By Riddhi Kannabiran
Millions of people around the world consider drinking Coffee a part of their daily routine, some drink it to start their day, and some drink it to stay awake, but what other unintended effects could it have? Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages, and its most well-known active ingredient is caffeine, a natural stimulant that improves alertness and concentration. But the effects of coffee are more than simply making someone stay awake.
The way coffee works is that the natural stimulant caffeine primarily interferes with a chemical called adenosine in the brain. Adenosine gradually builds up in the brain throughout our day, and it’s the reason we start feeling tired or sleepy. Caffeine works by binding to adenosine receptors, preventing the chemical from having its usual effect. This temporary blocking of the signals telling our bodies to rest doesn’t get rid of the need to sleep, it just stops the message of needing rest from getting to our brain.
Caffeine not only directly affects the brain, but it indirectly increases alertness, heartrate, and blood pressure. It can also increase the production of stomach acid and act as a mild diuretic.These affects do vary from person to person because people can metabolize caffeine at different rates, similarly to alcohol everyone’s body has a different tolerance level for how caffeine will impact them because of differing genetics, medication and rate of consumption. With regular consumption, the brain can become adapted to the repeated exposure to caffeine, oftentimes the more caffeine you consume over time the less you feel it having an effect on you.
For most healthy adults, moderate caffeine consumption can fit safely into a normal diet. The U.S. FDA (food and drug administration) states that “400 milligrams of caffeine per day is an amount that generally doesn’t cause negative side effects for adults” . However, type of caffeine can matter as well, energy drinks, tea, soda, chocolate all have different proportions of caffeine and they will all have a different effect on the person consuming them.
Coffee itself beyond the effects of caffeine contains antioxidants and other naturally occurring substances that researchers continue to study. Research has associated moderate coffee consumption with several potential health benefits although scientists caution that associations do not necessarily mean coffee directly causes those benefits. Individual responses to coffee also differ, meaning that what works well for one person may not work for another.
Ultimately, the science of coffee is really just understanding how our bodies respond to the things we consume, and understanding how caffeine works allows people to male more informed decisions about their daily habits. The morning cup of coffee may seem like an unnoticed habit, but behind it is a complex interaction between how the things we consume interact with our brain..