I accidentally started drinking a lot more caffeine than usual, and after a while, I started having worse and worse tremors. My hands would shake. The day I went to see my doctor about it, I had to concentrate furiously to get my hand steady enough to sign my signature at the front desk.
We didn't know what was going on. I was certain it wasn't the coffee I was drinking, because coffee had never been a problem for me before. My doctor gave me some tests, and told me he was sure it wasn't anything scary (Parkinson's disease or something). He recommended I start taking magnesium supplements.
I took the magnesium and it helped right away! Then over time the tremors started to get worse again. I was starting to get scared.
My doctor sent me to a neurologist. I decided to cut out all coffee for a week or so before visiting the neurologist; I was still certain coffee wasn't the cause of my problems, but I figured it would be helpful to remove one variable from the equation. After being tested in various ways while hooked up to cool machines, I was ruled not to have anything scary. More importantly, after a week with no coffee, I was starting to feel a lot better.
So I decided to stay off the coffee. I had some bad withdrawal symptoms (headache, etc.) and took a lot of aspirin and ibuprofen. (And around this time I started to get bad tinnitus [wikipedia.org] on top of everything else!)
Now I am mostly off caffeine. I sometimes have a single cup of caffeinated coffee. The tremors have passed and I'm grateful that my symptoms are gone. (The tinnitus stopped when I stopped taking the aspirin and ibuprofen.)
An important thing I want to tell you: I never drank a cup of coffee and then immediately had my hands start shaking. I had a gradual onset of hand tremors and it was chronic, with no obvious increase right after I drank coffee. This convinced me the tremors could not be caused by the coffee, but now I am convinced that they were.
You may be wondering how I could accidentally start overdosing on caffeine. Well, I started working in a building where the coffee was awful (Farmer Brothers commercial coffee service), so I started making my own coffee using an Aeropress [aerobie.com]. This is an excellent coffee maker (Dan likes it! [dansdata.com]), and I still use it and recommend it. But when I first got it, I was using caffeinated coffee, and I was trying to make "doppio ristretto" portions for myself, so I was using two scoops of finely ground espresso beans. I now believe that one AeroPress scoop of coffee makes a double shot, so I was effectively drinking four espresso shots worth of caffeine; and I usually drank two of these per day. So while I thought I was drinking 4 espresso shots worth of caffeine, I suspect I was drinking 8 shots worth, possibly even a little more.
As the saying goes, the dose makes the poison. I drank reasonable portions of caffeine for years and didn't notice any ill effects at all; it was only when I drank too much that I had the scary tremors.
If you get hand tremors, I do suggest you cut out all caffeine for a while and see if it helps.
Depends if you're talking to the experts paid by the coffee companies or the experts paid by the... hum... tea companies? (what's the opposite of coffee?)
In terms of competition for arable land, I guess that would be cocaine. Next we'll hear from the Cocaine Importation Agency (CIA) how bad coffee is for you.
When are these "experts" going to make up their freaking mind?!
It's not for them to say 'coffee is good' or 'coffee is bad'. That's for you to determine.
It's antithetical to scientific thinking to draw conclusions that aren't relevant or supported by the results. It is, however, something journalists love to do for them.
But anyway, are you really unable to fathom the idea that something can be good in some ways and bad in others? And that something can be good under a certain set of circumstances and bad under another?
Besides which, coffee hasn't been shown to be particularly bad for you unless you have a heart condition and need to avoid caffeine for blood-pressure reasons. It also contains some carcinogens - which is one of those sources of journalistic misinterpretation, because there's a big difference between 'contains carcinogens' and 'causes cancer'. Just because something contains a carcinogen doesn't necessarily mean that carcinogen is potent enough and the concentration sufficient to substantially change the risks of cancer, in particular once you take into account how much actually gets taken up into the body.
There's always exceptions to the rule. If 5% of the people who don't drink coffee get it, yet 2% who do drink it don't, then there's a good chance it has some positive effect.
