Caffeine Blues_ Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America's #1 Drug ( PDFDrive )
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2. Caffeine has been shown to inhibit DNA repairs.161, 162
3. Caffeine magnifies the DNA-damaging effects of other mutagens.163, 164
FREE RADICALS
Our bodies are also under assault by a group of metabolic and environmental toxins known as free radicals. These dangerous biochemical “thugs” are unstable molecules or atoms that are produced as a normal part of living. And under normal (or natural) circumstances, the body is able to control any damage they do by the stabilizing activity of antioxidants. Vitamin C, vitamin E, and betacarotene are antioxidants that we obtain from food. Melatonin, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase are antioxidants that are produced by the body.
But today, very little is natural. Most people’s consumption of antioxidant-
But today, very little is natural. Most people’s consumption of antioxidantrich fruits and vegetables is woefully inadequate, and at the same time, freeradical exposure has skyrocketed. Today, the pollution from industry and automobiles spans the globe and threatens the health and welfare of everyone, primarily by freeradical damage. This vastly increased exposure can overwhelm the body’s ability to stem the tide of cellular destruction. Massive levels of free radicals are generated by cigarette smoke, auto exhaust, heavy metal and chemical pollution, electromagnetic fields, ultraviolet radiation, injury, illness, and stress. The accelerated aging seen in the deeply lined face of smokers is clear testimony to the damaging effects of free radicals.
GIVE ME
A (COFFEE) BREAK
Recently, news that coffee contains antioxidants swept the nation.165 But in face, it only illustrated how desperate we are for good news about coffee. As it turns out, it is the vapors of brewing coffee that contain antioxidant elements, not the beverage itself. Even if you stick your nose next to your coffeemaker and inhale deeply, you will not receive much antioxidant benefit from coffee. The caffeine industry has also publicized studies that identify antioxidant properties of coffee, but these are invariably conducted in test tubes, not the human body.166, 167
In fact, caffeine may very well potentiate freeradical damage in a number of ways:
1. Caffeine directly reduces tissue levels of melatonin, an antioxidant critical to the protection of DNA.168, 169
2. In animal experiments, caffeine magnifies the freeradical damage produced by radiation exposure.170
3. Caffeine raises stress hormone levels, which are known to accelerate freeradical damage.171
AGE SLOWLY, NOT STRESSFULLY
The last point is probably the most important: Caffeine = Stress, and that dearly leads to degeneration and aging, not vitality and youthfulness. Researchers have identified what is called the stress-age syndrome, in which brain, endocrine, immune, and bioenergetic systems all start to fail due to changes brought about
by the ravages of stress.172–173, 174
Remember that caffeine and stress hormones also drive down levels of DHEA. As DHEA declines, so does the production of important repair biochemicals such as growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).
In time, stress and caffeine contribute to adrenal exhaustion, whereupon a raft of important hormones are depleted. This destruction is not silent. You’ll feel it every day in many ways as you simply can no longer command the vitality necessary for what were once everyday tasks
Finally, it is important to consider the role of disease in the aging process. It is obvious that increased incidence of illness is both a cause and effect of aging.
Thus, caffeine accelerates aging by impairing immunity, something that has been shown to occur through the elevation of stress hormones,175, 176 nutrient depletion,177, 178 and depression of DHEA.179 Look at common infectious causes of death in the elderly such as influenza and pneumonia. It brings home the reality that we are only as strong as our immune systems.
Caffeine and Diabetes (With a Note on Hypoglycemia)
A recent headline in the Medical Tribune announced DIABETES AT ALLTIME HIGH IN U.S.180 The story unfolded nightmare-like, with experts expressing alarm and bewilderment as to the cause or prevention of this epidemic. Since 1958, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes has increased 600 percent, from 1.6 million to more than 10 million. What’s more, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that another 6 million Americans currently have diabetes but are unaware they have the disease.
These astronomical numbers do not begin to tell the story of suffering that diabetes brings. It is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and commonly leads to kidney disease, blindness, chronic infection, and foot and leg amputations. Nearly 20 percent of Americans over the age of sixty-five have the disease.
“Diabetes is a common disease and becoming more common, and it is associated with some horrible consequences.”
Source: Linda Geiss, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.
Like other health professionals and public health experts, I have watched this national tragedy with growing concern. But here again, I part company with the
national tragedy with growing concern. But here again, I part company with the mainstream medical community regarding the appropriate response.
Conventional medicine turns for help to the pharmaceutical industry, which creates an everincreasing number of drugs to manage diabetes. But this approach seldom eliminates the destructive and often fatal consequences of diabetes. What’s more, these drugs have a laundry list of potentially serious side effects that may create additional problems for diabetics.
