STIMULATING

BEVERAGES

Melanie P. Medecilo
Biological Sciences Department
 Beverages
 stimulants because they contain the alkaloid
caffeine and its relatives

it causes physiological reactions in

humans
A Small Dose of ™ Caffeine

Health Effects of Caffeine

 Caffeine
 A central nervous stimulant and a mild diuretic
 Caffeine in a cup of coffee reaches the bloodstream 5
minutes after the liquid is swallowed
 As it circulates throughout the body, it stimulates the
heart, increases stomach acidity and urine output, and
causes a 10% rise in the metabolic rate.
 It makes a tired person more alert because it mimics
the feelings produced when the body releases the
hormone adrenaline
 Caffeine
 One gram compound (7-9 cups) causes
anxiety, headache, dizziness, insomnia, heart
palpitation, and even mild delirium
 It ranks today as the most widely used
psychoactive drug in the world.
 What Is This?
O
CH3
CH3
N
N 7
1

3
O N
N
CH3
Caffeine – 1,3,7 Trimethylxanthine

O
CH3
CH3
N
N 7
1

3
O N
N
CH3
 History of Coffee
Date Event
~850 - Coffee beans discovered - The fable says that an Ethiopian goat or
sheepherder noticed that the goats were more alter after eating the
wild berries. He then sampled this new delicacy.
~1100 - First coffee trees and roasting of coffee beans.
1475 - Constantinople – the world’s first coffee house.
1600s - Coffee enters Europe and moves quickly to the Americas
1700s - Coffee house open throughout Europe.
1723 - First coffee plants are introduced into the Americas.
1822 - First espresso machine is created in France.
1938 - First instant coffee invented by the Nestlé company.
1971 - Starbucks opens its first location in Seattle, Washington's Pike
Place Market.
 Caffeine & Money

• The coffee and cola industries

owe their wealth to the
physiological properties of the
drug caffeine.

• S.G. Gilbert (2001)

 History of Tea
DATE EVENT

3000 B.C. - Tea discovered in China or introduced form India

350 B.C. - First written description of Tea drinking in China.
450 A.D. - Turkish traders bargain for Tea and the Silk road is born.
800 - Tea introduced to Japan.
1450 - Japanese Tea ceremony created and popularized
1610 - Dutch bring Tea to Europe
1773 - Boston Tea party, rebellion against England’s tea tax
1776 - England sends first Opium to China to help pay for tea.
1835 - First experimental tea plantations in Assam, India.
1908 - Tea bags invented in New York.
 History of Chocolate
DATE EVENT
400 B.C. - Olmec people of Mexico made chocolate drinks
250 A.D. - Mayans of Mexico were cultivating cocoa crops
1528 - Cocoa was brought to Spain by Hernando Cortés
1600s - Chocolate drinks introduced into Europe
1657 - First English chocolate houses open
1828 - Screw press that extracted the cocoa butter from
the beans invented in Holland
1840s - Chocolate as solid developed
 Quote – Lovers of Coffee

• Coffee
• Black as hell, strong as death,
sweet as love.
• Turkish proverb.
 Quote – Fear of Coffee

• "Often coffee drinkers, finding

the drug to be unpleasant,
turn to other narcotics, of
which opium and alcohol are
most common.“

• Morphinism and Narcomanias from Other

Drugs (1902) by T. D. Crothers, M.D.
 Quote – Love of Tea

• “Tea, though ridiculed by those who

are naturally coarse in their nervous
sensibilities … will always be the
favorite beverage of the intellectual.”

• Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), English

author. Confessions of an English Opium-
Eater,“The Pleasures of Opium” (1822).
Quote – Religion and Drugs

• If Christianity is wine, and

Islam coffee, Buddhism is
most certainly tea.

• Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, 1957

 Historical Events

Tea trade and opium

Opium War of 1839-42
Great Britain has a monopoly on the sale
of opium which it forces on China; eventually
gaining control of Hong Kong.

Consider our societies ongoing “war on

drugs”.
 Caffeine and Society

Most widely consumed stimulant

drug in the world
Many people start consuming
caffeine at an early age
A great deal of money is made
from caffeine – why?
 Exposure

• Most widely consumed

neuroactive compound
Coffee
Soda Products
Tea
Chocolate
 Caffeine Content

• 1 Cup of coffee – 65-175 mg

• 1 Cup of tea – 50 mg
• Can of soda (12 oz) – 40-50 mg
• Bar of chocolate (30 g) – 1-35
mg
Active Compounds In the World’s Stimulating Beverages
PLANT PART CAFFEINE THEOBROMINE POLYPHENOLS

Coffee, 1-1.5 - -
unroasted, dried

Teas, dried 2.5-4.5 - 25.0

leaves
Cacao
Dried nibs 0.6 1.7 3.6
Fresh 0.8 2.4 5.2
cotyledons

Kola, fresh seeds 2.0 - -

Guarana, dried 3.0-4.5 - -
fruit
Amounts of Caffeine in Commonly Consumed Beverages

ITEM CAFFEINE, mg
Coffee
5-oz cup, drip method 146
5-oz cup, percolator method 110
5-oz cup, instant 53
5-oz cup, decaffeinated 2

Tea
5-oz cup, brewed 1 min 9-33
5-oz cup, brewed 3-5 min 20-50
12 oz, canned 22-36

Cocoa and Chocolate

6 oz, made with canned powder 10
1 oz milk chocolate 6
1 oz (square) baking chocolate 35

Softdrinks
12 oz mountain dew 52
12 oz Pepsi, regular 37
12 oz Coca-Cola 34
 Exposure and Effects

• Have you drink too

much caffeine?

• What are the effects?

 Aspects of Caffeine
• Desirable effects
Stimulant, increased alertness, concentrate, energy,
bronchial dilator

• Toxicity
Restlessness, jitters, anxiety, insomnia, elevated or
irregular heart rate

• No tolerance
Most develop little or no tolerance to the nervous system
effects

• Withdrawal effects
Transient but persistent, headache, low energy, in ability to
concentrate
 Absorption

Rapidly absorbed following

oral consumption

Peak blood (plasma) levels

usually with 30 minutes
 Distribution

Distributes into all body

compartments –
Pass easily into brain, breast
milk and crosses placenta

Does not accumulate

Metabolism/Elimination

Metabolized in the liver

Changed to di- and mono-
methylxanthines
Excreted in the urine
 Half-life
How long it takes to leave the body?

Average adult – 3-5 hrs

Child less than 6 months – 24 hrs
Pregnant – 7-8 hrs
Smoker – 2-3 hrs

Varies between individuals

Theophylline – 1,3 Dimethylxanthine

O
H
CH3
N
N 7
1

3
O N
N
CH3
 Mechanism Of Action

Blocks Adenosine receptor

Adenosine is a calming
neurotransmitter
 Action of Caffeine
Blocks adenosine, a chemical messenger
that occurs naturally in the body
When adenosine attaches to special
receptors on the surfaces of brain cells,
it dilates arteries, suppresses locomotor
activity and produces sedation
 Parents Of Caffeine
PURINE XANTHINE
O
H
H
N H N
N 7 N 7
1 1

3 3 N
N O
N N
H

Parent of compounds Dioxypurine - Parent

found in RNA & DNA methylxanthines
 Normal Action of Adenosine

Adenosine
1 Adenosine
Receptor

Outside Cell
Cell
2 Membrane Inside Cell

Adenosine binds to receptor

Signal Protein 3

Positive Response
Calming effect
 Action of Caffeine

Caffeine
1
Adenosine
Receptor

2 Caffeine
inactivates
receptor
3 Adenosine
can not bind

Caffeine

No Response
Resulting in Stimulation
Why so many $$s from caffeine?

•Pleasant stimulant effects

•Short Half-life (you need to
back for more)
•Can’t drink too much at any
one time (toxicity)
•Headache when you stop
drinking it
 Reference:
Web: www.asmalldoseof.org