Caffeine Addiction

[pelagius]

Did anyone see the caffeine abuse article in the Ensign (edit: this month, December)?

I thought it was a better than average Ensign article on the Word of Wisdom (it seemed to stay away from a "fundamentalist" approach to the Word of Wisdom). For example, it contains the following sentence:

While we are counseled against taking addictive substances or harmful drugs, the Word of Wisdom does not specifically prohibit caffeine.

Still, the evidence presented seemed almost entirely anecdotal or speculative. For example, the author suggests a link between caffeine and obesity:

Caffeine can also precipitate other conditions that can lead to further problems. Here’s an example: Using caffeine on a long-term basis to compensate for tiredness resulting from life-style choices results not only in sleep deprivation but also in physiological stress. These in turn can lead to an increased level of certain hormones that can lower one’s metabolism. A lower metabolism leads to an increased craving of carbohydrates and sugars and often will result in weight gain. Ironically, many people use these drinks in order to lose weight, whereas just the opposite may occur. Many physicians believe that this process has contributed significantly to the current problem of obesity in the United States. Weight gain has a negative influence on the medical conditions of sleep apnea, diabetes, depression, and even cardiac and cerebrovascular disease.

It seems like a plausible hypothesis but the author cites as his evidence the fact that "many physicians believe." I don't doubt that these physicians could be right but it seems a bit speculative. There is not even a footnote linking to survey evidence that many physicians actually do believe this let alone a cite of a serious empirical study looking at this issue.

The author also talks about the health problems of an older lady he is treating and blames those problems in part on the fact that she drinks 7 colas a day? Does he really have the evidence to make such a conclusion?

I don't doubt that "caffeine abuse" is a real issue and I applaud the Ensign for the article but it does seem short on cites to real empirical work. The footnotes seem to only cite one serious (non-case study) paper and its about the effects of caffeine on kids: David K. Stevenson, “On the Caffeination of Prematurity,” The New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 8, 2007, 1967–68.


Doctors, is the evidence for caffeine abuse this anecdotal and speculative at the moment or is there good empirical work done on the subject that just wasn't cited in the article? Also, the article doesn't give a sense for how common caffeine abuse is, it only seems to give evidence that a lot of people are drinking energy drinks. How common is caffeine abuse and how often does high caffeine intake result in health problems of some kind?

[ERCougar]

Did anyone see the caffeine abuse article in the Ensign?

I thought was better than the average Ensign article on the Word of Wisdom (it seemed to stay away from a "fundamentalist" approach to the Word of Wisdom). For example, it contains the following sentence:



Still, the evidence presented seemed almost entirely anecdotal or speculative. For example, the author suggests a link between caffeine and obesity:



It seems like a plausible hypothesis but the author cites as his evidence the fact that "many physicians believe." I don't doubt that these physicians could be right but it seems a bit speculative. There is not even a footnote linking to survey evidence that many physicians actually do believe this let alone a cite of a serious empirical study looking at this issue.

The author also talks about the health problems of an older lady he is treating and blames those problems in part on the fact that she drinks 7 colas a day? Does he really have the evidence to make such a conclusion?

I don't doubt that "caffeine abuse" is a real issue and I applaud the Ensign for the article but it does seem short on cites to real empirical work. The footnotes seem to only cite one serious (non-case study) paper and its about the effects of caffeine on kids: David K. Stevenson, “On the Caffeination of Prematurity,” The New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 8, 2007, 1967–68.


Doctors, is the evidence for caffeine abuse this anecdotal and speculative at the moment or is there good empirical work done on the subject that just wasn't cited in the article? Also, the article doesn't give a sense for how common caffeine abuse is, it only seems to give evidence that a lot of people are drinking energy drinks. How common is caffeine abuse and how often does high caffeine intake result in health problems of some kind?

Was this the article from a few months back on the Word of Wisdom? I can recall that one, but haven't seen anything more recent.

If so, I remember having the opposite reaction. It seemed there were all kinds of speculative statements without any type of citation. This is a real problem beyond just scientific articles as we tend to be lazy about attributing ideas (how many people realize just how much of Pres Benson's pride talk is really CS Lewis talking?) Further, there's sort of this attitude that dishonesty or slightly misleading statements are OK if they're done for a good reason. Thus, when this guy talks about the ill effects of alcohol, he can pretty much link it to anything, because really, what's the big deal? Alcohol's bad, right? He got away with a lot of VERY unproven speculation in that article as I recall, although I don't have my magazine in front of me to point out examples. Maybe I'll pull the online version if I get some later today.

Maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine, but I get sort of irritated when people start bringing science into church, as they tend to do it very lazily and sloppily. I'd rather them not do it at all.

EDIT: Your caffeine-obesity link above is part of what I'm talking about. I don't know of a single doctor who thinks our obesity problem is due to caffeine. So I would consider that statement a lie. But really, what's the big deal? Caffeine's bad, right?

[TripletDaddy]

for the joe six pack mormon, this article seems to be saying that moderate caffeine consumption is fine.

That seems to go against the hardline stance, no?

[ERCougar]

Did anyone see the caffeine abuse article in the Ensign?

I thought was better than the average Ensign article on the Word of Wisdom (it seemed to stay away from a "fundamentalist" approach to the Word of Wisdom). For example, it contains the following sentence:



Still, the evidence presented seemed almost entirely anecdotal or speculative. For example, the author suggests a link between caffeine and obesity:



It seems like a plausible hypothesis but the author cites as his evidence the fact that "many physicians believe." I don't doubt that these physicians could be right but it seems a bit speculative. There is not even a footnote linking to survey evidence that many physicians actually do believe this let alone a cite of a serious empirical study looking at this issue.

The author also talks about the health problems of an older lady he is treating and blames those problems in part on the fact that she drinks 7 colas a day? Does he really have the evidence to make such a conclusion?

I don't doubt that "caffeine abuse" is a real issue and I applaud the Ensign for the article but it does seem short on cites to real empirical work. The footnotes seem to only cite one serious (non-case study) paper and its about the effects of caffeine on kids: David K. Stevenson, “On the Caffeination of Prematurity,” The New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 8, 2007, 1967–68.


Doctors, is the evidence for caffeine abuse this anecdotal and speculative at the moment or is there good empirical work done on the subject that just wasn't cited in the article? Also, the article doesn't give a sense for how common caffeine abuse is, it only seems to give evidence that a lot of people are drinking energy drinks. How common is caffeine abuse and how often does high caffeine intake result in health problems of some kind?

To answer your last few questions....
For a healthy person, there's not much downside to caffeine intake. It probably does speed up your metabolism, it's been proven to improve performance in endurance events, I've even seen studies showing a slight protective effect of moderate caffeine intake for heart disease. If you have heart rhythm problems, it's bad news, but outside of that, it's pretty innocuous, and actually may be beneficial. IMO, this is sort of beside the point, as the prohibition is against coffee and tea (not caffeine), and health benefits aren't the reason I'm obeying the WOW, or I would drink a glass of red wine a day.

[CardiacCoug]

My understanding is that the evidence in the medical literature of harmful effects of caffeine is not very impressive. Most of the studies that have been done are small and not very conclusive. For every small, poorly-executed study showing harm from coffee or caffeine, you can find a similar study suggesting no evidence of risk or possible benefits from coffee or caffeine.

What I have seen recently in studies of coffee drinkers is a suggestion of slightly lower risk of certain types of cancers (breast and uterine, I believe) as well as lower risk of diabetes for coffee drinkers. There was one study recently that suggested lower birth weight for babies born to mothers who used caffeine. It can be tough to tease this stuff out because most of the studies are of coffee drinkers rather than people who use caffeine in other forms. Intake of sugared sodas is associated with obesity, but this is obviously more likely to be due to increased caloric intake than caffeine intake.

In some patients, caffeine intake leads to sleep problems, anxiety or to atrial fibrillation. Some people are more sensitive than others to these effects, but they are mostly nuisance effects rather than serious health risks. They apply to individual patients, but not necessarily at the population-level.

As far as I'm aware, the link between caffeine and obesity is purely speculative and not supported by any decent study in the medical literature.

[creekster]

Are you guys reading the same thing I am? Doesn't the quopte say htta cafeinated drinks are used to support an unhealthy lifestyle and that the results of this unhealthy lifestyle include psychological stress and sleep deprivation and

These in turn can lead to an increased level of certain hormones that can lower one’s metabolism. A lower metabolism leads to an increased craving of carbohydrates and sugars and often will result in weight gain.

