Jenny MacCourt is a self-described caffeine junkie.
MacCourt, 29, said she awakens most mornings at 7 a.m. to the siren song of her coffeemaker, preloaded each night by her equally addicted husband.
“He does it so that all he has to do is flip the switch in the morning,” MacCourt said on a recent afternoon at the Intelligentsia coffee shop on 3123 N. Broadway, adding that she’s trying to cut back. “If I don’t have a cup when I wake up, I’m a complete slug. Both my husband and I depend on coffee or else we get moody. I personally also get a little shaky and sick to my stomach without that cup.”
Caffeine is increasingly being viewed as beneficial beyond the “boost” of energy it offers. The popular stimulant has been linked to the prevention of Parkinson’s disease by Harvard University researchers and to increased athletic endurance, according to research by the University of South Carolina.
Caffeine is actually calming for Richard Chalmers, an Old Town resident who said he has been drinking coffee since the age of 9. Chalmers sips two or three cups daily, one shortly before going to bed, he said.
“If I don’t drink coffee before I go to sleep, I will wake up with a headache,” Chalmers, 43, said. “I’ll actually get out of the bed at 5 o’clock in the morning and make myself a cup. Ten minutes after I drink it, I can get back to sleep.”
When the coffee beans run low, Chalmers makes do with a Mountain Dew. But Chalmers found another way to feed his habit. In 2005, he and partner Trez Pugh opened Bronzeville Coffee House Inc. on 528 E. 43rd Street. There, Chalmers said he gets his fill of caffeine.
“There’s nothing wrong with caffeine,” Chalmers said, adding that his 16-year-old son, Richard Jr., has been drinking coffee since he was old enough to ask for it. “It gives you that boost to help you start your day.”
But there is such a thing as too much of a boost. Clinging to caffeine in the form of coffee, energy drinks or soda can be more harmful than people realize, local nutrition experts and caffeine researchers said. How much caffeine is too much, and, more importantly, how would you know if you were overdoing it?
The average adult caffeine consumer should have no more than 200 to 300 milligrams a day, according to Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association spokeswoman. That amounts to about two to three cups of regular coffee, according to the ADA.
As for signs you’ve crossed the line, look for symptoms of nervousness, irregular heartbeat, ringing in the ears and restlessness, Blatner explained. You also may experience caffeine withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches and nausea, when you miss a cup. One of caffeine’s worst crimes happens in the bedroom, where it can be a recipe for restlessness. It remains in the body for approximately seven hours even after just one cup of coffee, sleep disorder expert James Wyatt said.
“If somebody has a Starbucks’ grande coffee first thing in the morning, and that’s the only coffee or caffeine they have for the entire day, by bedtime they’d still have the equivalent of caffeine from one cup of coffee or two cans of soda before going to sleep,” Wyatt said. Another caffeine complication: the sheer number of the social stimulants available to consumers.
“There are so many beverages enhanced with caffeine concentrations, be they specialty sodas or gourmet coffees,” Wyatt said, adding: “Now, they also have energy drinks that are being mixed with liquor so you can stay up longer and drink more. It’s smart marketing, but scary.”
Approximate amounts of caffeine in a number of products — including energy drinks, coffee and soda — can be found in the food and health section of mayo clinic.com, the official Web site for the non-profit medical practice.
But you have to go beyond those ranges for real-life caffeine counting.
“Look at the labels of foods and beverages, and with coffee, ask the coffeehouse you visit about their recipes,” Blatner said. “Many blended coffee drinks also have a shot or two of espresso, so you need to know what you are drinking and how much caffeine you are taking into your system.”
It’s a similar story with diet pills, which may not explicitly state “caffeine” on the label, but may contain plant compounds that do contain the stimulant. Look for caffeine-related ingredients on pill labels such as kola nut, guarana or mate, said Blatner, who added that there is no conclusive research showing caffeine is a diet aid.
“There are studies that show drinking green tea, which contains both caffeine and a helpful plant chemical called a catechin, helps with weight loss,” Blatner said, adding it can briefly suppress an appetite, but not enough for sustained weight loss. “But no studies to date have ever proven in the real world it helped anyone lose weight. In a laboratory setting, subjects might have burned a couple more calories, but nothing significant.”
What caffeine is proven to do is stimulate, and if it’s not having that effect, something could be wrong.
“If you are using caffeine to relax, that’s not a good thing,” Blatner said. “If you need it to get to sleep, you might be overdoing it.”
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kkyles@tribune.com
