health effects | Caffeine and You

Mate or Yerba Mate Profile

January 2, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

For a caffeine boost, some people drink a tea made from mate, also known as yerba mate. Mate’s bitter flavor is an acquired taste, especially when brewed alone, without tempering by other flavorings. It’s often a natural ingredient in energy drinks and energy shots.

What is mate or yerba mate? The mate plant, Ilex paraguariensis, is a type of tropical evergreen in the holly family. The word maté refers to the tea, which is traditionally drunk scalding hot through a straw; and also to the richly decorated, hollowed out gourd used by natives as a vessel for brewing and drinking.

Where does mate come from? Maté hails from rainforests in Paraguay, and is also found in Argentina and Brazil. Native tribes discovered its properties by brewing a tea from the smoke-dried leaves and twigs.

How much caffeine does mate yield? As a stimulating beverage, maté’s buzz is fairly low, with caffeine levels comparable to weak or very strong tea: between .7 and 1.7 percent (tea typically contains .4 to .9 percent caffeine). Maté’s caffeine is sometimes called mateine.

What else does mate contain? Maté’s theobromine content ranges from a low .3 to .9 percent; it may contain a tiny amount of theophylline or none at all (depending on the species).

Is mate safe? Studies have indicated that frequent, large consumption over prolonged periods may increase the risk of cancers of the mouth, lungs, and esophagus; but evidence suggests that in the subjects tested, drinking mate at high temperature, heavy consumption, and tobacco smoking are responsible for the carcinogenic results. Like guarana, mate is classified as GRAS, generally recognized as safe, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most experts also consider it safe in moderate amounts, though research has been sparse.

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Supplements in Energy Drinks

January 3, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

The “energy” in energy drinks and energy shots comes from two sources: caffeine (including the caffeine in guarana, yerba mate, and kola nut) and glucose, or sugar. The following ingredients are also common in energy drinks and “dietary supplement” products.

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid, obtained in meats and fish, and helps regulate water and mineral salt levels in the blood. Studies on rats suggest caffeine and taurine have a synergy, enhancing caffeine’s stimulant properties, but not enough research on humans has been done. European nations once banned Red Bull out of concern over taurine’s safety, but continued research has not shown any ill effects. Taurine is not included on the FDA’s GRAS list (generally regarded as safe). At best, taurine’s impact in energy drinks is unknown.

Ginseng

Ginseng is an herb. Traditional herbalists say it enhances mental wellbeing, boosts the immune system, and improves stamina. In energy drinks, ginseng probably won’t improve athletic performance. One study did show 200 mg of ginseng gave cognitive test-takers a mental boost, but only at that dose. Ginseng is shown to lower blood glucose and may interact with blood-thinning drugs like wayfarin, so consumers should consult their doctor before use.

Inositol

Inositol is a nutrient found in plants and animals that plays a role in brain, heart, muscle, and nerve cell functions. Insufficient evidence exists to support functional claims in dietary supplements, and quantities in energy drinks are too small to make an impact. The FDA lists it as “generally regarded as safe.”

B Vitamins

B vitamins help regulate metabolism, convert food to energy, and include thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and cobalamin among others. They’re also believed to help maintain mental function. People get plenty of B vitamins in a normal diet, and excess is usually flushed from the system. But some amounts can be unsafe. B-6 is known to cause numbness and nerve damage in hands and feet when taken in large quantities over time. The FDA recommends 1.3 mg per day for most adults, and sets the tolerable upper limit for B-6 at 100 mg per day, but supplements often exceed that amount. (A 5-Hour ENERGY shot contains 40 mg of B-6.)

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo biloba has been a favorite traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years, even though it’s not on the FDA’s GRAS list of safe ingredients. It’s taken to enhance memory and improve circulation. It can interact with other drugs and cause unwanted side effects, especially with anti-depressant medications and blood thinners. Energy drinks generally contain too small an amount to be of benefit.

L-Carnitine

L-Carnitine, a nutrient synthesized by amino acids in the body, converts food into energy, and helps move fat into cells to burn as energy. Some studies suggest it boosts metabolism, energy levels, and athletic endurance, but research is not conclusive. Most people on a normal diet produce adequate amounts, but physical stress may reduce available L-carnitine. It may cause gastrointestinal distress in some people.

Bottom line: Some of these ingredients may provide health or performance benefits, but probably not in the amounts found in energy drinks. People with health conditions or on medications should consult a doctor before consuming these substances.

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Death by Caffeine Powder

January 4, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

The young man was partying, having a good time with friends. It was a normal weekend, and for kicks, he tried something new. He chugged down some white powder, not much – a couple of teaspoons – with a can of Red Bull. Before the night was over, he’d be dead.

