1,3,7-trimethylxanthine

Just a few days ago, an article in the New Straits Times newspaper caught my eye. Basically, this article said that all it takes is one cup of coffee a day to become addicted to caffeine. Not that much huh? Well, i decided to look up some stuff on coffee. But before i say anything, i will admit that i am not a coffee drinker. Never have been, don’t think i’ll ever be. I simply do not like the taste. Hard to believe, perhaps, but true nonetheless.

Caffeine belongs to a group of stimulants called xanthines and is the world’s most popular drug. The white, bitter-tasting, crystalline substance was first isolated from coffee in 1820. Both words, caffeine and coffee, are derived from the Arabic word qahweh (pronounced "kahveh" in Turkish). The origins of the words reflect the spread of the beverage into Europe via Arabia and Turkey from northeast Africa, where coffee trees were cultivated in the 6th century. Coffee began to be popular in Europe in the 17th century. By the 18th century plantations had been established in Indonesia and the West Indies.

The caffeine content of coffee beans varies according to the species of the coffee plant. Caffeine is also found in tea. It was first isolated from tea leaves in 1827 and named "theine" because it was believed to be a distinctly different compound from the caffeine in coffee. Tea leaves contain about 3.5% caffeine, but a cup of tea usually contains less caffeine than a cup of coffee because much less tea than coffee is used during preparation.

Caffeine is an ingredient of certain headache pills (30-65 mg). It is the main ingredient of non-prescription "stay-awake" pills (100-200 mg). After you take some coffee in, its highest concentration in our system occurs within thirty to sixty minutes, and its effects usually last for four to six hours. Caffeine is mildly addictive, as you already know. Moderate use of coffee, tea or soft drinks with caffeine is not harmful to most of people, but caffeine can make you shaky, raise blood pressure, cause irregular heartbeats or interfere with sleep.

Caffeine taken in beverage form begins to reach all tissues of the body within five minutes. Peak blood levels are reached in about 30 minutes. Half of a given dose of caffeine is metabolized in about four hours -more rapidly in smokers and less rapidly in newborn infants, in women in late pregnancy, and in sufferers from liver disease. Normally, almost all ingested caffeine is metabolized. Less than 3% appears unchanged in urine, and there is no day-to-day accumulation of the drug in the body.

Short-term effects of a drug are those that appear soon after a single dose and disappear within hours. Ingestion of the amount of caffeine in one or two cups of coffee (75-150 mg) causes many mild physiological effects. General metabolism increases - expressed as an increase in activity or raised temperature, or both. The rate of breathing increases, as does urination and the levels of fatty acids in the blood and of gastric acid in the stomach.Caffeine use may increase blood pressure.

Caffeine stimulates the brain and behavior. Use of 75-150 mg of caffeine elevates neural activity in many parts of the brain, postpones fatigue, and enhances performance at simple intellectual tasks and at physical work that involves endurance but not fine motor coordination. Caffeine may help you stay awake and be alert to study, but it will not improve your performance on an exam the next day if you have not gotten enough rest or are exhausted from an all-nighter. Caffeine's effects on complex intellectual tasks and on mood do not lend themselves to a simple summary. The effects depend on the personality of the user, on the immediate environment, on the user's knowing whether caffeine has been taken, and even on the time of day.

The effects of caffeine on sleep are clear-cut: taken before bedtime, it usually delays sleep onset, shortens overall sleep time, and reduces the "depth" of sleep. After using caffeine, sleepers are more easily aroused, move more during sleep, and report a reduction in the quality of sleep. The effects of caffeine on dreaming are less clear.

Larger doses of caffeine, especially when given to non-users, can produce headache, jitteriness, abnormally rapid heartbeat (tachycardia), convulsions, and even delirium. Near-fatal doses cause a crisis resembling the state of a diabetic without insulin, including high levels of blood sugar and the appearance of acetone-like substances in urine.

Long-term effects of a toxic nature do not appear evident when regular caffeine use is below about 650 mg a day - equivalent to about eight or nine average cups of coffee. Above this level, users may suffer from chronic insomnia, persistent anxiety and depression, and stomach ulcers. Caffeine use appears to be associated with irregular heartbeat and may raise cholesterol levels, but there is no firm evidence that caffeine causes heart disease.

Well, you’re not the only caffeine-head out there. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), four out of five Americans have some caffeine on any given day, the average amount being about 200 milligrams a day (approximately equivalent to what's found in two 8-ounce cups of coffee, three to four 12-ounce cans of caffeinated soda, or four 8-ounce cups of tea).

Based on all of the above information, your health could benefit from less caffeine going into your body. You may want to consider gradually switching over to a diet cola beverage that's caffeine-free, or at least alternating between the two, and make sure to drink plenty of water everyday to help minimize withdrawal symptoms from caffeine.


Some Random Caffeine Facts:

• The full chemical name for caffeine is 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine and its chemical formula is C8H10N4O2.
• Caffeine was first isolated from coffee in 1820.
• In its pure state, caffeine is a crystalline white powder.
• Caffeine can be found in 60 different plants.
• 10g of caffeine is considered a lethal dose although people have survived up to 24g. A shot of espresso has 100mg. So unless you have unusual tolerance, it ought to take a nice round 100 shots, or say 50 double cappuccinos, to get to that big cafe in the sky.
• It's the most popular drug in the world. Ninety percent of Americans consume it in some form every day.
• Over 450,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed in the USA every day!
• Darkly roasted coffee has less caffeine than lightly roasted.
• Contrary to popular belief, caffeine (or coffee) won't help someone sober up if they have had too much to drink.