Caffeine
Yelizabeta Dmitriev
What is caffeine? Where does it come from?
What does it do? Those are all question you may have asked yourself before;
none of the answers are difficult to find although some are a bit surprising.
Caffeine is chemical found in over 60
different plants, including coffee beans, tealeaves, coco plants and kola nuts,
and is most often extracted from the plants themselves.1 While
caffeine can be synthesized, scientists agree that it is simpler to extract
caffeine from plants through decaffeination as plants create it far more
efficiently then we could ever do in a laboratory.2
Caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist, which simple means it
that is makes our neurons send out signals that increase blood flow and slowing
dopamine absorption.4 Increased blood flow gives us the jolt we
expect with caffeine, while dopamine, a neurotransmitter, stimulates happy
feelings and it is what gives caffeine its addictive properties.4
Caffeine, in small dose, can have positive effects on our bodies. Such as relieving
headache pain; an increased blood flow caused by caffeine can often help relive
some of the pain of a vascular headache.4 Caffeine has also been
used to stimulate hair growth in blading men thus it has been used as an
additive in some shampoos.7 Caffeine is also being added to shampoos
because it has been shown to counter the effects of excess testosterone, which is
a known cause of male baldness.7 Another interesting use for
caffeine is in the break down of cellulose. Caffeine has been infused into
women’s stockings with the promise that it would smooth the dimple caused by
cellulose. While this may seem far-fetched caffeine has actually been shown to
stimulate the lipolysis process and reduce fat cells that dimple the in skin.8
Although caffeine has many positive effects on our bodies it can also cause us
harm; apart from being addictive, caffeine in large does can cause serious
health effects, such as insomnia, anxiety, nausea and many others.2
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| Figure 1: Caffeine Overdose Symptoms. Source: Haggstrom M. Primary Symptoms of caffeine overdose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#mediaviewer/ File:Main_symptoms_of_Caffeine_overdose.svg (accessed December 8, 2014). |
References 1 Medicine in my Home: Caffeine and Your Body. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/UCM200805.pdf (accessed October 24, 2014)
2 Caffeine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine (accessed October 24, 2014)
3 Adenosine Receptors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_receptor (accessed October 24, 2014)
4Brain, Marshall, Charles W. Bryant and Matt Cunningham. "How Caffeine Works" 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. http://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine.htm (accessed October 24, 2014.)
5 Caffeine. In Merck index 13th edition. O’Neil M. Smith A. Heckelman P. Obenchain J. Ganllipeau J.; Arecca M. Merck research laboratories division of Merck & CO., INC. Whitehouse Station: New Jersey USA, 2001; pp 275
6 Caffeine. In Encyclopaedia of Clinical Toxicology; Rossoff I.; The Parthenon Publishing Group: New York, USA, 2002; pp 176-180
7 Fischer TW.; Hipler UC.; Elsner P.; Effect of caffeine and testosterone on the proliferation of human hair follicles in vitro, 2007. Pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17214716 (accessed October 24, 2014)
8 Nuno H. C. S. Silva; Inês Drumond; Isabel F. Almeida; Paulo Costa, Catarina F. Rosado; Carlos Pascoal Neto; Carmen S. R. Freire; Armando J. D. Silvestre. Topical caffeine delivery using biocellulose membranes: a potential innovative system for cellulite treatment. Springer Link, 2013 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10570-013-0114-1#page-1 (accessed October 28, 2014)
9 Laurie Barclay, MD. A Scientific solution to Unsightly Cellulite. Life Extension Magazine, 2008. http://www.lef.org/magazine/2008/8/a-scientific-solution-to-unsightly-cellulite/page-01 (accessed October 28, 2014)
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