Stumbled across caffeineawareness.org by accident… weird site full of bizarre alarmist propaganda against the consumption of Caffeine.

For example: “Consume 5 grams and you’re DEAD, and it’s perfectly legal!” is touted in an ad on the sidebar of the website. The website also claims that caffeine is “highly addictive”, which seems hyperbolic, given how Caffeine actually works.

As I discussed previously, prolonged exposure to a significant (over 200mg) amount of Caffeine will result in an increase in the number of Adenosine receptors in your brain (this is called “upregulation”, and is your brain’s attempt at recovering homeostasis). This results in a “diminished returns” benefit of future Caffeine consumption until the brain is given a break from the chemical, and can downregulate back to normal levels. (this takes roughly 2 weeks for most people — individuals with severe Caffeinism may require longer periods, but you would have to be a serious compulsory consumer of Caffeine, 800mg or more / day, to be that bad)

Moderation is key, of course. If we view coffee as a tool, rather than a necessity, it can be a very beneficial ally. Habitual consumption of ANYTHING is generally a bad idea, and Caffeine is no exception.

Caffeine is nowhere NEAR as addictive as cigarettes, for example, or any harder addictive stimulants (Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Crack-cocaine, etc.). In fact, those harder stimulants don’t even interact with your brain in the same way that caffeine does (meth & coke tend to hammer your Dopaminergic receptors predominantly, whereas Caffeine simply prevents your Adenosine / Purinergic receptors from being used for a short while — there is some dopaminergic side-interactions with Caffeine, but it focuses largely on the Adenosine A1 / A2 receptors because of the homologous chemical structure to Adenosine.)

Here’s my response to them: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ass-hats, caffeine, diet, Geekery, OMG TEH DRAMA!, open letters, organic chemistry