Wellness Myths

Caffeine: The Highs and the Lows

August 11, 2021 Season 2 Episode 20
Wellness Myths
Caffeine: The Highs and the Lows
Show Notes Transcript

Ohhh, caffeine. The girls of Wellness Myths are certainly no strangers to this substance whether it's coming from a triple shot latte, a green tea, or an iced chai. But what impact does caffeine and all of these beverages really have on your health and wellness? How do we form a healthy relationship to this stimulant drug? Let's find out!

Expect to learn just how much caffeine is too much caffeine, how coffee and tea inhibit nutrient absorption, and the wild world of diet pills. You'll leave this episode empowered with the knowledge of how to consume caffeine in a smarter, more supportive way.

Reviews in the podcast directory of your choice are greatly appreciated!

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellness.myths/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellnessMyths
Email feedback or questions to wellnessmyths@gmail.com


You can find a computer generated show transcript at https://wellnessmyths.com

Emily:

Hey ness.

Vanessa:

Pam.

Emily:

So today we're talking about all things caffeine, and it's kind of funny, like we met in college. And so you think like we'd have like a lot of caffeinated memories, but you like really struggle with caffeine at times. So I feel like mostly my memories are you like drinking half of a blonde roast and then getting like high as hell on caffeine.

Vanessa:

Yeah, I really would, but I also drank a lot of caffeine in college. Like, remember I would, well, maybe you don't remember this, but I would go to my work after class and I would just start like Downing coffee.

And this would be at like 6:

00 PM.

Emily:

I do remember that more. So now that you say that.

Vanessa:

I was like riding my bike all over campus and literally like running around campus all day My backpack was like really something to see. It was always So big. So I had so much annex. I would like. Go to campus and I'd be on campus all day long. And I would take literally everything with me. So I just remember one time I was like vicious riding my bike to. class and I had my backpack on and it was like maybe November, December. So. There wasn't like snow on the ground, but it was cold. And so I hit a patch of ice and I like my bike just like slid out from under me. And my backpack was so big. I ended up being a turtle on its shell, like, but like, that was just like my example of me just running scurrying around campus at all times. Like highly caffeinated. Anyway, so it really just amplifies it.

Emily:

Yeah, you just need to like, be able to burn it off. And we're going to talk all about that in this episode.

Vanessa:

Yes. Let's get into it. So welcome to wellness myths today. We're talking about caffeine. I think this is really important. Topic, because a lot of us consume caffeine. And I think it's really important to remember here that caffeine is not inherently bad. I think sometimes it gets a bad rap. But it is not inherently bad. It actually has a lot of benefits or can have a lot of benefits, but like anything When you have too much can cause issues and everyone is different. So this is where dieticians come in and providing individualized care because not everyone tolerates caffeine the same. And that is purely due to genetics.

Emily:

Definitely like I there's always someone who can have like 12 cups of coffee and not be affected at all by the caffeine. And then there's someone who has like half a cup or a few sips and is like super high on it. So it's definitely different across different.

Vanessa:

yeah, for sure. But I also, I questioned those people that say, oh, I can drink caffeine right up to the moment I fall asleep and I sleep, you know, totally soundly. And I just, I kind of question how well are they actually sleep?

Emily:

Okay. well, let me tell you, I actually have a personal experience with this. I don't think I mentioned this to you yet. So I bought this blue, like lavender it's like that, like butterfly flower. It's like a relaxing tea. It's supposed to be good for like skin health. I don't know. I just like it, the taste of it. And I had it at my girlfriend's house. Shut up, Nicole. And. I loved it. And we had it every night before bed while I was visiting. And I was like, oh, this is so great. Like, I'm going to definitely buy this when I get home. So I did, and then I realized there's two versions. One has caffeine and is a green tea. So not like an insane amount of caffeine, but one has caffeine and one doesn't and every night I would set up like, sit myself down with this tea and drink it and be like, oh my God, I'm so tired. I'm going to go to bed right now. And then like, sleep great, wake up the next day and be like, wow, this like sleepy tea is amazing. But then turns out I was drinking the caffeinated one. So basically I was literally. Like fully drinking a great big cup of green tea with caffeine in it. And then was just like, conking right out afterwards. And we talk about the placebo effect so much, like that was really active for me. And even after that, just to prove that it really was placebo. Now I have it. I still have it at night because I'm just drinking the rest of it until I can get the decaf one, but I still have it at night. Cause it's just like a fun ritual now. And now I don't feel tired from it at all. Cause I know there's caffeine.

