Caffeine

Q. Is caffeine a drug, and if so, can you drink enough coffee in one day for it to kill you? Bill Karpen La Quinada, Calif. A. Caffeine is a drug, classified as a stimulant. It occurs naturally in coffee, tea and cacao beans, and in more than 63 species of plants growing in all parts of the world, either in the leaves, seeds or fruit. According to an article by Denise Grady in Discover magazine, between 5 and 10 grams of caffeine can kill an adult. "To get that much caffein from the usual sources," informs Grady, "you'd have to drink so much, so fast - 75 cups of coffee, 125 cups of tea or 200 cans of cola in a day - that you'd probably become violently ill before you could ingest the lethal dose.

It's a white powder, it'll keep you wired all night, and it's called Blow. "Our product is not designed to be an illicit-drug alternative," says Logan Gola, the brains behind Blow. Still, it arrived at The Inquirer in a faux dusty box. Inside were vials of Blow, a toy credit card, and a mirror. (But no dollar bill.) The new mix is being peddled to a market that is hooked: Energy-drink sales increased by 50 percent between 2005 and 2006, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

HILLS BROTHERS PERFECT BALANCE 50 PERCENT CAFFEINE COFFEE. $2.29 per 12- ounce, $3.89 per 24-ounce or $5.99 per 36-ounce can. Also available in 7- ounce jar of instant. Bonnie: Instead of simply offering consumers the choice between decaffeinated coffee and regular, Hills Brothers combined the two to produce Perfect Balance - a coffee with about half the caffeine of regular. A 5-ounce cup of Perfect Balance contains about 53 milligrams caffeine compared to 115 for a cup of regular drip-method coffee and 80 for a cup of regular percolated.

There's no question that caffeine is a drug. Too much of it, and you may experience caffeine intoxication. Miss your daily fix - whether you prefer coffee, tea or soda as the means of delivery - and you could experience withdrawal symptoms. But does it really carry much risk for adults or children? Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system. That can lead, scientists have confirmed, to a variety of changes, many of them positive. Among the benefits: Mood elevation.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, you might be considering a substitute for chocolate. Those in the health-food world fault this divine substance on two counts: It contains fat and it contains caffeine. Although the hard-core health foodists will probably never give in and take a bite, there is reason for anyone who has been avoiding chocolate because of fat to take heart: It is likely that a defatted chocolate chip will be on the market before the end of the year. One company is already using these chips in its chocolate chip cookies, but the product is only available to manufacturers.

NEW YORK - Talk about a caffeine buzz: A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that one of the flowers is the coffee plant. Its nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers. But some citrus plants serve caffeine too, albeit in lower concentrations.

With a record 40,000 competitors set for Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run, many may be looking for an energy boost. They may want to consider some advice from the International Marathon Medical Directors Association: Don't load up on caffeine. The group's recommendation — to consume no more than 200 mg of caffeine the morning of a race of 10K or more — is not widely known, even among endurance athletes. The guidance is aimed at an uncommon but disturbing phenomenon: young, experienced, seemingly healthy runners dropping dead near the finish line for reasons that are never explained.

Virtually every international traveler experiences some of the debilitating effects of jet lag after a long overseas flight. When you begin to function in a time zone that is three to 12 hours different from your own, jet lag isn't caused so much by lack of sleep as by upsetting the body's sleep-wake cycle. Jet lag manifests itself in different ways for different people, but it's usually accompanied by disorientation, drowsiness throughout the day and inability to sleep normally.

BOSTON - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary supplement. AeroShot went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and it's also available in France. Consumers put one end of the canister in their mouths and breathe in, releasing a fine powder that dissolves almost instantly. Each plastic canister contains B vitamins, plus 100 milligrams of caffeine powder, about the equivalent of the caffeine in a large cup of coffee.

Announcements of new medical findings or miracle drugs often leave us fighting bouts of skepticism. Seems something deemed healthy for us one day becomes the bane of our existence the next. Which brings us to caffeine and diabetes. Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center this week said having caffeine with meals has a negative effect on the blood sugar and insulin levels of Type 2 diabetics. In a country with an estimated 17 million Type 2 diabetics you might think this is big news.