That doesn't change the fact that 2% of the people drinking coffee STILL got it. It's all about reducing the odds.
Damn.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
A couple days back Slashdot also posted an article on how just 3 cups of coffee can affect the mind by also creating delusions.
Not all delusions are of the "I must be in an alternate universe" type. Some are far more subtle, and may just have the effect of an error in judgment.
Joke. (Score:5, Funny)
An old couple both have Alzheimers. They're watching TV and an advert for a burger joint comes on.
"Hey," the man says, "burgers would be great! Could you make some? I'd like lettuce, tomatoes and onions on mine. Don't forget! Lettuce. Tomatoes. Onions."
Wife replies "Lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Got it. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions."
About 2 hours later she comes out of the kitchen and hands him a plate of bacon and eggs. "You idiot," he cries, "you forgot the toast!"
Sleep (Score:3, Insightful)
Drink moderately and don't forget to rest. I wonder if this correlation is caused by the coffee?
Best news ever! (Score:5, Funny)
Damned if you do, Damned if you don't (Score:5, Interesting)
Now I'll be able to remember all of those awesome hallucinations I've been having!
Forget the hallucination stuff. Look at the spider web studies.
Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you, and I think most people would be shocked at how extremely the spiders were affected by caffeine, which you can see in this photo [substation.co.nz].
My wife's mother has Alzheimer's, and she lives with us, so I'm acutely aware of what it does to people, and heavy doses of caffeine is definitely the lesser of two evils here. But it will still be nice to have a treatment that doesn't have it's own harsh side effects.
Parent
Re:Damned if you do, Damned if you don't (Score:5, Insightful)
Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you,
I'd agree with that. I had a couple of cups the other day, and my web turned out completely crap - didn't catch any flies either. You know, not all of us have been bitten by a radioactive spider or are in any other way closely related to spiders. You'd be better off warning people off chocolate by showing pictures of dead dogs - at least they're mammals.
Parent
Re:Damned if you do, Damned if you don't (Score:5, Funny)
You should have linked to the video version [youtube.com] instead.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
No matter what your mother-in-law says, you're not an insect. It is an insecticide of sorts and is a useful way for the plant to prevent insect problems. Caffeine has very different effects on humans.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffiene [wikipedia.org]
And better yet, read: The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug
Remembering Hallucinations (Score:3, Funny)
Sweet! (Score:2)
This reminds me... (Score:2, Insightful)
of the people who claim that "wine" is good for you one glass a day. Fools! Its not the wine, its stuff from the grapes, which mind you are also present in fresh grapes, rasins, and grape juice. Wine gets the props though cause then it makes people feel better about getting drunk every night.
Same here, ya there might be a few healthy tidbits, but the negatives far out weight the health benifits.
Re:This reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, you're wrong. ANY alcohol, in moderation, has the same effect.
The flavinoids in grapes are also benefisial, but any alcohol "just works."
Teetotalers die younger than those who consume moderate amounts of alcohol.
Parent
Re:This reminds me... (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is great for me. They've been telling me for years that I'm overdoing things. meh Drink a few beers, lower stress levels, drink coffee all day at the keyboard, eat only when I'm hungry. Exercise now and then. Stay away from pharmaceuticals. Normal sorts of stuff. Dreams? Hallucinations? Sleep problems? Not me, and I can sleep anywhere. Dreams are good, hate the recursive ones where you dream you woke up, but it's all good.
I knew if I waited long enough there would be a study that showed what I do is not only not bad for me, but in all likelihood good for me. Shame that one study about semen preventing cervical cancer if taken orally was fake!
Parent
Re:This reminds me... (Score:4, Insightful)
The worst part is that we've had several generations of misinformation about the "evils of drink" because of religious zealots who accepted the backing of the Women's Christian Temperance Union [wikipedia.org].