Vanessa:

happy. Wow. That's so funny. that is a great, great example of the placebo effect.

Emily:

Right? I was like, I'm so glad we have this outlet to share this with everybody. And like, I can fully admit it. I don't feel stupid for doing it. It's just like, it's a well-researched effect and it really, really works.

Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That, that is, that's really interesting. I mean, right now we're so it's like five 30 my time that we are

recording this podcast, 5:

30 PM. And I want a cup of coffee, so bad, just purely for the taste and like coziness of it. But I know. That you know, I would be up all night if I had it, but I wonder, like, I almost wonder if I thought it was decaf if I I'd be fine.

Emily:

Yeah, totally. It really might happen. I mean, it fully happened for me, so

Vanessa:

Yeah. That's really

Emily:

So, like Vanessa said, there's definitely an okay amount of caffeine to have, and it really depends based on person to person, how you're going to react to caffeine. Caffeine is in teas, coffees, certain kinds of chocolates, but also is going to get into the different kinds of food with caffeine later. So that being said, coffee, caffeine, tea, none of it's inherently bad, but there's definitely an upper limit. So most of the research that has been done claims that around 400 milligrams a day for most adults is the upper limit for coffee. And just to kind of make that make sense for you. You're like how much is in each cup, et cetera, about 95 milligrams per cup of coffee. So that's around four cups of regular coffee a day.

Vanessa:

I want to interject here though. I want to interject because in that would be like for a cup of coffee, that's brewed at home, but if you're not brewing your coffee at home, you're going to a coffee shop, perhaps you're going to Starbucks depending on the role. So they have different amounts of caffeine and that's something really important to remember. So like Starbucks, for example, Their coffee has a lot of caffeine. So like just a regular brewed coffee. The tall size would be 235 milligrams.

Emily:

wait,

Vanessa:

yeah, their venti is 410,

Emily:

Okay, so we w okay, hold on, give me a minute. How many ounces is it?

Vanessa:

12.

Emily:

Okay. Yeah, that's still doesn't really make sense. Well, and the thing is sometimes that sometimes coffee, they'll say like, there's like 80 milligrams or so, so you're really just like kind of ballparking it like a hundred per cup seems safe, but wow. I didn't know that about Starbucks.

Vanessa:

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, depending on the roast, it can vary a lot. And like Emily mentioned, so again, the 400 milligrams. What we're generally thinking is safe. That doesn't mean if you have a day where you drink two venti coffees from Starbucks. and have 800 milligrams of caffeine, it doesn't mean you're going to like fall over dead.

Emily:

Right.

Vanessa:

It's just not we, we, you might be surpassing the risk benefit at that point.

Emily:

Definitely. And you have to think too, it's not just coffee that people are drinking, right. There's around. I mean, it, Starbucks has probably 10 million, but there's like 65 or so milligrams of caffeine and an espresso shot. And then in a monster drink, there's 86 milligrams.

Vanessa:

Yeah. So

Emily:

like, you really don't know like how things are going to hit you, like in different types of caffeinated beverages. And none of these are too much, like, you know, you could have three monsters and you'd still be like below the upper limit. Shockingly enough.

Vanessa:

And, you know, I'm actually really curious too, in the monster. If it was giving you the whole serving size, because something I read about energy drinks, I think maybe they list it as how much caffeine per eight ounces, but usually they're 16 ounces. So what I read was most energy drinks are about 85 milligrams of caffeine per eight ounces. However, most of them are 16 ounces, which obviously would double the amount of caffeine if you're drinking the whole thing.

Emily:

Yes, it is for an eight ounce serving,

Vanessa:

yeah. Yeah. but like a monster is usually 16 ounces. I mean, those things are, I don't know if they look bigger than that to me even.

Emily:

I think there's like so many different iterations at this point. And that's another, like, could be another huge placebo effect, right? Like it's not like the amount of that is so much more insane than coffee. It's just.

Vanessa:

just like

Emily:

The fact that you're drinking an energy drink really can like amp up the mind a lot

Vanessa:

well and you know, it has a bunch of sugar in it and whatever else.

Emily:

Right. And the B vitamins it'll claim there it's mostly from the B vitamins. It's from the caffeine.

Vanessa:

Yeah. I would say the caffeine. sugar combos. What's really good. And your brother.

Emily:

Yeah. And everyone has a personal tolerance, like Vanessa said, largely due to genetics or even just circumstances. You're going to want to consider how it affects your sleep, your anxiety. I mean, I know so many people personally and myself vaguely included that. Have switched over to decaf or drink significantly less caffeine. And since the pandemic just due to like a feeling of generalized anxiety. And so I think that sometimes caffeine can be really triggering for that. So it's something you want to watch for, for sure.

Vanessa:

Yeah. absolutely. I mean, sometimes it's fun to be Like, pounding away at your keyboard and like sweating due to your caffeine intake. But sometimes, I mean, if you don't have a lot to do that can just be really triggering and scary.

Emily:

Yeah. Like, like we were saying in the beginning, it depends what kind of energy you have. I mean, we had our episode about pre-workout and post-workout foods with our dietician friend, Courtney, and she talked about how, you know, caffeine and these pre-workouts can be really helpful for your performance.

Vanessa:

but

Emily:

You know, even talking more in that upper limit, you know, if you're a, pre-workout has 150 milligrams of caffeine and you've already had four cups of coffee today, you're, you're riding pretty high. Like that's, that's definitely over the limit and it's not like that's going to immediately give you an adverse side effect, but it's just something to consider.

Vanessa:

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, like Emily said, I mean, caffeine is a stimulant that can make you, it can improve performance. I mean, science shows us that athletic performance can be improved, even cognitive function and in some cases, and it can protect against diseases like Alzheimer's depression, dementia. Parkinson's. And erectile dysfunction.

Emily:

Oh, wow. It's been a while since we've talked about that,

Vanessa:

It really has, but I think something else to consider here too, when we're talking about caffeine a lot of the studies that are looking at correlations between caffeine and say protection against disease are looking at coffee in particular. And so coffee also has a lot of antioxidants, so it could be the combination of caffeine and antioxidants. So, I guess I would just caution you with like energy drinks and things like that specifically. I don't know that those are necessarily giving the same kind of benefits.

Emily:

Yeah, there hasn't even the research that's been done on caffeine. He is not even there for like five hour energy or all of those other things. I mean, we give coffee to people who have suppressed immune systems to help their immune system operate better because of the high antioxidant content

Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's, you know, there's a, there's confidence got a lot going for it. Really.

Emily:

they really does. I think like the only negative that it has is the potential for GI upset.

Vanessa:

Yes, GI upset. for sure. I think everyone has been, if you're a coffee drinker, everyone's been in the situation where you maybe have a little bit too much coffee and then things are moving and you're not always in, you know, the best spot. Maybe you're in TJ Maxx, you know?

Emily:

You were just in TJ max two days. Are you trying to say something?

Vanessa:

No, but I just feel like it's always places like that because it's like, I dunno, you have like clothes in your hands or like, it's just super inconvenient. And then you have to like, and then you start sweating and then you have to like,

Emily:

the heat, the heat.

Vanessa:

yes, Then you have to like find a safe place to like place your TJ max fine. So someone else doesn't steal them while you're in the bathroom and you're having to deal with the public restroom at that point. I mean, there's a lot of factors going against you.

Emily:

Yeah. I'm like my anxiety is rising. Just listening to it. I mean, there are, there's some things that you can do. They have lower acidity coffee that you can buy, like online that has less acid content. If that's like, what's, that's usually what's triggering

Vanessa:

Great people.

Emily:

And also too, if you have, like, for me, it's a lot easier for me to stomach coffee. If it's got something like soy milk in it, or any other kind of non-dairy milk or whatever milk you like sometimes that can help neutralize the acid as well as giving something in your stomach, alongside the coffee to kind of cushion and neutralize it so that you're not just mainlining straight, acidic coffee, and you have some kind of mixer in it.

Vanessa:

Yeah. And that mixer and added protein is also super helpful for eliminating the jitters. So, you know, maybe you're still getting some energy from the coffee, but you're not like, you know, jittery and sweat.

Emily:

Yeah. Sweating. How many times we're going to say sweating? Why is that just like what I'm thinking about.

Vanessa:

It's just very visceral for me that fee.

Emily:

Yeah, you could also to try a lower acidity coffee, like cold brew. That's the beans are soaked for a long time and sometimes people tolerate that a little bit better too.

Vanessa:

but it's also important to remember with cold-brew. It typically has, has more caffeine

Emily:

Yeah, absolutely. It sure does.

Vanessa:

who are, you know, sensitive to caffeine, but something to consider. I also wanted to bring up. I think a really big myth is that caffeine is dehydrated. That's always something that comes up with people is the misconception that caffeine is dehydrating and that's not actually true. So you can actually count coffee towards your daily fluid intake. It was historically thought of as a diarrhetic, which it is, it does have a mild diuretic effect, but not enough to be actually be hydrating you and you're likely replacing, you know, if you are going to the bathroom, if you're drinking any liquids, you're going to go to the bathroom. But as long as you're replacing that, it's not a big deal.

Emily:

Yeah, totally. That's something that actually, I didn't know until like more recently.

Vanessa:

Yeah. Well, I feel like it's always been pitched as. The hydrating, like, that's something, that's a myth that's been around for a long time and hasn't really been nobody talks about it really.

Emily:

Yeah, for sure. And I think like people aren't really willing to kind of adjust their routine with coffee. Like it's really hard to get people to drink less if they don't want to. And so people probably just kind of like ignore most of those things.

Vanessa:

Yeah, for sure.

Emily:

One thing that you could consider is that coffee and tea, caffeine containing substances, both have something called tannins in them and they can inhibit absorption of other nutrients. So basically, I mean, do your best, but trying to space your coffee and tea from your meals, as much as you can, or at least not taking like a bunch of vitamins right next to your drink of coffee.

Vanessa:

Yeah, that's, that's really important. And I feel like a lot of people don't don't consider that. And remember too, so this is something with coffee and tea that have caffeine, and that also don't have caffeine. So decaf, coffee and tea are not going to get you away from the absorption issue.

Emily:

Yeah. And it's not like a huge deal. It's not like you should be like, oh, well I'm not even gonna bother drink, like eating fruit at this meal. If I'm going to also have green tea, it's not like that. It's just like, you know, do your best to try to space it out as much as you can.

Vanessa:

Right. So you're going to do things for pure enjoyment, right? Like if you're going to have a doughnut with coffee, that's just because it's good. And you, I mean, there's, it's not like there's all these new, these nutrients and this donut that you need to get. But. Something to think about on a daily basis. I mean, you for digestion, generally, you should try not to drink a ton with your meal anyway, but if you are going to have coffee, you know, around in the morning or at breakfast time, I would consider eating your breakfast first and then having the coffee after.