If diabetes were incurable, I would support drug treatment as a first-line approach, but the vast majority of patients have Type II diabetes, which in most cases can be virtually eliminated with nutrition and lifestyle modification. And one of those nutritional steps is the elimination of caffeine. Here’s why: 1. Caffeine raises blood sugar levels and disrupts the blood sugarregulating effect of insulin.181 In fact, high-dose caffeine administration (the equivalent of six cups of coffee) has been shown to produce transient insulin resistance that is very similar to Type II diabetes.182
2. Caffeine raises fatty acid levels in the blood. Diabetics already have high blood-fat levels, and the addition of caffeine can significantly increase their already high risk for heart disease.183
3. Caffeine raises homocysteine levels, which greatly increases the diabetic’s risk for cardiovascular disease and degeneration of blood vessels in the eyes.184, 185
4. Caffeine causes vascular resistance, in which blood vessels constrict and circulation is reduced. Peripheral circulation is already impaired in diabetes, and the added effect of caffeine can prove disastrous.
5. Caffeine raises stress hormone levels, a primary risk factor for diabetes.
Exposure to repeated stress increases the incidence of diabetes in rats.186
Chronic stress, including feelings of irritability and hostility, has been linked to the development of insulin resistance, leading to the diabetic state.187
DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT AFTER QUITTING CAFFEINE
Shirley was one of those “hard to manage” diabetics. Wide swings in blood sugar made it almost impossible to determine an effective dose of medication, and she suffered frequent bouts of hypoglycemia, causing her to be hospitalized twice. At one point, her doctor suggested that she quit drinking caffeine-
twice. At one point, her doctor suggested that she quit drinking caffeinecontaining beverages, but he mentioned it almost in passing and never explained why he thought it was a good idea. Consequently, she made an effort to reduce her coffee consumption, but she continued to have a large cup in the morning and another with lunch.
Then, at a support group meeting, a friend told her that quitting coffee altogether had helped him tremendously. Figuring it was worth a try, Shirley started drinking a caffeine-free herbal coffee. Within days, she noticed a leveling out of her blood sugar readings, and in two weeks, her blood sugar dropped to the high-normal range. Encouraged by this breakthrough, she started an exercise program and began watching her diet
more carefully. Three months later, she was off medication and had “cured” her diabetes.
AN OUNCE
OF PREVENTION
For those with a tendency toward diabetes (and that includes anyone who is obese as well as lean individuals with one or more diabetic parent), heavy coffee drinking can significantly increase risk. The reduction or elimination of caffeine is an important preventive measure. Still, to this day, the diabetes organizations have no recommendation regarding caffeine. Physicians are thus unaware of the benefits of caffeine reduction, and patients are kept in the dark.
CAFFEINE
AND JUVENILE ONSET DIABETES
Without going into technical genetic descriptions, let me simply say that juvenile onset diabetes is similar to other hereditary diseases, in that the child inherits a susceptibility to the condition, not the disease itself. For the past century, scientists have puzzled over exactly what triggers the overt disease. Researchers in Finland and at the University of Pittsburgh believe they have found the answer.
In a landmark paper published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, they provide solid evidence that caffeine’s known toxic effects on fetal development include damage to the pancreatic cells that produce insulin.188 By charting the incidence of insulin dependent diabetes against the per person consumption of coffee in thirteen nations, these researchers illustrate a close correlation.
Critics, of course, will try to pass this off as mere coincidence, but the
credibility of this type of analysis improves according to the number of corresponding points. In this case, there is a tight linear relationship for every country studied. Countries with the lowest coffee consumption have the lowest incidence of diabetes mellitus, and countries with the highest coffee consumption have the highest incidence of the disease.
HYPOGLYCEMIA
Hypoglycemia is often considered to be the “opposite” of diabetes. In reality, it simply refers to the state of insufficient (hypo) blood sugar (glycemia) that may be part of or a prelude to diabetes.
In nondiabetic individuals, hypoglycemia may be caused by consumption of simple carbohydrates, producing in an insulin surge that drives blood sugar levels below normal. Symptoms include disorientation, depression, fatigue, confusion, and poor concentration; all resulting from a shortage of glucose (fuel) to the brain.
Research has also confirmed that the hypoglycemic state can be induced and/or exacerbated by caffeine. Investigators at the Yale School of Medicine Clinical Research Center documented the following effects in human volunteers after ingestion of caffeine:
1. An immediate and sustained decrease of 23 percent in cerebral blood flow. This by itself can produce feelings of confusion and disorientation.
2. Increased blood levels of stress hormones, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol compared with placebo.
3. Marked symptoms of hypoglycemia even though the subject’s blood sugar was considered low-normal.
The researchers concluded, “Our data suggest that individuals who ingest moderate amounts of caffeine may develop hypoglycemic symptoms if plasma glucose levels fall into the ‘low-normal’ range, as might occur … after ingestion of a large carbohydrate load.”189
Commenting on the study, Dr. Richard Bernstein of Mamaroneck, New York, said, “Such an effect could be dangerous. For example, if a person has low blood sugar and also drinks caffeine, that person is more likely to be impaired.”190 And the lead researcher, Dr. David Kerr, noted that “these
symptoms may be greatest for children who drink caffeinated beverages.”191
The Adrenal Dysfunction Disorders: Allergy, Asthma,
Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Autoimmune
Disease
Your adrenals produce or contribute to the production of about 150 hormones, every one of which is vitally important to health and wellness. Some of these hormones manage blood pressure; others manage stress. And all this activity is accomplished by two glands smaller than your thumbs, sitting on top of your kidneys.