We still see their effect today with churches that use grape juice instead of wine for communion:
Parent
coffee and religion... with a link! (Score:3, Insightful)
Coffee as a means of grace [bible.org]
In answer to the tradition of Christmas, I don't think many Christians would say that Christ was born on 25 December, rather that they wanted to celebrate his incarnation as a human and figured a midwinter date was as good as any (with about as much ev
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Good thing you didn't dream you were on the toilet and decide it was a good time to lay some trans-oceanic cable.
Re:This reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
The benefits of alcohol depend on which specialist you talk to. A cardiologist might recommend it because the alcohol tends to reduce plaque build up in the arteries. A gastroenterologist will tell you to avoid it because metabolizing alcohol leads to fatty build-up in the liver. The neurologists tell you that it kills your nerve cells.
What this all means depends on your body chemistry. If you come from a family with a history of heart trouble, the alcohol might help keep that under control. Sure you'll get some fat build up in the liver, but your body can cope with that. Someone with a history of degenerative neurological disorders might want to shy away from it.
Most things in medicine are trade-offs and affect people differently.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Same here, ya there might be a few healthy tidbits, but the negatives far out weight the health benifits.
Actually, that's not true, unless you can point out the negatives of drinking 175ml of red wine per day. Good luck, because they do that and more in countries with some of the highest life expectancies in Europe. The thing about food is that what is good for you is usually good for you in small amounts, but that what is bad for you is NOT usually bad for you in small amounts. All things in moderation, and there are very few of these 'negatives'. That's what they mean by a balanced diet.
Re:This reminds me... (Score:5, Insightful)
If one glass of wine is getting you drunk, you should see a doctor immediately.
Parent
Re:This reminds me... (Score:4, Funny)
...if only to tell him he's your beeeeeestest frieeeeeeend. Hic.
Parent
Re:This reminds me... (Score:5, Funny)
No, you should sober up first.
Parent
Re:This reminds me... (Score:4, Informative)
that's certainly a plausible explanation. i think the only way to know for sure is to determine the exact pharmacokinetics of the various active compounds found in alcoholic beverages. otherwise, you're just identifying health correlations of various lifestyle choices, which, of course, can be caused by any number of a vast and complex set of factors.
this is somewhat similar to the misconceptions held by a large segment of the public and medical community regarding the health effects of narcotics like heroin. heroin/diacetylmorphine is an exogenous opioid just like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. in potency it has a MEDD factor of somewhere between morphine and oxycodone (the active ingredient of OxyContin). and while the process of psychological addiction is highly complex, and there is still much to be learned about it, the general pharmacology and mechanism of action of opiates like morphine and diacetylmorphine are well understood.
however, after drug prohibition went into effect and the opiate-using demographic shifted from well to do upper-class whites like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas De Quincy, and Edgar Allen Poe, as well as other normal everyday people, to lower-class minorities and the poor/homeless, people began associating opiate usage--and especially heroin abuse--with a wide variety of detrimental health effects, including weight-loss, tooth decay, anemia, and general poor health.
this public perception was shaped by prohibitionist propaganda, what was portrayed in the media, and reinforced by the masses of drug addicts living in the streets. however, when physicians actually conducted research into the health effects of heroin use, they found that it caused none of these effects in normal healthy individuals. instead, they discovered that almost all of the negative health effects commonly attributed to heroin use was caused by concurrent use of other more physically harmful substances (like crack/cocaine/meth) or some other lifestyle factor, such as homelessness, poverty and years of living on the streets--and the resultant malnutrition, poor dental hygiene, and lack of medical care.
through empirical research it was discovered that heroin, just like any other opiate, has very little toxicity and isn't particularly harmful to one's body. it's not neurotoxic like alcohol, PCP, and stimulants such as cocaine & meth; it's not cardiotoxic like cocaine, meth, caffeine and other stimulants; and it's not hepatotoxic (liver-damaging) like alcohol and OTC painkillers such as APAP/acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol)--which is the leading cause of liver damage & acute liver failure in western nations.