IOW, caffeine doesn't cause obesity. He is calling caffeinated drinks facilitators for an unhealthy lifestyle and that lifestyle leads to obesity. That's not very controversial, is it? Plus, the "many physicians" reference is to the 'process' not to caffeine, again implicating the lifestyle and not the drinks. I will admit it isn't very clear, and it does encourage the drawing of an overstated or maybe even false correlation, but I am not sure if the article (at least not the quoted portion) draws the link you are criticizing it for.

[pelagius]

Was this the article from a few months back on the Word of Wisdom? I can recall that one, but haven't seen anything more recent.

Its brand new this month: December Ensign.

[pelagius]

Are you guys reading the same thing I am? Doesn't the quopte say htta cafeinated drinks are used to support an unhealthy lifestyle and that the results of this unhealthy lifestyle include psychological stress and sleep deprivation and



IOW, caffeine doesn't cause obesity. He is calling caffeinated drinks facilitators for an unhealthy lifestyle and that lifestyle leads to obesity. That's not very controversial, is it? Plus, the "many physicians" reference is to the 'process' not to caffeine, again implicating the lifestyle and not the drinks. I will admit it isn't very clear, and it does encourage the drawing of an overstated or maybe even false correlation, but I am not sure if the article (at least not the quoted portion) draws the link you are criticizing it for.

That's fair (although I never suggested cause, I said "link"), I read too quickly but I then it is a bit of a bait and switch: "Caffeine is really bad ... well caffeine combined with an unhealth lifestyle in general is bad." (but you kind of covered that in your last sentence.) Also, one would have to argue that caffeinated sodas are incremental worse facilitators than non-caffeinated sodas. I think one needs real empirical evidence for that claim (the author suggested a metabolism link but doesn't cite any evidence).

[pelagius]

for the joe six pack mormon, this article seems to be saying that moderate caffeine consumption is fine.

That seems to go against the hardline stance, no?

Agreed, I thought that was the good part about the article and what I meant by it "stayed away from a fundamentalist approach."

[Coach McGuirk]

here is my study. When I make a concerted effort to stop using caffeine, I get a raging headache that lasts for at least 2 days. That is enough to tell me something isn't right.


I drink it anyways.

[pelagius]

Sorry everyone, I forgot to post a link to the article (must be too much caffeine):

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=30952f9318fcd110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1

[il Padrino Ute]

Sorry everyone, I forgot to post a link to the article (must be too much caffeine)

Or not enough.

[ERCougar]

So I just read the article and I would agree--it is pretty well-written. He doesn't make too many wild claims and it seems pretty accurate. Creekster's right about the link he draws with obesity--in rereading, I noted he's fairly about the link between a poor sleep-deprived lifestyle and obesity, NOT caffeine and obesity.

One funny part was the link between caffeine and elevated cholesterol and heart disease. The last study I read on this was just a few months ago and it actually suggested a slight cardioprotective effect to moderate coffee intake. To resolve the discrepancy, I went right to his citation--Ensign, 1988. LOL.

On the whole, he seems to be speaking more against energy drinks (and analagous uses of caffeine) than caffeine itself. This I would agree with, although caffeine is probably the least harmful substance in those things.

[pelagius]

On the whole, he seems to be speaking more against energy drinks (and analagous uses of caffeine) than caffeine itself. This I would agree with, although caffeine is probably the least harmful substance in those things.

Right, this is really closely related my original question. What are the most likely health risk sassociated with high doses of caffeine on a regularly basis? I thought he was a little light on actual systematic evidence on this point as opposed to anecdotes. I think CardiacCoug answered my question though:

In some patients, caffeine intake leads to sleep problems, anxiety or to atrial fibrillation. Some people are more sensitive than others to these effects, but they are mostly nuisance effects rather than serious health risks. They apply to individual patients, but not necessarily at the population-level.

I do still wonder how common these problems becomes when doses are very high on a prolonged basis?

P.S.

I did really appreciate that he made the following statement in the article:

In addition, used in moderation, caffeine may not pose significant health risks.

[pelagius]

Or not enough.

Truthfully, caffeine use is pretty rare for me. Sometimes before workouts, but that's about it.