Fiction: Caffeine Is Addictive

iVillage.com: Is Caffeine Addictive? Can It Sober You Up? Here’s What’s Fact and Fiction

Even though we may feel like we can't live without caffeine, it's not an actual addiction. Some people may experience mild symptoms, like headache, for a few days after giving up caffeine, but that doesn't happen to everyone. “From my perspective, just because you have symptoms that occur when you take a substance away does not mean you are addicted,” says Herbert Muncie, Jr., M.D., professor of family medicine at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. “Stopping caffeine doesn’t lead to aberrant social behaviors that negatively impact your job and family life, like those that occur with other substance abuse issues such as alcohol or cocaine.”

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Fiction: Caffein...

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“I think one of the biggest myths is that caffeine is harmful in some way,” says Muncie. “The research indicates there’s no increased risk of cancer or chronic conditions such as heart disease with caffeine.” Actually, caffeine may have some health benefits: “There’s evidence that caffeine may reduce the risk of some diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, gallbladder disease, and dementia,” says Muncie. While it’s too soon to say you should start drinking coffee to stay healthy, it’s perfectly fine to continue enjoying your morning cup of joe.

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Absolutely not true. You've seen it on TV or in movies: Give the drunk guy a cup of coffee and he'll sober up. “For some reason, this myth has persisted through the years, but you’re still impaired after you ingest caffeine,” says Janet Engle, Pharm. D., professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy. “Caffeine on top of alcohol just makes you a wide-awake drunk. You may feel as if you have the ability to function, but the alcohol level in your blood is the same.” If you’ve overindulged, let someone else drive you home and forget this old remedy that just doesn't work.

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About an hour after drinking caffeine you feel the peak of its effects, but it can take longer to taper off. “The half-life of caffeine, or the time required for the body to eliminate half the caffeine from your body, averages from four to five hours,” says Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “That means you could have caffeine in your body at bedtime when it still may have a stimulating effect.” While a cup or two of coffee in the morning probably won’t affect your sleep, try eliminating caffeine after lunch if you have problems falling asleep.

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The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say moderate caffeine consumption (about 200 mg per day) appears to be safe and won't harm the fetus. Breastfeeding moms should have no more than about three cups of coffee, tea or caffeinated soda throughout the day, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Regular coffee has about 60 to 150 mg per cup; tea has 40 to 80 mg; and chocolate contains anywhere from 1 to 35 mg per one ounce. The amount in sodas varies widely from 35 mg to 64 mg per 12 ounces. Breast milk typically contains less than 1 percent of the caffeine ingested by the mom, but if your baby seems fussy when you drink it, cut back to see if she's less agitated.

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Caffeine is a stimulant that makes you feel temporarily more alert, but it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. “If you’re regularly drinking three or four cups of coffee a day, you’re likely not going to experience the same effects, such as feeling more awake, as someone who rarely drinks it,” says Engle. If you’re not used to caffeine from coffee, tea or even sodas, you may feel jittery after drinking it. Another factor that impacts your sensitivity to caffeine is how quickly your body processes it.

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“There’s no evidence that caffeine can cause you to become dehydrated,” says Muncie. While it is a mild diuretic (it makes you to urinate more often), “the amount of fluid you get in the beverage compensates for the diuretic effect,” says Muncie. Overall, aim for about 9 cups of fluids from all sources, including water, per day. These tips can help you reach your daily goal.

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This is a tricky one. Though caffeine is found in things such as chocolate, coffee beans and tea leaves, it isn't a nutrient (it’s a naturally-occurring chemical), so it's not required to be listed on the ingredients. For example, guarana is a botanical herb used in energy drinks and has up to four times the amount of caffeine as coffee beans. “But the amount of caffeine from guarana likely won’t be listed on the label,” says Engle. On the other hand, caffeine that’s added to foods, like caffeinated water or fruit juice, must be listed on the label, although it still doesn't have to say how much caffeine the product contains.

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You've probably gone a little overboard with the coffee or tea -- and felt it. “For most of us, it’s when you get 500 or 600 mg [of caffeine] per day that you may have an unpleasant sensation of jitteriness and want to cut back,” says Muncie. To reduce your caffeine intake, start by eliminating one cup of coffee or other beverage a day, says Giancoli. Other strategies include mixing half regular coffee with half decaf or drink a skim latte, which will give you more milk (and calcium) than coffee. Ditch caffeinated sodas and energy drinks and opt for seltzer water or water flavored squeeze of lemon or lime or with a drizzle of juice If you steep a tea for one minute instead of three, you can cut the amount of caffeine in half. And read the label on over-the-counter drugs, such as headache relievers, which can contain 65 mg of caffeine per tablet.

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50 Foods That A... There are additional ways to keep your body in fat-burning mode. Click here to find out which unhealthy foods are actually good for you. (Credit: Frans Schalekamp/ Flickr/ Getty Images)