In Chapters 3 and 4, 1 presented the scenario of adrenal stress resulting from the strains, burdens, and anxieties of modern life combined with the biochemical stress of caffeine. I described a “downward spiral” where the adrenals become exhausted and everyday problems then seem magnified out of proportion. That’s because the adrenals are responsible for maintaining homeostasis (metabolic and emotional balance) during times of stress. Once the adrenal buffer is gone, you are constantly living on the edge of a breakdown. Your emotional resilience is reduced to a continual effort to cope—plus you become a prime candidate for asthma, allergy, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the autoimmune disorders discussed in this chapter.
Imagine if you had to live in a constant state of “emergency alert.” It would be exhausting. In the same way, the adrenal glands, designed for episodes of stress (emergencies) in which tremendous energy is needed to fight or run away, find themselves in a situation where heightened activity is required all the time.
And it’s not just job stress. It’s metabolic stress from poor food choices, pollution, and electromagnetic radiation. It’s the pace of twentieth-century living and the breakdown of family (tribal) support groups and community. And on top of that, most people add caffeine, a drug that elevates stress hormones and can keep them elevated eighteen hours a day. For the poor adrenals, there’s just no rest.
DELVING
INTO ADRENAL FUNCTION
Until recently, no one bothered to look much at the adrenals. Even today, most doctors are only aware of two tests to evaluate adrenal function. One test (for Addison’s disease) tells you if your adrenals are completely shot. The other (for
Addison’s disease) tells you if your adrenals are completely shot. The other (for Cushing’s syndrome) tells you if your adrenals are in hyperdrive, most often from an adrenal tumor. Between these two extremes, there is nothing your doctor can tell you, other than that you appear “normal.”
All that is starting to change as researchers discover adrenal factors in a wide range of health disorders. It turns out that the hormone balance maintained by the adrenal glands is much more fragile than we thought. This section will discuss what I call the adrenal dysfunction disorders. As you will see, adrenal weakness or adrenal insufficiency is the common factor that contributes to a number of serious health disorders.
And now the effect of caffeine on the adrenals is finally coming to light. The caffeine connection has been hidden by the fact that treatment for adrenal dysfunction disorders tends to be shortsighted and onedimensional. As I have explained before, understanding the health effects of caffeine requires a long view, perhaps encompassing most of one’s lifetime. And from that long-term view, a two-phase phenomenon is revealed.
PHASE
1: THE JOY RIDE
Phase 1 is what I call the honeymoon phase of caffeine consumption. This phase lays the groundwork for long-term, caffeine-related damage to your mind and body. Everincreasing levels of stress hormones course through your veins, stressing your adrenals to the max. But for the present, you actually experience some beneficial effects from caffeine consumption. Caffeine can even seem like the answer to one or more of your health problems.
Here’s a good illustration. In the current caffeine mania that is sweeping America, even healthfood manufacturers and retailers have jumped on the bandwagon. Recently, articles have appeared in healthfood magazines talking about the benefits of organic coffee. Some articles have discussed its moodelevating effects, others imply that it is an aid to weight management, and a few even extol the drink as a natural treatment for asthma.
Now all of these “benefits” are real, to some extent, but only in Phase 1. We have already discussed how caffeine ultimately leads to depression. It’s weightloss “value” is similar to that of amphetamines, both in terms of temporary appetite suppression and ultimate side effects. And asthma? Caffeine can indeed reduce the symptoms of asthma—temporarily. And then in Phase
2, it makes them worse. That’s why the long view is so important.
First of all, you must remember why caffeine has these temporary beneficial
First of all, you must remember why caffeine has these temporary beneficial effects. It’s all part of the stress response, the ancient survival mechanism that enabled us to survive in times of imminent danger. The increased respiratory efficiency that caffeine provides is purely a Phase 1 phenomenon; adrenal hormones are poured out to dilate the bronchial airways in order to send more oxygen to the muscles. But does that make caffeine a sensible treatment for asthma? Read the next section before you decide.
PHASE
2: PAYING THE PIPER
Habitual caffeine use ultimately leads to Phase 2, what has been called adrenal insufficiency or adrenal exhaustion. This condition bears more than a casual resemblance to the post-traumatic stress syndrome experienced by soldiers returning from combat. In effect, the adrenal glands simply wear out from chronic stimulation.
Throughout this book, I’ve talked about the myriad effects of caffeineinduced excess stress hormone production, from constricted arteries and elevated blood pressure to immune suppression and stomach ulcers. But this is only half of the story. As caffeine intake continues and the adrenals get weaker and weaker, a new set of problems arise that are related to stress hormone insufficiency. That’s right—after a certain point, your adrenals are so exhausted that the pendulum swings the other way. And that’s when you become most vulnerable to a whole new group of problems associated with adrenal exhaustion: namely, disorders related to inflammation and autoimmunity, among them allergy, asthma (inflammation of the bronchial airways), and even rheumatoid arthritis.