Opposing Views: Eliminating Caffeine Can Lead to Powerful Withdrawals

Eliminating Caffeine Can Lead to Powerful Withdrawals

News by Opposing Views Editorial Staff
(April 06, 2009) in Health / Dieting

Eighty to ninety percent of North American adults and children consume caffeine products on a daily basis, says a new article on CNN.

According to research conducted by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, of the millions of North Americans who enjoy that daily caffeine fix, “about half…will experience headaches and other symptoms from caffeine withdrawal syndrome,” the article states.

The article quotes one regular American, Susan Todd, 59, of Michigan, who observed that “I can drink four or five cups, easily, comfortably.” If Todd misses a dose, however, it does not go unnoticed. "I feel lousy all over. It's not that anything hurts," she explained. "I just feel sluggish, and a cup of caffeine will cure that."

But why would caffeine trigger such a strong response in people? Michael Kuhar, chief of the division of neuroscience at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, refers to caffeine as a “mild stimulant” and believes that people can become dependent.

"If you take a cup of caffeine you're likely to feel good and energized," Kuhar told CNN. But be warned. "Withdrawal symptoms can start from 12 to 20 hours after your last cup of coffee and peak about two days later and can last about as long as a week.”

For those concerned about the withdrawals, Kuhar recommends eliminating caffeine gradually, reducing consumption by a half to a whole cup per day.

Is moderate caffeine consumption bad for you? See the Opposing Views debate.

Regarding News

Caffeine Withdrawal Is Worth It!

There are so many health risks from caffeine . It really is worth it to suffer through some withdrawal to become caffeine-free. Here's a brief listing of the bad stuff:

--Caffeine in coffee has been linked to cancer of the liver, bladder, kidney and pancreas.

--Harvard School of Public Health showed that drinking two cups of coffee a day may double the risk of cancer of the pancreas.

--Coffee is a complex chemical compound. Researchers have identified more than 300 substances in coffee, of which caffeine is but one. Tar and other chemicals formed when coffee is roasted have caused bladder cancer.

--A recent study at John Hopkins Medical Institute found people who drank five or more cups of coffee a day had two to three times the risk of coronary heart disease .

--Osteoporosis: A study of over 80,000 patients showed a relationship between brittle bones and heavy coffee consumption. Caffeine is known to leach calcium from the bones.

--Pregnancy: An increase of miscarriages, still births, breech births and low birth weight have been connected to coffee consumption. Most experts say coffee should be totally avoided during pregnancy .

--Infertility: Coffee appears to slow down the mobility of sperm, plus increase the incidence of abnormal sperm. Research shows that women who drink more than just one cup of coffee a day reduce their fertility by as much as 50 percent.

Ethic Soup blog has an excellent series of brief and informative coffee and caffeine articles at:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/caffeine-the-worlds-most-popular-drug.html

Even though caffeine withdrawl can be hard, just think of all the health problems you will no longer have to worry about as much. It's worth it.

- SharonMcEachern April 7, 2009 2:30PM

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- I disagree
  
  Most of the unproven health risks of drinking coffee come from heavy consumption. Rather than quitting just cut back.
  
  The health risks that do exist happen in such a small % of people that the benefits are worth the minor risks. Scientific studies have proven that moderate amounts of caffeine improve mental acuity and physical strength and endurance. To me these benefits are worth the extremely small risk. Everything has risks my friend.
  
  I have been a moderate coffee drinker for 45 years. On a number of occasions I stopped for a few days with no ill effects whatsoever.
  
  - tbcass April 8, 2009 1:44PM
  
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  - I agree with you disagree
    
    I agree. Instead of drinking five cups a day, drink two.
    I know that when I went decaffeinated for a while I suffered a splitting headache for about three days but it wasn't horrible.
    As with anything, moderation?
    I've read studies that a couple of cups a day are actually good for you.
    BTW, I wonder at that "one regular American". Are there any more?
    
    - IDGem April 9, 2009 9:04AM
    
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- Nothing there
  
  Your link to that blog contained nothing that would make me want to stop drinking coffee .
  
  BTW, In my family my father and sister both had problems with kidney stones. They didn't drink coffee. My mother and I, both regular coffee drinkers, never had problems. Maybe this is another benefit of coffee? Why are you so gung ho about telling people they shouldn't drink coffee. Don't you have better things to do?
  
  Here's some facts on caffeine and cancer .
  
  There's little evidence caffeine promotes cancer, except possibly bladder cancer. In fact, recent Japanese research suggests caffeine alters hormones in ways that may reduce the odds of breast cancer. New Swiss research finds coffee drinkers have a 27 percent lower risk of colon cancer. A study at Harvard suggested drinking four or five cups of coffee a day cuts the risk of colorectal cancer by 24 percent.
  
  When you pick and choose your "facts" it is the same as lying.
  
  Here's more:
  
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29409056 /
  
  More:
  
  "Unlike many other foods or recreational drugs (like alcohol or nicotine), there is little evidence implicating caffeine to cancer or cardiovascular disease -- although heart disturbances can occur on high doses or in sensitive individuals. Administered acutely, moderate doses of caffeine can increase blood pressure and decrease heart rate. For most people, tolerance develops to these effects within a few days and there is no alteration in cardiovascular effects for habitual caffeine users.
  
