Hey all! I totally heart caffeine -soda, red bull, coffee…whateva! And the best part is…there are health benefits associated with caffeine 🙂
So, just to go over some of the benefits of caffeine…
Headaches: Taking caffeine with pain medication (Tylenol, Alleve, Motrin, etc.) works better than pain meds alone. Caffeine helps the pain medicine get into the brain faster and more efficiently which leads to better pain relief!
Mental Alertness: Which is why most of us love a cup of joe in the morning! Caffeine gets into our brain very easily and helps us be wakeful and focused (to a point). When caffeine is mixed with taurine (like in Red Bull) it has shown a small increase in mental performance. Even more effective is when caffeine is mixed with glucose (like most energy drinks).
Asthma: Caffeine can help improve airway function in people with asthma up to four hours -this is an FYI! Definitely don’t take a cup of coffee instead of your inhaler.
Diabetes: Studies have shown that about 300mg of caffeine/day (about 2 cups of coffee) decreases the risk of developing diabetes type 2 by about 20%!
Bloating:Caffeine is a diuretic -it helps you pee some of that extra fluid out -this is why it is one of the ingredients in Pamprin.
Hypotension: People who have low blood pressure -a little caffeine throughout the day can help.
Gallbladder and Parkinson’s Disease: 2-3 cups of cofee/day can decrease the risk of both gallbladder and parkinson’s disease.
Weight Loss…not really: Caffeine is thought to suppress appetite, increase calorie burning and promotes water loss -unfortunately studies have shown that caffeine as a weight loss aid is of minimal, temporary benefit .
Some negatives about caffeine: (just a few)
Caffeine can cause insomnia, nervousness, belly issues/nausea, increased heart rate, headache, agitation. Caffeine can also worsen depression and anxiety.
One more negative about caffeine…caffeine withdrawal -I won’t go into it here but you can watch the video Catie did about caffeine withdrawal.
Small note here about the ultra popular Red Bull and Vodka drink. I had a couple of people come into the pharmacy and ask…“Can Red Bull and Vodka kill me?” It sounded funny to me at first but it is actually a really popular concern! So, here is the dealio -no.
However, taking in too much caffeine can be fatal (very rare!). In addition, alcohol (the vodka) will increase the levels of caffeine (from Red Bull) in the body. Lastly, taking caffeine while drinking can cause a false sense of alertness so that people may think they are less drunk then they really are -so beware!
There you go a quickie -next time people are dissing on coffee, soda, red bull -go ahead and throw some statistics of the benefits of caffeine at them!
I know there are caffeine lovers out there -drop us a comment! 🙂
Like to suggest an additional benefit of coffee but not sure this is related to caffeine. Coffee is a great way to get the old constitution moving in the morning and gives one that bright eyed and bushy tailed demeanor.
Hey Walter,
Good point! Caffeine is known to to stimulate smooth muscles which could impact bowel function. However, studies have shown that coffee specifically is best to get the poo moving…which leads us to think that there is something else in the coffee that is helping too.
Thanks for the input!