Moderate Caffeine Use

Factual Questions
1

With the revelation a while back that a moderate amount of alcohol wasn’t harmful to a normal healthy adult, I’m wondering where the medical establishment falls on moderate caffeine use for a normal healthy adult.

I’m talking about 200 mg per day or less, or two average cups of fully leaded coffee.

  1. Are there any short term or long term adverse effects of this level of caffeination?

  2. Is this enough caffeine, over a long period of time (say years), to get habituated or addicted to it?

  3. Is it better for your health to have a small amount caffeine every day or no caffeine whatsoever?

2

I would say it is probably better to abstain from caffeine, in other words, no caffeine would probably be the healthiest way to go. I have read that caffeine can affect serotonin levels. There was a study done that found that folks who drank caffeinated beverages had more serotonin excreted in their urine, which is not good, as serotonin helps with depression, moods, etc. Probably some caffeine is OK, if it doesn’t bother you.

3

They seem to flip flop on coffee every few years. I’ve seen news articles saying it was bad for you. Then a year or so later they list its health benefits.

This was published recently. You can also find articles claiming coffee is bad. Scientists just don’t seem to know. But lately the benefits for coffee has gotten a lot of press.
9 Amazing Benefits of Coffee

4

“Caffeine consumption exhibited a U-shaped mortality curve. Moderate caffeine consumers had a significantly reduced risk of death (multivariable-adjusted RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89, 0.99 for 100–199 mg/day and RR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.85, 0.94 for 200–399 mg/day compared with those consuming < 50 mg/day). Individuals who drank more than 1 can/week of artificially sweetened (but not sugar-sweetened) soft drink (cola and other) had an 8% increased risk (95% CI: 1.01–1.16). Neither milk nor tea had a significant effect on mortality after multivariable adjustment.” Non-alcoholic beverage and caffeine consumption and mortality: The Leisure World Cohort Study - ScienceDirect

5

Note: I am not asking for medical advice, you are not my doctor etc.

For simplicity sake let’s talk strictly about purified caffeine, which I believe comes in a powder or pill form, and not coffee, tea, soft drinks or energy drinks, since there are a lot of other chemicals included that may or may not be good for you.

If I take a 100 mg caffeine pill daily it sounds like that would be a good thing to do from a health perspective, but would I become habituated over time? After a year or two would I be unable to function in the morning without my caffeine pill?

That’s how it seems to work for people who consume large quantities of caffeine each day for a long period of time.