COFFEE ADDICTION

To put it in simple words, Coffee is a brewed hot or cold

beverage enjoyed by the whole world in one form or the
other.

INTRODUCTION

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from the roasted seeds, usually called as coffee
beans. They are seeds of coffee cherries that grow on trees in over 70 countries,
cultivated primarily in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Green unroasted
coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world.

Coffee of the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical regions of Asia and the south
Americans, produces the seeds. Coffee is darkly coloured, bitter and a white
crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulative drug primarily due to its
caffeine content.

In humans, caffeine is the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but
unlike many other psychoactive substances, it is legal and unregulated in nearly all
jurisdictions.

Today coffee is third most popular drink after water and tea. Some controversy is
associated with coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment. Many studies
have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical
condition; whether the overall effects of coffee are positive or negative are widely
disputed.

Species:
All coffee plants are classified in the large family Rubiaceae. They are evergreen shrubs
or trees that can grow 5m tall when unpruned. The leaves are dark green and glossy,
usually 10-15cm long and 6cm wide simple entire and opposite. Petioles of the
opposite leaves fuse at the base to form interpetiolar stipules, characteristic of
Rubiaceae. The flowers are axillary, and clusters of fragrant white flowers bloom
simultaneously. Gynoecium consists of an inferior ovary also characteristic of Rubiaceae.
The flowers are followed by oval berries of about 1.5cm. when immature they are
green and they ripen to yellow then crimson before turning black or drying. Each berry
usually contains two seeds, but 5-10% of these berries contain only one; these are
called pea berries Arabica berries ripen in 6 – 8 months, while Robusta takes nine to
eleven months.
SOURCES OF CAFFIENE:
As little as 20 mgs of caffeine can produce noticeable body and mood changes. As a
very rough guide to how much caffeine you may be taking on a daily basis.

An average cup of coffee contains 50mgs of caffeine.

An average cup of instant coffee contains around 70 – 100mgs of caffeine.

A single cup of 6 oz espresso contains about 80 – 90mgs of caffeine (much larger

than a normal cup of coffee incidentally).

Filter coffee can contain 20 – 25% more caffeine than an instant coffee.

Not only coffee but also a 340 ml of regular or diet cola can contain between 35 –
40mgs of caffeine.
OVERUSE:
In large amounts and especially over extended periods of time, caffeine can lead to
condition known as caffeinism. Caffeinism usually combines caffeine dependency
with a wide range of unpleasant physical and mental conditions including
nervousness, irritability, anxiety, tremulousness, muscle twitching, insomnia,
headaches, respiratory alkalosis, and heart palpitations. Furthermore, because
increases in the production of stomach acid, high usage can lead to peptic ulcers,
erosive esophagitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Caffeine may also
increase the toxicity of some other drugs like paracetamol.
Caffeine consumption can also lead to some psychiatric disorders which include mild
anxiety, jitteriness, insomnia, increased sleep latency, and reduced coordination.
Some textbooks suggest that coffee is a mild euphoriant, at high dosage, typically
greater than 300mg coffee can both cause and worsen anxiety. Bad quality coffee can
have a lot of impurities in it, which can cause sickness, headache or a general bad
feeling. This can happen if your coffee is made from beans that have been over ripped
or otherwise ruined. Even one ruined bean can make your cup toxic. If you invest and
buy high quality, specialty coffee you don’t have to worry about this.
Yes, if you drink 80-100 cups (23lit) in a short session. This dose is lethal and will
amount in 10-13 grams of caffeine within your body. Before you reach this point,
however, you'll be vomiting most of it out since 23 litres of any liquid is a lot. Even
drinking 23 litres of water can kill you.

Again, it's the caffeine working here. Your recommended maximum amount of caffeine
is 400 milligrams, roughly the amount that you’ll get from 4 cups of coffee. If you’re
caffeine-sensitive, be careful with coffee. You are probably already aware what
amount and what kind of coffee suits, or doesn't suit you. The amount of caffeine that
is safe for human consumption is actually written in our DNA.

Studies on coffee's effect on a fetus have been controversial, but one thing is sure: if
you drink coffee when pregnant, caffeine will also reach the fetus, and your baby is
highly sensitive to caffeine. So, if you’re a heavyweight coffee drinker and can’t stop
drinking it while pregnant, at least reduce your coffee intake to one cup a day.

