Caffeine: Benefits and Harm

Caffeine is well known as one of the most common drugs in the world. Globally, about
120,000 tons of caffeine is consumed annually, approximately equivalent to one caffeine
containing drink per day for one person on our planet (Burchfield 1997). Caffeine is easily found
in the leaves, seeds and fruits of a variety of plants, including coffee, tea, kola, cocoa, guarana
and yerba maté. It is used as the ingredient in medicines, chocolate products, as well as in some
beverages like cola, energy drinks, coffee and tea. After consumption, caffeine is quickly
distributed throughout the blood and then goes to the human brain in order to help people
become alert, confident, concentrated and energetic. Despite the positive physiological effects
and the lower risk of some cancers, caffeine intake has created numerous concerns about
human health: specifically pregnancy and fertility in women, and not to mention human mood.
One of the benefits of caffeine use in human health which should be considered is
perhaps impacts on brain function. The activities of cortex and hippocampus, significantly
associated with information processing and performance, are stimulated by caffeine. This
evidence comes from studies (reviewed by Bertil et al. 1999:101) that systemic or intra-
accumbens administration of apomorphine through the adenosine A2 A can weaken prepulse
inhibition of the acoustic startle response speeding up the information filtering ability. Likewise,
in these studies performance is able to be affected via an action on adenosine receptors.
What’s more, the study of Jarvis (1993) cited in Rogers (2007) indicates positive impact of
caffeine intake on cognitive decline in older people. It seems that caffeine increases blood
pressure and encourages the neuroprotective actions of adenosine so the risk factors of
cognitive decline can be restricted. Similarly, with the help of caffeine intake, there is an
increase in the number of adenosine receptors which is likely to restrict the ischaemic brain
damage. More importantly, transient ischaemic episodes are one of the main causes of
cognitive decline and dementia. That’s why caffeine may benefit cognitive function in the long
term.
Apart from brain function, regular caffeine consumption has been related to the
reduced risk of some cancer sites through coffee. According to Nkondjock (2008), there is no
doubt that breast cancer is a major cause of many deaths of women in developed countries,
followed by developing countries and Japan. A statistic shows that in 14,593 women who
consume P5 cups of coffee per day the breast cancer risk can be reduced by 50%, compared to
those who consume 62 cups (pp. 2). However, coffee has a modest influence in women who
drink more than or equal four cups every day. In addition, prostate cancer has dramatic the
association with caffeine consumption, in particular coffee consumption. There are numerous
studies investigating this issue. For example, the American Institute of Cancer Research found
“a cumulative effect estimate of 1.00 (95% CI 0.94-1.07) per cup per day increase” (pp. 4) based
on six cohort studies. Another cancer having the reduced risk through caffeine is liver cancer
which commonly occurs in developing countries. Iron and cirrhosis are potentially harmful
factors of liver cancer development. Thanks to the increase in caffeine intake, a lower iron
status can be kept and the liver cirrhosis risk is also possibly limited (pp. 5).
On the other hand, scientists state that caffeine might decrease fertility in women and
damage the pregnancy. Clearly, many women in pregnant time frequently use caffeine
containing drinks that lead to easy addiction. A larger number of these women surely have
insomnia, nervousness, and headaches, not to mention the fact that their body can lose water
and other fluids which are very important for a healthy pregnancy. In addition, Fernandes et al.
(1998) viewing in Moore et al. (2007) claim that the rate of spontaneous abortion in women
who daily consume more than 150 mg caffeine account for 24.4%, compared with 20% in
women who consume less than this. Hence, it is said that pregnant women should minimize
regular caffeine intake in order to maintain good health. Plus, fertility in women, including the
chance of pregnancy and the weight of infant, is also affected in bad way and this issue is
represented through numerous studies. For instance, the observation in European countries
(see Bolumar et al. 1997) reveals that about 80% of women reported perhaps have increased
time to first pregnancy when they drink at least one cup of coffee per day. The gestational
period may continue to go up if they do not change their coffee drinking habit. There is
evidence from study by Moore et al. (2007) suggesting that women with high level of caffeine
consumption (more than 150g per day) are likely to have the high risk of low birthweight infant.
 In addition, the negative influences of caffeine withdrawal can be seen in on mood,
alertness and performance tasks for people who consumed it over a long time. It is common
knowledge that many people tend to consume a large amount of caffeine a day to stay awake
during their working. Normally, they think that more coffee or tea, energy drinks will help them
become alerter and more concentrate. However, it is completely different, a reverse pattern
(Rogers 2007). Firstly, after a short time of using caffeine, consumers possibly gain alertness,
concentration, and as well as improvement of performance. Following that, there appears to be
lower alertness, a degrading of performance and anxiety based on ‘withdrawal reversal
hypothesis’. The previously positive effects of caffeine will restore but not above ‘normal’
levels.
Evidence, coming from many studies for the influences of caffeine on human health,
suggests that caffeine intake benefits brain function and minimizes the risk of breast, prostate
and liver cancers. However, there is a significant association between caffeine use and reduced
fertility and pregnancy in women. Moreover, caffeine has a tendency to create drawbacks to
human mood such as the increase of anxiety and ‘jitteriness’ when people use a large amount
of caffeine in the long term, instead of reverse patterns. To avoid these disadvantages, people
need to be careful and change their lifestyle when consuming caffeine containing products.
More importantly, limiting caffeine consumption may perhaps give advantages to human health
in general and pregnant women specifically.

Length: 1035 words

Reference
1. Bertil, B, Fredholm, Battig, K, Holmen, J, Nehlig, A, Zvartau EE 1999, ‘Actions of Caffeine
in the Brain with Special Reference to Factors That Contribute to Its Widespread Use’,
Pharmacological Reviews, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 83‐133.
2. Bolumar, F, Olsen, J, Rebagliato, M, Bisanti, L, The European Study Group on Infertility
and Subfecundity 1997, ‘Caffeine Intake and Delayed Conception: A European
 Multicenter Study on Infertility and Subfecundity’, American Journal of Epidemiology,
vol. 145, no. 4, pp. 324‐334.
3. Burchfield, G 1997, Caffeine, viewed 5 December 2010,
http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/caffeine/caffeine.htm
4. Moore, A et al. 2007, ‘Caffeine and Health’, Bandolier, http://www.ebanolier.com.
5. Nkondjock, A 2008, ‘Coffee consumption and the risk of cancer: An overview’, Cancer
Letters, 19 August.
6. Rogers, PJ 2007, ‘Caffeine, mood, and mental preference in everyday life’, Nutrition
Bulletin.