Caffeine – Important Facts and Side effects of Caffeine

Caffeine – Important Facts and Side effects of Caffeine
Reality Views by sm -

Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819.
But caffeine was consumed by humans from the ancient times, Stone Age.
Many plants caffeine acts as a natural pesticide, caffeine paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding upon the plant.


Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in more than sixty plants.
Mainly caffeine is found in the Coffee bean, tea leaf, kola nut and cocoa bean.
Many experts agree that limited use of caffeine is good for health that is about 3 cups of coffee per day or 300 milligrams.

Caffeine and Humans – How caffeine affects our body –
Once a person consumes caffeine, it is immediately [ 45 minutes ] absorbed by the body and carried around in the bloodstream, where its level peaks about one hour after consumption.

Caffeine stimulates the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
It affects the brain and results in elevated mood, decreased fatigue and increased attentiveness, so a person can think more clearly and work harder.
Caffeine also increased the heart rate, blood flow, respiratory rate and metabolic rate for several hours.
If caffeine is taken at the night time it may interfere with getting to sleep, it will keep you awake.

The effects of caffeine are not same for each person; they depend on many other factors also.
If daily caffeine is taken more than 600 milligrams, that is six cups of coffee daily;
caffeine can cause nervousness, sweating, tenseness, upset stomach, anxiety and insomnia.
In few persons it can even prevent clear thinking and increase the side effects of few medications.

Caffeine appears to increase the excretion of calcium needed for healthy bones.
Research has shown that caffeine in coffee cause breast or intestinal cancer.
Evidence suggests that if females consume caffeine more than 500 milligrams per day, then caffeine may delay conception and pregnancy.
Excessive caffeine intake may cause miscarriages and low birth weight babies.
Caffeine passes into breast milk, so nursing mothers should closely monitor caffeine intake to make sure it is on the low side.

Caffeine is useful if a person is trying to lose the weight because caffeine increases the rate at which the body burns calories.
Caffeine improves the physical performance also.

Few studies have reported that increased consumption of caffeine may decrease in insulin sensitivity.
Few studies also have reported that the people who consume caffeine have decreased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Few medical studies say that people who drink caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea and cola have a decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease, gallstone disease

New research suggests that five cups of tea a day could help prevent the development of certain forms of brain cancer.
Tea is a source of the minerals manganese, essential for bone growth and body development, and potassium, vital for maintaining body fluid levels.

Caffeine is addictive also; when person withdraws, stop consumption of caffeine for more than 24 hours, that person may feel symptoms such as headache, fatigue, irritability, depression, poor concentration,
So if we want to get freedom from this addiction of caffeine one should slowly reduce the intake of caffeine and one will get total freedom from the addiction of caffeine.

Caffeine is mainly used ,found in following , [ all types ] Coffee, tea, chocolate beverages, soft drinks like cola, lemon-lime soda, ginger ale, root beer, chocolate, milk chocolate candies, dark chocolate etc.

The caffeine content of coffee and tea depends on the type of the coffee bean or tea leaf, the particle size, the brewing method and the length of brewing or steeping time.

Brewed coffee has more caffeine than instant coffee.
Espresso coffee has more caffeine than brewed or instant coffee.

Espresso is made by forcing hot pressurized water through finely ground, dark roast beans. Because it is brewed with less water, it contains more caffeine than regular coffee

A cup of tea contains about a third of the caffeine in an average cup of filtered coffee and proportionately much less compared to an espresso.

The average cup of tea contains less than half the level of caffeine than coffee.
Green and black teas are from the same plant, Camelia sinensis, and contain similar amounts of antioxidants and caffeine.

Many drugs also contain caffeine. Caffeine increases the ability of aspirin and other painkillers to do their job, normally it is used in headache and pain relief and cold products, as well as products which help to increase alertness or help to keep stay awake more.


The first coffee house in the Western world was opened in Vienna.
In Britain, the first coffee houses were opened in London in 1652, at St Michael's Alley, Cornhill.
In 1912 U.S. House of Representatives amended the pure food and drug act adding caffeine to the list of habit forming and deleterious substances which must be listed on products label.
It is a common myth that excessive intake of caffeine results in stunted growth within children, particularly younger children and teenagers.