Health and Caffeine: What you need to know – Apollo Hospitals Blog

Today’s young population relies more on fast foods, chocolates and soft drinks rather than a balanced nutritious diet. Just imagine one day without a cup of tea or caffeinated soft drink! Well, the very thought is in itself so unthinkable for most people!

Soft drinks and energy drinks contain caffeine – a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is naturally produced in the leaves and seeds of particular plants. Caffeine has a history dating long before the Stone Age.

Soft drinks normally constitute about 10 to 50 milligrams of caffeine per serving. Energy drinks typically contain 80 or more mg of caffeine per serving. Caffeine is harmful to one’s health and acts to simulate one’s central nervous, respiratory and cardiac system giving a sudden thrust in energy. It also elevates your mood, if a bit dampened. Its effect stay up to some six hours after its intake.

Benefits of Caffeine:

• Medicinal benefits: Caffeine is present in combination with aspirin in some brands of aspirin , where it augments the effects of aspirin on pain.
• Boosts energy: Caffeine helps you elevate your energy level and energizes you, enhancing your mood.
• Clears the mind: Caffeine can trigger your mind to focus better. It gives your mind the required boost and helps one wake up in the morning.

Benefits of Caffeine are few while its shortcomings are more. So if one evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of Caffeine, it is advisable to avoid it.

Drawbacks of Caffeine:

• Loss of weight: Intake of Caffeine causes reduction in weight. Products meant to decrease weight generally contain caffeine as an ingredient in some amounts.
• Vagueness in Vision: Intake of Caffeine causes blurry effects to our eyes. Visual difficulties, be it temporary or permanent, tend to occur because of Caffeine.
• Chest Pain: People suffering from heart problems may have chest pain after taking Caffeine.
• High blood pressure: Caffeine causes diseases like blood pressure if a person is habitually taking it. Persons who are already have blood pressure are prone to serious problems and should avoid it.
• Nutritional deficit: If Caffeine is taken before or after consuming something which has high nutritional content then may not assimilate 100 percent nutritive value of that food item. Your body gets only 60 percent. Caffeine may also cause risk of weakening bones or osteoporosis.
• Jittery feelings: Enough consumption of Caffeine in any form can lead to jittery feelings where one cannot stay focus or sit still for some time.
• Sleep and other disturbances: Caffeine can cause sleeplessness. Higher doses of Caffeine cause anxiety, dizziness, headaches, etc. Though caffeine is many a time used for treating migraine headaches, it can make headaches worse for some people. Higher intake of Caffeine also may cause a person to urinate in large amounts. Dehydration can also be an effect ke. So it is advisable to stay away from it during hot climatic conditions or if one sweats a lot.

The world is so habituated to taking Caffeine that discontinuing it abruptly can be impossible! Withdrawal symptoms like tiredness, irritability, and headaches may develop as its consequence. So try moderating the amount you take. Experts consider 200-300 mg of caffeine per day to be a moderate quantity for adults.