Another Look at Caffeine

[Dr. Shane]

     Ellen White uses hard language when talking about tea and coffee.  "Tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcohol we must present as sinful indulgences... tea, coffee, tobacco, beer, wine, and spirituous liquors - are not to be taken moderately, but discarded." 3SM 287 (1881).  Starbucks has done an impressive job of bringing the coffee culture up a notch in the American society.  Many evangelical churches have even remodeled and created coffee shops in the facilities for fellowship and Bible studies. 

     For many years coffee was thought to be bad and some have reasoned that Ellen White was influenced by the thinking of her time.  Historically many coffee drinkers were also smokers.  Thus it would be difficult to determine if the smoking or coffee was doing them harm.  Of course, Sister White believed we shouldn’t be doing either.  Caffeine is a catalyst for cancer.  While it doesn’t cause cancer, if someone is using a carcinogen, caffeine will boosts its ability to do damage.  Coffee drinkers have historically been more inactive too.  Sedentary lifestyles also cause heart disease and diabetes.    

     Research in recent decades has shown there are many benefits to drinking coffee.  These include preventing Parkinson’s disease, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease and a reduced risk of depression.  Coffee is the biggest single source of antioxidants in the western diet.   Interestingly these benefits are also provided by decaffeinated coffee while the coffee with caffeine in it can increase cholesterol and heart disease in some people with a common genetic mutation.  One study showed that decaf coffee provides a small but significant reduction in the risk of stroke or heart disease which isn’t provided by caffeinated coffee. 

     Many choosing to drink decaf choose those that have been decaffeinated with the water process due to a concern about chemicals used during the chemical process although the US Food & Drug Administration states the chemical process is safe.  Early methods of decaffeinating coffee used benzene which was later banned when it was discovered to be carcinogenic.  Today, the chemical method uses mythel chloride.  Two natural methods used are water and CO2.  The FDA considers mythel chloride safe at levels of 10 ppm or less.  Decaf blends using this method typically have trace amounts of 1 ppm or less.  The decaffeinating process was first discovered in 1903 when a coffee merchant’s freight accidently got soaked in sea water.  After retrieving it they learned it had lost its caffeine and taste.  Thus very bitter and acidic beans are used to make decaf coffee regardless of the decaffeinating process used.

     Caffeine does have several health risks associated with it.  Caffeine can cause upset stomach, including acid reflux.  It can also cause nervousness, restlessness, irritability, anxiety,  insomnia, faster pulse, increased blood pressure and muscle tremors.  For pregnant women, it can increase the risk of low birth rate.  It has been associated with gout attacks, breast tissue cysts in women, reduced fertility in women, increased risk of miscarriage, worsened menopause symptoms and increased risk of bone fracture.   Caffeine’s impact on the brain while sleeping has lead most pediatricians to recommend growing children and teenagers not to use it at all as it can interfere with the learning process.  The FDA has considered banning advertisement of caffeinated products to children.

     Does all these factors add up to “sinfulness”?  The problem with drinking and drugs is that it takes control away from the individual.  Our prisons are filled with people that committed crimes while drunk or high that they would have never done sober.  Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit.  Of course, there are medical uses for alcohol and drugs which are to be used under the supervision of a medical doctor.  The big red flag with caffeine use is its increased irritability and anxiety.  Having a constant flow of caffeine in the blood system or getting “drunk” on it makes a person more likely to go into fight-or-flight mode.  These means they lose a little self-control that they would otherwise have if they had no, a very little, caffeine in their system.  This is not to suggest that all caffeine use is sinful.  One ounce of dark chocolate has about 12 mg of caffeine.  A cup of chocolate milk as 5 mg.  A cup of decaf coffee has 10 mg.  A 12 ounce can of cola has 29 mg (although the popular 20 ounce has 48 mg).  Midol has 60 mg per caplet.  Anicin has 32 mg per tablet.  Excedrin has 65 mg per caplet.  A regular cup of coffee has 95 mg.  A 12 ounce can of Red Bull has 111 mg.  Thus one can see how a couple cups of regular coffee in the morning and an energy drink in the afternoon will pump high levels of caffeine into the system way above what one will get from eating a chocolate bar or drinking a glass of chocolate milk.  The anxiety and irritability are normally seen at the 300 mg/day level which most Americans are consuming.   A WebMD article from 2000, Rebecca A. Clay, noted how the rise in anxiety and panic disorders has duck-tailed an increase in coffee and caffeine consumption in the US.   Could the “sinfulness” of caffeine consumption be a loss of control just like drunkenness?  Could the caffeine be part of the problem that we go into road rage, lack patience when there is a long line at the checkout or snap at our children when they break our concentration?

 

[dgrimm60]

SHANE

thank you for posting  this article  ---it  has  very  good  points  about  the so called  plus and  minis of  caffeine  ---now  each  person  has to  decide  what to  do

dgrimm60

[Jeannieb43]

My father, bless his memory, was a top-notch physician and scientist.   He had taught chemistry at the college level before studying medicine, and after that he was invited to become a faculty member at the medical school where he had graduated.   But he was missionary-minded, and remained practicing medicine in a small eastern town the rest of his life.   --but what I'm starting to say is that he told me once, before he died, that caffeine is the safest stimulant one can use.

I sometimes take a NoDoz tablet when I need to be alert.  So far (I'm now 84) I've never had any ill effects from that amount of caffeine.   [I dislike the taste of coffee, so seldom drink any of it.]  But I have to be sure to take the pill before 10 a.m., or it inhibits my sleep at bedtime.

[Dr. Shane]

Of all the stimulants out there, I would have to agree that caffeine is the safest and I see no issue with using it for a medical purpose.  Thank you for sharing that.  

However I also know that it makes people edgy, including me, so when it can be avoided or dramatically reduced, that is a good idea.