Caffeine & Related Stimulants

What are the potential medical benefits of caffeine use? How prevalent is caffeine use worldwide?

• Respiratory stimulant for premature infants, asthma, and help treat migraine headaches

• May help reduce risk of Type 2 diabetes and liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and cancer 

• May reduce mortality

• Caffeine consumption from all sources ~75 mg per person per day

  • This differs greatly by country and by form of caffeine consumed

What neurotransmitter is most affected by caffeine? What does it do?

• Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, which causes overall stimulation

  • Inhibitory neurotransmitter

  • Stimulates GABA

• Adenosine and GABA cause:

• *if you block adenosine, you block these effects

  • Sedation

  • Sleep

  • Lower blood pressures

  • Lower heart rate

  • Decreases urination

  • Anti-convulsant

Coffee and tea vs. Chocolate – Know the different stimulants that these 3 contain (what has most caffeine?  Any caffeine in chocolate?  What’s most prominent in chocolate?  What is chocolate made from?

• 3 stimulants

  • Caffeine, theophylline, theobromine

• Most → least caffeine

  • Coffee, tea, chocolate

• Chocolate is made from the beans of the Theobroma cacao tree

  • Cacao beans contain only a small amount of caffeine, but 8x as much theobromine

What psychoactive drug do people in the world use most?

Caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive substance

How should you stop caffeine? 

• Slowly cut down on your daily intake (taper)

• Drink lots of water

• Prepare for withdrawal symptoms

• Beware of unknown caffeine sources