Caffeine and it's effects
..., here go the negatives. Caffeine is linked to cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, stomach ulcers, and osteoporosis. It has been studied that women consuming 48 mg of caffeine (approximately half a cup of coffee a day) increase their risk of miscarriage by fifteen percent. As little as half a cup of coffee a day in the month prior to conception increases the risk of miscarriage to twenty eight percent. Most Doctors today will advise their patients to reduce, if not eliminate their caffeine intake altogether. Caffeine has been linked to cancers of the bladder and pancreas, as well as benign breast tumors in women. But there is much controversy in this view. Doctors and Scientists feel there are too many other factors involved (weight, sex, age, smoking, etc.) to blame the effects on caffeine, where others feel caffeine is a contributing factor. Studies have found ties between coffee and elevated cholesterol levels; others have not. Researchers claim that healthy men who drink three to six cups of coffee a day and then cut it out totally, experience a large drop in blood pressure levels. Some researchers have connected coffee to a risk of heart failure, but their studies have been found inconclusive because risk factors (diet, lack of exercise, and stress) were not considered. Still another effect of caffeine is Osteoporosis. It is said that long term consumption of caffeine will contribute to bone loss. However, researchers have found that women who drink at least one glass of milk each day offset the effect of caffeine on bone loss. Now the question arises, if caffeine an addicting drug? We usually associate addictions with illegal drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroine. But people can also become addicted to legal substances. Addiction is a condition in which people strongly feel they need or want to use a drug on a continuous basis either to experience it’s effect or to avoid the discomfort of not using it. The definition of drug addiction also includes the fact that the mood-altering chemical involved acts as a reinforcer which means that when a person uses this substance it makes him or her want to continue using it. Isn’t that true of caffeine? ...