Clouds In Your Coffee

July 25, 1999|Story By Kate Santich

Perhaps, like millions of overworked, stressed-out, sleep-deprived Americans who just want a decent cup of coffee to jump-start their mornings - or maybe a little latte in the afternoon or a post-dinner cafe mocha or, what the heck, an occasional triple-shot of espresso - you're a bit confused by some of the latest studies on caffeine and how it can affect your health.

Perhaps you heard that caffeine is addictive, or that it isn't. Perhaps you heard coffee may cause cancer, or that it helps prevent cancer. Perhaps you think it makes you more productive, or that it makes you sluggish. It may help PMS, or it may make it worse.

In some people, caffeine can cause headaches. So can caffeine withdrawal. But caffeine can also help a headache go away.

Does your head hurt yet?

Allow us to help. Allow us to sort through all the research jargon and controversy and the various studies sponsored by groups like the Java Rulers of the Universe and the Just-Say-No-To-Joe Brigade and give you the bottom line, which is:

Caffeine in moderation is fine for you - except when it isn't.

There. Capiche?

Oh. Well, so it's a little more complicated. Sit back, relax, have a cup of, um, herbal tea, and we'll explain.

THERE ARE AT LEAST two things you need to know about caffeine. First, it's a drug. Yes, it's a naturally occurring drug that is widely accepted and even promoted by society, a drug that purportedly dates back to 2700 B.C., when a Chinese emperor was boiling water and some leaves fell in the pot, and, voila, tea was born.

The story seems a little suspect, but the point is caffeine is a drug - a stimulant of the central nervous system, to be precise.

Second, everyone reacts differently to it. People have different levels of sensitivity, just as they do to any drug.

Some folks can down a double-latte and nod off a half-hour later, even if they aren't watching C-span. Others have one cup and you have to scrap them off the ceiling.

"For some people, caffeine produces rapid and/or irregular heartbeats, nervousness, sweating, clammy hands, irritability, chest pains, stomach upset, diarrhea, fatigue, increased appetite, high-blood pressure, tremors and other symptoms such as a feeling of panic," writes cardiologist Stephen R. Yarnall. "Other people can guzzle quarts of the stuff with none of these problems. So, it depends."

On what?

Individual biochemistry, for one - basically, your constitution. Also, it depends on your weight. Generally speaking, a dose of caffeine will have more impact on a smaller person than a larger one. But it also depends on your overall health, how often you ingest caffeine, other drugs you are taking at the time, and it even depends on your hormones.

In fact, one of the most startling and recent finds about caffeine is that, in general, men and women react differently to it.

"As it turns out, women pay a much higher price for a caffeine buzz than men," writes Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom.

Studies done on men show that, at a dose of up to 500 milligrams (a generous mug of espresso or up to six cups of watered-down brew), caffeine made them feel more awake and alert; delayed the need for sleep; improved hand-eye coordination, mental performance and memory; and it decreased reaction time.

Sounds wonderful, right?

But another study comparing men and women showed that an hour after both groups were given 150 milligrams of caffeine (about one cup of regular coffee), the women rated themselves more sleepy, tired and disorganized than did the men.

"What women may really be getting is low blood sugar, mood and energy swings, fatigue, insomnia, depression and malnutrition," Northrup says.

Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz, a behavioral neuroscientist, says the reasons are still unclear because research in this area is scant. But, she says, "The entire hormonal milieu is different between men and women. We know, for instance, that men and women metabolize alcohol differently."

Similarly, the rate at which women metabolize caffeine depends on where they are in their menstrual cycle, Northrup says. And birth control pills and probably estrogen-replacement therapy - can slow down caffeine's exit from the body.

"The reason for this is that the liver uses the same metabolic system to detoxify both hormones and caffeine," Northrup explains. "Using both at the same creates a 'traffic tie-up' in the liver."

The effects of a single cup of coffee or can of Diet Coke, for instance, last from two and a half to four and a half hours in a man. In a woman they may last up to seven hours. That means that, generally speaking, the same amount of caffeine is more profound - and potentially damaging to a woman.

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