  In a study of one hundred healthy males, 3 cups of coffee daily over 8 weeks led to a small increase in both LDL & HDL cholesterol , which would not be expected to increase the risk of coronary artery disease [JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 267(6):811-815 (1992)]. The cholesterol-raising factors have been identified as the lipids cafestol & kahweol, which can be removed by paper filtration and are not present in instant coffee [ANNUAL REVIEW OF NUTRITION 17:305-324 (1997)].
  
  A study of nearly fifty thousand male health professionals showed no increase of cardiovascular disease due to coffee-drinking [THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 323:1026-1032 (1990)] -- a result in agreement with the Framingham Study [ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE 149:1169-1172 (1989)]. Neither caffeinated nor decaffeinated coffee are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction [AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY 149(2):162-167 (1999)]. However, coffee in excess of 8 cups per day may aggrevate cardiac arrhythmias [ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE 114:147-150 (1991)] and raise plasma homocysteine [AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION 76:1244-1248 (2002)]. Adenosine is sometimes used in emergency medicine to treat supraventricular arrhythmias [AMERICAN FAMILY PHYSICIAN 65(12):2479-2486 (2002)] and caffeine may interfere with this treatment .
  
  A review of studies on animals & humans found no conclusive evidence for any increased incidence of cancer in any organ due to coffee [WORLD REVIEW OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS 79:185-221 (1996)]. In fact, a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies concluded that persons consuming four or more cups of coffee per day have a 24% lower risk of colon cancer than those who rarely or never drink coffee [AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY 147(11):1043-1052 (1998)]. Nonetheless, such an association might be due to the higher socio- economic status of coffee-drinkers rather than to the coffee.
  
  Next time get your facts straight rather than relying on some Blog.
  
  - tbcass April 8, 2009 2:05PM
  
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  - More
    
    The John's Hopkins study indicated that caffeine did not cause the increase in heart disease but chemicals formed when coffee is boiled. Drinking drip coffee did not cause a problem.
    
    http://webhome.idirect.com /~wolfnowl/thyroid9.htm
    
    The solution? Drink drip coffee filtered by paper, the method almost all of us Americans use.
    
    - tbcass April 8, 2009 2:58PM
    
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Caffeine and ADD traits

Caffeine may not be nearly so detrimental for people who have genuine neurological traits associated with ADD. For such people, caffeine is often used, sometimes unwittingly, as a low-cost form of self- medication , in absence of an official diagnosis and prescription drugs . Since the ADD mind is, among other things, apparently starved for stimulation, perhaps caffeine is often used to chemically provide that stimulation. I've known people who clearly had ADD traits (as I do) who found it necessary to consume ten or more cups of coffee first thing in the morning in order to be able to function (in a high-pressure tech support job).

I might very well have had first-hand experience with this caffeine-as-medication theory, but for the fact that I cannot stand the taste of coffee. I did, however, once consume many cans of Dr. Pepper daily, which is known to contain more caffeine than most soft drinks. If anything, doing so had beneficial effects for me, aside perhaps from the excessive sugar intake. My ability to cope and function has coincidentally diminished since I stopped drinking it regularly a decade ago.

- VulcanTourist April 8, 2009 12:14PM

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- All people
  
  Moderate caffeine consumption improves the ability to think clearly and enhances physical abilities as well. To me this is worth any tiny risk involved.
  
  - tbcass April 8, 2009 1:46PM
  
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Avoiding Caffeine Tolerance is Simple

I have autism with ADHD traits. I've tried Ritalin and Strattera; neither one worked very well--and neither one helped as much as moderate doses of caffeine . Currently, I drink caffeine to help me concentrate, regulate attention, and improve executive function. It has a marginal benefit--it makes things noticeably easier, but still a great deal harder than for the average person. Since the only drawback is the possibility of physical tolerance , I am very happy with my discovery of how caffeine helps me and use it regularly--usually in doses of about two cups of coffee over three hours, or a 100 mg caffeine pill if there's no time for coffee. (Coffee makes it much tastier. I'm not very fond of pills!)

However, I've discovered that by not drinking caffeine on weekends, I do not build up enough tolerance during the week to cause any withdrawal symptoms when I stop. Another benefit to this system is that I do not have to ingest a great deal of caffeine to get the effect I need--without a high tolerance, two cups have the same benefit for me as ten might for a heavy caffeine user.

It's relatively easy to taper off your dose of caffeine, just like you would when stopping any drug to which you have developed a tolerance, by simply taking less and less as you readjust, and finally stopping entirely. When you've been without caffeine for one or two weeks, or else felt normal without it for at least three days, you can be relatively sure that your body has readjusted to its absence.

You do need to know your own tendency to develop tolerance. Some people may have withdrawal symptoms after only three days of caffeine use. Others may only develop them after weeks. Know yourself; know your body. Caffeine is a drug--albeit a rather safe one--and must be used wisely.

- Callista April 8, 2009 1:48PM

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