In 2010, Michael Lee Bedford, a 23-year old British man, died from caffeine overdose: the two teaspoons he swallowed were caffeine powder. His friend had purchased the pure caffeine over the Internet for £3.29 (about $5.50). It’s commonly sold as anhydrous caffeine powder.

The powder’s label recommended that dosage not exceed one-sixteenth of a teaspoon, smaller than the size of a pea. But Bedford never saw the label.

Bedford’s blood contained the caffeine equivalent of 70 energy drinks. And unlike caffeinated beverages, it took him but a few seconds to ingest it. That extreme amount of caffeine causes serious reactions in the body, most notably rapid heart beat and seizures. Coffee, tea, chocolate and guarana contain caffeine, but you’d have a hard time drinking or eat these naturally caffeinated products fast enough, before your body would start rejecting them.

According to an ABC News report, Bedford’s family has a strong message about the dangers of caffeine powder. “I feel like it should be banned,” his grandmother said. His aunt agreed, adding “I think there should be a warning on it saying it can kill.”

What is Anhydrous Caffeine Powder?

Caffeine is synthesized by boiling plant parts (like stems, beans, and leaves) in water. After the plant parts are removed and the water evaporates, what’s left is a dry, white, crystalline powder, known as anhydrous caffeine (anhydrous means “without water”).

The process greatly concentrates caffeine’s potency. Anhydrous caffeine is a pharmaceutical substance mixed into medicines, weight-loss and energy products, and a full range of dietary supplements. When it’s an ingredient in foods or beverages, nutrition labels list it simply as caffeine. But in its pure state, the bitter-tasting powder is a highly concentrated drug.

The warning label on one brand of anhydrous caffeine powder advises not to exceed 200 mg in 24 hours (which is about 1/10th of a teaspoon). A lethal dose of caffeine depends on many factors, including a person’s weight, age, and health status. But whether it’s the caffeine in powdered form or in a cup of coffee, amounts as low as 300 mg can lead to adverse reactions in some people. But you’d have to drink about 100 cups of coffee before the caffeine in it would kill you, and you’d probably be shaking too much after the first few cups to continue (not to mention the nausea and gastric reactions).

Anhydrous caffeine powder, though, is concentrated enough to produce toxic and even lethal effects within minutes, and in as little as a spoonful. Suppliers of anhydrous caffeine powder recommend using a gram scale to accurately measure dosage. The safety warnings on anhydrous caffeine products vary. Some advise that 200 mg is the limit, while others warn that 200-500 mg per day is the max. But every person is different.

Caffeine is safe in low doses, but high doses are risky

For example, the anhydrous caffeine sold at BulkSupplements posts this notice:

Taking too much caffeine at once can cause elevated blood pressure, restlessness, headaches, irritability, nausea, and increased heart rate which could be very dangerous. It should also be noted that caffeine is extremely toxic in large doses. The larger the doses the more likely one is to experience negative side effects, and the more intense those negative side effects will be. In some cases large doses of caffeine beyond the recommended daily value could even be fatal. This information is not to be taken lightly.

Conclusion

The bottom-line for all caffeinated products is this: Know how much you’re taking, and use common sense.

Regardless of what the label does or does not say, consumers need to be aware that caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, a drug that affects the body and brain. In low to moderate doses it’s generally recognized as safe for most people. But high doses of caffeine can be dangerous and, as this report shows, even lethal.

The problem with extreme caffeinated products:

Consumers don’t read labels, and in some cases the label isn’t clear about the caffeine amount contained. So high doses are easy to consume, even unintentionally.
Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Caffeine in the Toolbox

January 6, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

Is caffeine a tool for modern humans?

Imagine you’re at the beach. You slide on your sunglasses and spread a towel out on the sand. The sun beats down. Your skin feels hot, so you apply sunscreen. At first you enjoy the sun but as the afternoon wears on, you flee, back to the car and eventually home to an air-conditioned house. As you change clothes, you admire your tan.

You’ve just demonstrated the remarkable human ability to adapt, both biologically and by inventing things that change our surrounding conditions.

Human adaptation is key to our success. Our skin releases melanin to protect against the sun’s rays. We build shelters to keep out wind, rain, and varmints. Our machines change the temperature of the air. Our ability to cope with the variability of our environment is our biggest advantage. And somehow these things, these adaptations, just flow together over time: we’re not always aware of how we come to cope. We just do.

Is Caffeine an Adaptational Tool?

In so many ways, caffeine makes humans more adaptable. With caffeine, we can avoid sleep. Day can be night, and night can be day. We can ward off hunger and fatigue. We’re more social and exchange ideas. We solve problems, and make things all day long. And when we feel pain, caffeine stops the hurt and keeps us going.