in fact, as a CNS depressant and hypotensive, heroin actually lower's one's blood pressure and can be therapeutic (or at least attenuate the cardiotoxicity of stimulants). instead of making people age faster the way that meth/coke/crack does, heroin abuse actually slows down aging, and oftentimes chronic users who start using at a young age can look like they haven't hit puberty even as they reach adulthood.
of course, since it's not socially acceptable like tobacco or alcohol use, and opiate dependence is considered a crime in our society, those that can lead functional lives on opiates keep their habit to themselves. so even though there are many doctors who are closet morphine addicts, or businessmen and lawyers who are pill poppers, it's generally the stereotypical gaunt & destitute-looking homeless heroin addicts that are the most visible to the public and consequently receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, leading to erroneous conclusions being drawn about the effects of chronic opiate use.
Parent
Hurry! (Score:5, Funny)
Better drink a whole bunch really fast. Next week, researchers will tell us it's bad again.
Re: (Score:2)
I've had a bit of experience with the marriage of research and media, and it's pretty terrible. Research needs media in order to excite the public so that they in turn get more funding, but they have to excite the public by acquiescing to weak understanding of causality in the minds of the pe
Coffee Cans? (Score:5, Funny)
coffee can reduce the risk of alzheimer's
coffee can protect nerves
I rtfa but it didn't say how to apply the Coffee Can!
(I save them you know. You never know when a coffee can will come in handy. But I didn't expect this!)
I'm confused (Score:2)
Doesn't that amount fall into the "danger" range for hallucinations? I wonder if there's any relationship between the parts of the brain that would be responsible for hallucinating and the parts that cause Alzheimer's? Also, if coffee can help block damage caused by cholesterol, would meds like Lipitor do the same thing? If it's a matter of antioxidants, wouldn't taking decent amounts of Vitamin C (which has a relatively hig
speaking as someone who's experienced brain injury (Score:4, Interesting)
I would much rather have hallucinations than worsening memory loss. Hell, having to re-learn five times in a row that my mother has died was bad enough...
I have to point out... (Score:5, Funny)
However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
-Loyal
Phew! That Would Explain It Then.... (Score:3, Funny)
...a few months ago, after a particularly heavy coffee session, a video popped up on my PC screen that had some big fat sweaty bald bloke dancing across a big stage shouting "Developers" over and over again... and it was ALL the fault of that Java Sumatran blend...
Oh wait...
Green tea (Score:3, Funny)
If cofee can do it, green tea probably can do it better with fewer side effects.
Time to sip another cup of green tea...
One of many. Others are... (Score:5, Funny)
Hard drugs.
Hard liquor.
Smoking.
Jumping off tall buildings.
Stepping out in front of a bus.
caffeine stimulates the mind/brain (Score:3, Interesting)
Coffee Can Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer's (Score:3, Funny)
Caffeine gave me scary tremors (Score:3, Informative)
I can vouch for the dangers of too much caffeine.
I accidentally started drinking a lot more caffeine than usual, and after a while, I started having worse and worse tremors. My hands would shake. The day I went to see my doctor about it, I had to concentrate furiously to get my hand steady enough to sign my signature at the front desk.
We didn't know what was going on. I was certain it wasn't the coffee I was drinking, because coffee had never been a problem for me before. My doctor gave me some tests, and told me he was sure it wasn't anything scary (Parkinson's disease or something). He recommended I start taking magnesium supplements.
I took the magnesium and it helped right away! Then over time the tremors started to get worse again. I was starting to get scared.
My doctor sent me to a neurologist. I decided to cut out all coffee for a week or so before visiting the neurologist; I was still certain coffee wasn't the cause of my problems, but I figured it would be helpful to remove one variable from the equation. After being tested in various ways while hooked up to cool machines, I was ruled not to have anything scary. More importantly, after a week with no coffee, I was starting to feel a lot better.
So I decided to stay off the coffee. I had some bad withdrawal symptoms (headache, etc.) and took a lot of aspirin and ibuprofen. (And around this time I started to get bad tinnitus [wikipedia.org] on top of everything else!)
