Upon waking up, a vast majority of adults in the U.S. are almost completely dysfunctional until they have had at least one cup of coffee. Breakfast just isn’t breakfast without a steaming cup of ambition to wash it down with, right? We know that coffee seems to enhance short-term mental clarity, and we feel more alert, but don’t drug addicts say the same thing about their habit? If you’ve noticed an uncomfortable similarity between the two, you’re not alone. The truth is, caffeine, in the form of coffee, is the most widely used mood-altering drug in the world. Reading new studies on caffeine might make you reconsider your coffee habit.
The Dark Side of Coffee Addiction
Most people are aware that the active ingredient in coffee is caffeine, a xanthine alkaloid that stimulates the central nervous system. The word “caffeine” comes from the French word for coffee, “café.” Unlike other psychoactive drugs, however, caffeine is completely unregulated and is even listed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as ‘Generally Safe.’ This is despite the known facts that caffeine can cause sweating, nausea, restlessness, headaches, anxiety disorders, and many other symptoms, as well as being highly addictive. A recent study by Johns Hopkins University (Griffiths RR, Juliano LM, Chausmer AL. Caffeine pharmacology and clinical effects. In: Graham AW, Schultz TK, Mayo-Smith MF, Ries RK & Wilford BB (eds.) Principles of Addiction Medicine, Third Edition (pp. 193-224). Chevy Chase, MD: American Society of Addiction, 2003) positively identifies caffeine as an addictive substance and maps out the addiction and withdrawal mechanisms. This could lead to caffeine being rightly considered a ‘drug,’ with Caffeine Dependence and Caffeine Withdrawal possibly being listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the ‘Bible’ for diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Can caffeine kill you? Probably not—at least not directly. However, the long-term effects of regular caffeine consumption have never truly been studied. We’d probably all be healthier without it, but that’s also true of a lot of other common habits. Since we know caffeine affects circulation and has other physiological effects, there could be a correlation to cardiovascular disorders. We do know that caffeine can cause anxiety disorders, which, while not fatal in and of themselves, greatly affect the quality of life and could contribute to depression and suicides. Further studies are absolutely warranted, but there has never been significant pressure to conduct them. After all, the FDA says caffeine is perfectly safe, and they are the experts, right? (Excuse me…I need a minute to stop laughing.) Remember, these are the same people who brought you Thalidomide, Fen-Fen, and a host of other drugs that were later pulled from the market after causing irreversible damage to people. The FDA doesn’t test anything. They just take companies’ word that their products are safe and require the testing paperwork (which can be, and has been, easily faked before) to be on file. Another great reason to start thinking about how to give up the coffee habit.
To understand why coffee addiction is taken so lightly, it helps to look at the history of coffee use in the U.S. and Great Britain. There was no widespread coffee consumption anywhere in the world before the fifteenth century. Coffee use as a beverage started in Ethiopia, and by the early 1600s, it spread across the Middle East, into Europe, and even to the American colonies. Coffee never had a large following in England and its colonies because Great Britain controlled India, giving them a source of cheap tea. Tea quickly became the British tradition, which it remains to this day. Likewise, in the American colonies, tea was popular until a political decision forced a change in attitude toward the Mother Country.
In the late 1700s, Great Britain was struggling financially from the cost of maintaining its empire. In desperation, King George and Parliament looked to the colonies for funding. For several decades, England imposed tax after tax on the colonists, all without granting them any representation in Parliament or input in the process. This generated massive discontent, and the passage of the Tea Act in 1773 was the last straw. Most of the other ports in the colonies refused tea deliveries from England, but in an extreme act of stupidity, Boston’s Royal Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, would not allow the colonists to refuse the delivery, leading to the historic Boston Tea Party. Britain had no control over the world coffee market, so from that day forward, coffee became the beverage of choice in North America. Tea was shunned by all but the most die-hard British loyalists. Coffee soon became as much a social custom in the U.S. as tea was in Britain. It became unthinkable not to offer guests coffee, and no restaurant would dare leave it off the menu. Coffee companies gained significant political power, and in 1952, the Pan American Coffee Bureau successfully lobbied for legislation requiring all companies to provide a ‘coffee break’ for their workers at regular intervals. The Coffee Break became a uniquely American tradition.
With this kind of history and the political influence of large international coffee companies, it’s easy to understand why there’s no great push to study the long-term health effects of coffee. Just look at how long tobacco companies held sway before science and politics caught up with them. In fact, the health risks of cigarettes were known for quite some time before any action was taken. It was only through public pressure that something significant was done. Coffee will no doubt follow a similar course.
If you’re genuinely concerned, you can get ahead of the game easily. You can completely forgo coffee (I know, other things have caffeine too, but none to the extent of coffee, and you can give those up too if you want…). Depending on how long and how much coffee you’re used to drinking, it may not be advisable to stop cold turkey. Since caffeine is an addictive substance, you’ll likely experience withdrawal symptoms similar to those of a cocaine or heroin addict, although less dramatic. You can expect headaches, restlessness, mild depression, anxiety, and other symptoms, but they will be short-lived. If you can stick it out for a few weeks, you’ll notice immediate improvements in your mental and physical health. This may sound strange, but medicine still follows the laws of physics, just like everything else in the real world. You can’t get something for nothing. The added boost you get from caffeine comes at the expense of something else. When you eliminate caffeine, you get that “something else” back. This often results in a marked increase in energy, less procrastination, and a generally better attitude toward life. Your sleep patterns will improve (since most people rely on coffee because they don’t get enough sleep in the first place), along with your appetite and overall zest for living.
The best way to quit coffee is to taper off gradually. Keep a log of your coffee consumption (this will probably shock you, as most people drink more coffee than they realize), and try to replace one or two cups a day with another beverage. Good choices are teas (especially herbal teas, which are caffeine-free for the most part), juices, or plain water. Do this for a week, then replace another cup or two with something else. Keep it up until you can go a week with no coffee at all, and you’ll be free. Another option is to try replacing a few cups of coffee with decaffeinated coffee. Gradually increase the replacements until you’re no longer drinking regular coffee. This has worked for some people. Others find decaffeinated options unappealing. If you want to “get it over with” quickly and go cold turkey, try to choose a time with the least amount of mental stress. Be prepared to deal with depression and anxiety, and have a support system in place before you start. It might also be helpful to seek advice from your physician before beginning any caffeine-elimination program. They can provide the best guidance on how to give up the coffee habit.
However you decide to proceed, I wish you the best of luck!