Why do we include caffeine in our diet? It doesn’t provide calories, fat, or protein. It does stimulate neurochemicals that change how we interact with our environment. It’s a source of antioxidants, and it’s delivered in natural substances that contain even more antioxidants. Perhaps we choose caffeine because in some ways, it helps us more than it harms us.

Caffeine’s effects may be making more of a long-term impact than we can easily see. But the fact that most people experience caffeine on a regular, daily basis suggests we may be operating differently, in some big-picture way, from times when caffeine was not widely consumed.

Caffeine can be a powerful tool in the human toolbox. But it comes without a manual. We’re still learning how it works. Fortunately, new tools like MRI scanners and human genome mapping are helping us figure it out. But many of caffeine’s mechanisms – the nuts and bolts of how it works – remain unclear.

Caffeine’s Effects: Good or Bad?

If you’re tempted to lump caffeine into mutually exclusive “good” or “bad” categories, don’t. Caffeine won’t fit. Current research finds evidence that caffeine has benefits, is safe in low to moderate doses, yet it can also be risky for some people. The FDA puts almost no restrictions on its use, but the medical community is more cautious when children, teens, pregnant women, and people with compromising health conditions are involved.

Despite years of research, caffeine remains somewhat mysterious, yet promising.

Caffeine is a drug, but largely an unregulated one. It can be a safe way to increase alertness, reduce fatigue, elevate mood, and improve sports performance. As delivery vehicles, coffee, tea chocolate and other botanicals contain beneficial antioxidants, and may prevent some cancers. Caffeine may also prevent some cancers, lower the risk of diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, and reduce the effects of cognitive aging.

Caffeine probably won’t make you smarter. But it does appear to boost our brains in happy, productive ways. A large number of studies indicate caffeine can help you work faster, increase focus, aid concentration, reduce attention lapses, and benefit recall. How and when you choose to use caffeine may give you an edge.

How much caffeine gives you the best boost? Click to the…next section

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Low or High Doses: Caffeine’s Biphasic Buzz

January 6, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

Caffeine is safe in low doses, but high doses are risky

Caffeine is biphasic – meaning it delivers significantly different effects when taken at low doses than at high ones.

We see this in research studies, when subjects are given small or large amounts of caffeine. But you and I can also feel the difference.

The more caffeine you ingest doesn’t mean the better the buzz. In fact, caffeine’s most popular effects – feeling good, awake, and alert – happen at low to moderate doses (100-300 mg, or one to three cups of coffee, depending on the person).

At higher doses, caffeine intoxication sets in: jitters, heart palpitations, anxiety, nausea, increased blood pressure, and such. Feeling good turns to feeling bad.

When products deliver high amounts of caffeine in concentrated doses, it’s easy to ingest too much in a short period. People with heart conditions and young people are especially vulnerable to caffeine’s adverse effects. Some energy drinks, energy shots, caffeine powder, and certain “dietary supplements” are more likely to deliver risky doses of caffeine.

Being Smart About Research Results

More and more, caffeine seems to be good for us in many ways. It’s a promising but still mysterious substance. Research results tend to conclude with the admonition “More research is clearly needed.” Or, “The mechanisms of action that account for these effects are uncertain at this time.”

Research may suggest a correlation between caffeine and an end result, but we aren’t always sure what caffeine does to get to that result.

Correlation doesn’t automatically mean causality either; there may be other factors at play, such as other ingredients in the beverage (like antioxidants), or the genetic types of the subjects. Journalists, and researchers, constantly conflate coffee with caffeine, so it’s often hard to tell which substance is really the active player.

Many of caffeine’s adverse effects reported prior to the 21st century seem to have been disproved, or not substantiated. Faulty methodology, unknowns like the influence of genetics, small sample studies, cigarette smoking, and other factors have pretty much tossed most of the scary warnings about caffeine out the door. Some prudent warnings do remain because we just don’t know enough, like the effects on newborns.

In some studies, the amount of caffeine makes a difference in results; one cup of coffee or 100 mg may be as beneficial as drinking water (i.e., no special therapeutic effect), while others require a hefty four to six cups of coffee or the caffeinated equivalent, which is enough to throttle many drinkers into the jitter zone. To make things even more confusing, caffeine in coffee may not yield the same results as caffeine in tea, sodas or energy drinks, or these other beverages may not have been tested as rigorously as coffee.

Finally, potential conflicts of interest can influence the results or their interpretation. Trade associations for coffee, sodas and energy drinks, tea, and chocolate actively fund scientific research studies. They may have no influence on the results, but it’s good to know who’s paying the bills, especially when results are conflicting or suddenly groundbreaking.

Next up: It’s all about you! How your uniqueness determines caffeine’s effects…Head over to Chapter 7

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents