Caffeine Does it Really Work?
How many of us cannot
do without our daily coffee? We need it to wake us up or "pick us up"
in the afternoon. We find the "wonder" ingredient caffeine anywhere
now, from coca-cola to even pastries. Let us find out what some researchers
have to say about our daily caffeine intake.
Enlarge ImageDonuts with Caffeine?
The caffeine-powered
donut is invented. Look where we have come from the days the goats ate the red
coffee berries back in the year 850 as the Legend of goat herder Kaldi of
Ethiopia says. He experienced the berries "power" himself and since,
we all have come to know coffee and its buzz. The caffeine is what makes us
"wake up" after drinking our coffee and now we have it in pastries
too!
Adding caffeine to
baked goods? The idea of mixing caffeine in bagels and pastries was introduced
as the researchers found a way to eliminate the bitter taste of caffeine.
Therefore, the donuts taste will remain unchanged while they will contain an
amount of caffeine equivalent to a 5-ounce cup of coffee, "Buzz
Donuts". Yes, after all, we are living in a world with countless
possibilities and combinations like these can suit so many people as we all
seem to be in such a hurry. Grabbing a "buzz donut" can make things
easier at times and oh, they are so tempting!
Regardless where
caffeine is, its consumption has the same effects but, when we think about it,
the donuts do have extra calories and fat when compared to a cup of "good
old" coffee.
Anyway, caffeinated
pastries have all the chances to become popular in our time when everyone looks
for "instant" solutions for each problem.
Coffee 'no buzz' after all?
Coffee doesn't cause
people to be more active or vigilant than normal although it wakes you up
faster after the night sleep is what the researchers in the University of
Bristol showed. Their work, pointed out the fact that the coffee buzz is
present only with people who stopped consuming caffeine for a certain period,
and it is only after this "coffee break" that they get the buzz back.
Here is a fragment of
what Zoe Wheeldon, of the British Coffee Association, said: "There are two
sides to the debate and a wealth of scientific evidence suggests that moderate
coffee consumption of four to five cups per day is perfectly safe for the
general population and does have a beneficial effect on alertness and
performance even in regular coffee drinkers."
Those who swear by their
morning caffeine fix say it wakes them up, and if they missed out they would
feel sluggish and unable to get on with their day.
Professor Peter
Rogers, a biological psychologist who led a research on the coffee's effects
with the Bristol researchers, affirmed: "We do feel a boost from caffeine
in the morning, but that's probably due to a reversal of the withdrawal
symptoms." So that alertness you feel is your getting back to normal,
rather than reaching above the normal level of alertness.
Professor Rogers said
caffeine did have some benefits, such as preventing cognitive decline in the
elderly, yet the best choice is choosing drinks that have no caffeine.
Pros and cons but who
can stop you if you like it? If you know it harms your health you should find
other drinks to replace it like coffee made out of soy or tea. Of course when
it comes to tea you need to pay attention to its ingredients as it is not the
same if you drink a mint tea or a green tea. Caffeine is not present in the
mint tea but the green tea contains it and has a coffee-like effect.
However, had it been
only for the caffeine, we could drink caffeinated water as well, but it is a
different taste experience to drink a coffee that along caffeine has got all
the other ingredients as antioxidants, potassium and magnesium. "When you give
somebody caffeine without all the other substances that are in coffee you have
a very different situation," one of the researchers acknowledged.
Many times coffee is
just a pretext to communicate with people and a nice conversation and the taste
you like create a pleasant environment, besides, it does not take a chef to
prepare this drink, you can easily do it yourself! Well, balance is good in
everything including coffee consumption.
So we can decide for
ourselves what to do, keeping our mug faithfully to our side or... go without
as we'll feel the same anyway?
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