NEW YORK - Talk about a caffeine buzz: A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that one of the flowers is the coffee plant. Its nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers. But some citrus plants serve caffeine too, albeit in lower concentrations.

Winter's cruelest months A recent study has found that more fatal heart attacks and strokes occur in winter than at other times of the year After studying about 1.7 million death certificates filed between 2005 and 2008, cardiologists Bryan Schwartz and Robert A. Kloner found a 26 percent to 36 percent greater death rate from heart attacks in winter than in summer. The worst months are December, January, February, and early March. The doctors analyzed the cause of death for people in seven areas, including Pennsylvania.

With a 3:30 p.m. meeting for his group design project, a class from 6 to 9 p.m., and a mechanical-engineering exam the next day, Kevin Capps was feeling a workload crunch. So the skateboard-toting Drexel University senior stopped by a Wawa store Wednesday morning to pick up some energy in a can: 12 ounces of Red Bull. Was he risking his health? Almost certainly not, say health experts. The amount of caffeine in one 12-ounce can of the popular beverage - 114 milligrams - is about the same as that in a typical cup of coffee.

HAGERSTOWN, MD. - The highly caffeinated Monster Energy Drink has been cited in five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack, according to reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating. The reports claim that people had adverse reactions after they consumed Monster Energy Drink, which comes in 24-ounce cans and contains 240 milligrams of caffeine, or seven times the amount of the caffeine in a 12-ounce cola. Although the FDA is investigating the allegations, which date back to 2004, the agency said the reports don't necessarily prove that the drinks caused the deaths or injuries.

Question: My husband of three years and I have finally gotten to where it is practical to try to start a family. We've known for a few years that I have a fertility problem that gets progressively worse each month, but we weren't ready so we decided to wait. I have given up everything I am supposed to including alcohol and caffeine, even caffeine-free diet soda at his request, and am taking dance classes twice a week to try to get to a healthier weight. I am active and only 15 pounds overweight.

By Lanny Morgnanesi   I've become free of a drink that controlled too much of my day and punished me with physical pain if I ignored it.   It's fun to joke about coffee. But I'm not joking. I'm the type of person who gets incredible headaches from caffeine withdrawal. If I was running a little late in the morning, unable to make or purchase coffee, I'd arrive at work wondering when and how I would get my coffee. If I decided to wait until after a morning meeting, and the meeting ran long or something else came up, I'd missed my chance, and a monster within me would put a clamp on my brain.

With a record 40,000 competitors set for Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run, many may be looking for an energy boost. They may want to consider some advice from the International Marathon Medical Directors Association: Don't load up on caffeine. The group's recommendation — to consume no more than 200 mg of caffeine the morning of a race of 10K or more — is not widely known, even among endurance athletes. The guidance is aimed at an uncommon but disturbing phenomenon: young, experienced, seemingly healthy runners dropping dead near the finish line for reasons that are never explained.

BOSTON - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary supplement. AeroShot went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and it's also available in France. Consumers put one end of the canister in their mouths and breathe in, releasing a fine powder that dissolves almost instantly. Each plastic canister contains B vitamins, plus 100 milligrams of caffeine powder, about the equivalent of the caffeine in a large cup of coffee.

Philly's cafe scene is already steaming hot. Now, the local roasting world has begun to pick up the pace, too, with two bright recent additions worth taking note of: ReAnimator Coffee and Green Street Roasting Co. Based in Fishtown, ReAnimator comes from self-taught roaster Mark Corpus and partner Mark Capriotti, who have been producing excellent micro-batches of single-origin beans, roasted lighter to highlight complexity - like...

WASHINGTON - Compared with uncaffeinated women, those who drink the equivalent of four or more cups of coffee a day are more likely to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes and less likely to volunteer in church or community groups, a new study has found. But it also found that well-caffeinated women have a key health advantage over their more abstemious sisters: They're less likely to become depressed. The latest study of caffeine suggests that women who get several jolts of java a day may do more than get a quick boost: Their mental health may see sustained improvement even as the physical stresses of aging accumulate.