Coffee beans contain cafestol and kahweol, two ingredients that appear to raise LDL
cholesterol levels. Filtering the coffee traps most of the LDL, but cafestol and kahweol
are found in espresso, Turkish coffee, French press and Scandinavian style “cooked
coffee”.
Advantages
Drinking coffee is generally safe within usual levels of intake and is more likely to
improve health outcomes than to cause harm at doses of 3 or 4 cups of coffee daily.
Exceptions include possible increased risk in women having bone fractures, and a
possible increased risk in pregnant women of fetal loss or decreased birth weight.
Coffee stimulates gallbladder contraction and aids in the contraction of the colonic and
intestinal smooth muscles. Because of its acidity, it can harm the lining of the stomach
and intestines, and as a result can cause gastritis, stomach ulcers, and promote acid
reflux. Recent studies, both in vivo and in vitro, suggest that coffee suppresses the
proliferation of microbes, including bacteria within the microbiome.
Research have shown that higher coffee consumption was associated with lower risk
of death, and that those who drank any coffee lived longer than those who did not.
Moderate coffee consumption is not a risk factor for coronary heart disease. A 2012
meta-analysis concluded that people who drank moderate amounts of coffee had a
lower rate of heart failure, with the biggest effect found for those who drank more than
four cups a day. A 2014 meta-analysis concluded that cardiovascular disease, such
as coronary artery disease and stroke, is less likely with three to five cups of non-
decaffeinated coffee per day, but more likely with over five cups per day. A 2016 meta-
analysis showed that coffee consumption was associated with a reduced risk of death
in patients who have had a myocardial infarction. Drinking four or more cups of coffee
per day does not affect the risk of hypertension compared to drinking little or no coffee;
however, drinking one to three cups per day may be at a slightly increased risk.
An acute overdose of caffeine usually in excess of about 300 milligrams, dependent
on body weight and level of caffeine tolerance, can result in a state of central nervous
system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication (DSM-IV 305.90), or colloquially
the "caffeine jitters". The symptoms of caffeine intoxication are not unlike overdoses
of other stimulants. It may include restlessness, fidgetiness, nervousness, excitement,
euphoria, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal
disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability,
irregular or rapid heartbeat, and psychomotor agitation. In cases of much larger
overdoses, mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition,
delusions, hallucinations, and psychosis may occur, and rhabdomyolysis (breakdown
of skeletal muscle tissue) can be provoked.
Extreme overdose can result in death. The median lethal dose (LD50) given orally, is
192 milligrams per kilogram in rats. The LD50 of caffeine in humans is dependent on
weight and individual sensitivity and estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per
kilogram of body mass, roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult taken
within a limited time frame that is dependent on half-life. Though achieving lethal dose
with caffeine would be exceptionally difficult with regular coffee, there have been
reported deaths from overdosing on caffeine pills, with serious symptoms of overdose
requiring hospitalization occurring from as little as 2 grams of caffeine.
An exception to this would be taking a drug such as fluvoxamine or levofloxacin, which
block the liver enzyme responsible for the metabolism of caffeine, thus increasing the
central effects and blood concentrations of caffeine dramatically at 5-fold. It is not
contraindicated, but highly advisable to minimize the intake of caffeinated beverages,
as drinking one cup of coffee will have the same effect as drinking five under normal
conditions. Death typically occurs due to ventricular fibrillation brought about by effects
of caffeine on the cardiovascular system.

Addiction
Caffeine's mechanism of action is somewhat different from that of cocaine and
the substituted amphetamines; caffeine blocks adenosine receptors A and A2A.
Adenosine is a by-product of cellular activity, and stimulation of adenosine receptors
produces feelings of tiredness and the need to sleep. Caffeine's ability to block these
receptors means the levels of the body's natural
stimulants, dopamine and norepinephrine, continue at higher levels.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes four caffeine-
related disorders including intoxication, withdrawal, anxiety, and sleep.
Studies have demonstrated that people who take in a minimum of 100 mg of caffeine
per day (about the amount in one cup of coffee) can acquire a physical dependence
that would trigger withdrawal symptoms that include headaches, muscle pain and
stiffness, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, depressed mood, and marked irritability.
Professor Roland Griffiths, a professor of neurology at Johns
Hopkins in Baltimore strongly believes that caffeine withdrawal should be classified as
a psychological disorder. His research suggested that withdrawals affects 50% of
habitual coffee drinkers, beginning within 12-24 hours after cessation of caffeine
intake, and peaking in 20-48 hours, lasting as long as 9 days. Continued exposure to
caffeine leads the body to create more adenosine receptors in the central nervous
system which makes it more sensitive to the effects of adenosine in two ways: It
reduces the stimulatory effects of caffeine by increasing tolerance, and it increases
the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine as the body becomes more sensitive to the
effects of adenosine once caffeine intake stops. Caffeine tolerance develops very
quickly. Tolerance to the sleep disruption effects of caffeine were seen after
consumption of 400 mg of caffeine 3 times a day for 7 days, whereas complete
tolerance was observed after consumption of 300 mg taken 3 times a day for 18 days.

While caffeine users enjoy the increased energy and alertness that caffeine gives
them, unpleasant symptoms experienced by many consumers, especially those who
are addicted, include:

• Restlessness
• Nervousness
• Excitement
• Difficulty sleeping
• Agitation
• Muscle twitching
• Rambling flow of thoughts and speech
• Flushed face
• Increased heart rate
• Stomach upset