Soccer Dad

Caffeine

My wife and I are the proud parents of 5 children, ranging in age from 2 to 13. One of the neat things about children is the questions they ask. I don't know how many times I say that I'll look something up on the internet and get back to them. Often I don't do that. So I decided to add a new category to my blog. Maybe that will motivate me to look things and get back to them.
My five year old asked me yesterday why some people can't have caffeine.
We've been over at friends' houses whose children have to have caffeine free sodas, so I'm assuming that's how he knows about this.
Caffeine occurs naturally in about 60 plants.

Caffeine occurs naturally in more than 60 plants, including:
the arabica plant, which produces coffee beans
the Theobroma cacao tree, which produces the beans that are the
primary ingredient in chocolate.
kola nuts, which many cola drink products are made with
the Thea sinensis plant, whose leaves are used for teas

Caffeine, by itself is derived from the decaffeination process and, in the case of cola added to the soft drink. (i.e. Caffeine free cola may have had its caffeine removed, but regular cola had most of its caffeine added!)
Caffeine blocks your nerves from receiving adenosine, that prevents you from feeling tired. Over a longer period, when you consume high levels of caffiene it magnifies this effect.

The problem with caffeine is the longer-term effects, which tend to spiral. For example, once the adrenaline wears off, you face fatigue and depression. So what are you going to do? You take more caffeine to get the adrenaline going again. As you might imagine, having your body in a state of emergency all day long isn't very healthy, and it also makes you jumpy and irritable.

The most important long-term problem is the effect that caffeine has on sleep. Adenosine reception is important to sleep, and especially to deep sleep. The half-life of caffeine in your body is about six hours. That means that if you consume a big cup of coffee with 200 mg of caffeine in it at 3 p.m., then by 9 p.m. about 100 mg of that caffeine is still in your system. You may be able to fall asleep, but your body probably will miss out on the benefits of deep sleep. That deficit adds up fast. The next day you feel worse, so you need caffeine as soon as you get out of bed. The cycle continues day after day.

This tells us why it's bad to have caffeine on a regular basis. Why should children be limited from caffeine altogther?

Children who consumed more than 63 milligrams of caffeine a day -- equivalent to about one-half of a cup of coffee -- were found to sleep fewer hours, were more likely to wake during the night and tended to be sleepier during the day.

I guess that answers the question.
On a related note, I remember hearing that 8% of American adults can tell the difference between caffeinated and caffeine free soda. My wife is one of those. This would appear to the study on which that stat is based:

At the 0.1 mg/mL concentration, 2 subjects (8%) significantly detected a flavor difference and the mean percentage correct remained at chance levels (53%).

Posted by SoccerDad at July 6, 2004 05:32 AM | TrackBack