Now I am mostly off caffeine. I sometimes have a single cup of caffeinated coffee. The tremors have passed and I'm grateful that my symptoms are gone. (The tinnitus stopped when I stopped taking the aspirin and ibuprofen.)
An important thing I want to tell you: I never drank a cup of coffee and then immediately had my hands start shaking. I had a gradual onset of hand tremors and it was chronic, with no obvious increase right after I drank coffee. This convinced me the tremors could not be caused by the coffee, but now I am convinced that they were.
You may be wondering how I could accidentally start overdosing on caffeine. Well, I started working in a building where the coffee was awful (Farmer Brothers commercial coffee service), so I started making my own coffee using an Aeropress [aerobie.com]. This is an excellent coffee maker (Dan likes it! [dansdata.com]), and I still use it and recommend it. But when I first got it, I was using caffeinated coffee, and I was trying to make "doppio ristretto" portions for myself, so I was using two scoops of finely ground espresso beans. I now believe that one AeroPress scoop of coffee makes a double shot, so I was effectively drinking four espresso shots worth of caffeine; and I usually drank two of these per day. So while I thought I was drinking 4 espresso shots worth of caffeine, I suspect I was drinking 8 shots worth, possibly even a little more.
As the saying goes, the dose makes the poison. I drank reasonable portions of caffeine for years and didn't notice any ill effects at all; it was only when I drank too much that I had the scary tremors.
If you get hand tremors, I do suggest you cut out all caffeine for a while and see if it helps.
steveha
Re: (Score:2)
Depends if you're talking to the experts paid by the coffee companies or the experts paid by the ... hum... tea companies? (what's the opposite of coffee?)
Re: (Score:2)
(what's the opposite of coffee?)
(Milk?)
Re:Seriously..... (Score:5, Funny)
(what's the opposite of coffee?)
In terms of competition for arable land, I guess that would be cocaine. Next we'll hear from the Cocaine Importation Agency (CIA) how bad coffee is for you.
Parent
Re:Seriously..... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Seriously..... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
> what's the opposite of coffee?
Ginger. Coffee is a basal vasoconstrictor, and ginger is a vasodilator.
So coffee lowers the blood flow to the brain, and ginger increases it. Don't take both at once unless you enjoy headaches.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
conee?
Re:Seriously..... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not for them to say 'coffee is good' or 'coffee is bad'. That's for you to determine.
It's antithetical to scientific thinking to draw conclusions that aren't relevant or supported by the results. It is, however, something journalists love to do for them.
But anyway, are you really unable to fathom the idea that something can be good in some ways and bad in others? And that something can be good under a certain set of circumstances and bad under another?
Besides which, coffee hasn't been shown to be particularly bad for you unless you have a heart condition and need to avoid caffeine for blood-pressure reasons. It also contains some carcinogens - which is one of those sources of journalistic misinterpretation, because there's a big difference between 'contains carcinogens' and 'causes cancer'. Just because something contains a carcinogen doesn't necessarily mean that carcinogen is potent enough and the concentration sufficient to substantially change the risks of cancer, in particular once you take into account how much actually gets taken up into the body.
Parent
Re:Seriously..... (Score:5, Funny)
But anyway, are you really unable to fathom the idea that something can be good in some ways and bad in others?
What is this of which you speak?
This is /.
Windows is 100% evil.
Linux is 100% good.
The US Government is 100% evil.
RMS is 100% good.
There seems to be some disagreement about Java, however, where some say it's 100% evil, and some say it's 100% good.
Wait......Java.....coffee.....
Hey!!
I totally understand what you mean, now!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There's always exceptions to the rule. If 5% of the people who don't drink coffee get it, yet 2% who do drink it don't, then there's a good chance it has some positive effect.
That doesn't change the fact that 2% of the people drinking coffee STILL got it. It's all about reducing the odds.
Re:These studies are so full of shit (Score:4, Funny)
Idiot! You're supposed to take it out of the can first.
Parent
Re:How about tea then? (Score:5, Funny)
Dude, I think you may have started on the coffee already...
Parent