Emily:

For sure. One thing that really drives me just nuts is when people put cold brew and smooth. Like, I'm sure that might taste good for some, I don't know. I think it kind of sounds kind of disgusting, but like, I know that that might taste good for some people, but it just bothers me because you're usually drinking a smoothie to get all those micronutrients. So it's like, okay, put all, all this coffee in there and then like, make sure you put your bananas and make sure you put all these Brazil nuts and whatever. And then you're like not even getting as nearly as much uptake as you would with.

Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah. I know that is really crazy. I feel like a lot. That's another thing. A lot of people don't know about. Let us know if you think this stuff is interesting on Instagram or whatever, contact us, let us know if this is something you didn't know about. Cause I feel like that's one of the lesser known.

Emily:

Yeah, that's the first thing, if I tell clients that when we're prescribing like a supplement or something, they'll be like, wait, what? Like I had no idea. And sometimes it's like, you're really like, maybe if you're trying to eat like. You know, cooked greens on the side of your breakfast or something and be like eggs or tofu scramble or something with cooked vegetables. And you're like, okay, I don't love these veggies, but I'm just going to, you know, get them in because I don't really eat them enough. And you know, this is how it's tolerable to me. And then you're also drinking coffee during it. Like, no, like that just sucks. I don't want you to waste it.

Vanessa:

Right, exactly.

Emily:

Another aspect or unintended consequence of consuming caffeine could be an appetite suppressant. So caffeine by nature can make you feel less hungry. Maybe, you know, if you have an afternoon coffee, you end up eating dinner way later, maybe you're feeling kind of jittery. And so you're just not feeling well. And you start to not want to eat. A really sick diet culture thing that happened is that weight loss supplements based on caffeine started to become popular. And they're a little bit less popular now. And the data is barely even there like weight loss supplements that are caffeine based alone have never been proved, proven to stimulate or assist in weight loss. So I'm not exactly sure. I think that mostly the idea was like, okay, you just don't eat as much when you're all like hopped up on caffeine, but there's a lot of nuance in that. And the fact that if you skip a meal, you're missing a lot of macronutrients and micronutrients, that can be really important for you. So it's definitely something to watch out for. If you notice that coffee really takes your appetite away. Is kind of disabling you from getting enough food in your diet. It's definitely time to examine those habits.

Vanessa:

Yeah. and that can really wreak havoc on blood sugar balance as well. So, I mean, it can be pretty harmful to, you know, have these huge fast solve the time. Just because you're not feeling hungry.

Emily:

Exactly. And you're altering that it's not like, you know, with intuitive eating, right. We're listening to the body and you know, if you're not hungry, then you know, usually. Mostly, you don't have to force yourself to eat, but this is like you're taking the stimulants separately, even with just like a latte and it doesn't have to be this weight loss supplement. Even sometimes like, if I know that I can't eat for a while, but I also want like a little energy boost and I want some coffee, I'll have like a latte or something like that. And then I'll be like, cool. I can't eat for the next four hours, but I've eaten early before. And my hunger will be kept at bay, like from the caffeine. So for better or worse. I mean, ideally I'd just like to be able to eat when I want to eat, but you know, life happens. But you know, it's like, I literally use that tool in the opposite way where I'm like, okay, if I need to, you know, just be busy working or whatever then that's what I do. And so it, it really does have a

Vanessa:

public place. Huge, huge for sure. So caffeine along when we were thinking of like fasting and blood sugar, and when we're thinking of our hormones, caffeine can be a little dicey for your hormones, just because it increases cortisol and your hormones don't. Really love when we have too much cortisol when we're having big spikes in cortisol, we need cortisol, but we don't want to be like constantly having spikes throughout the day, especially in the evening. So if your hormones are in disarray, I wouldn't necessarily recommend throwing caffeine into the mix. And if you are going to, I would encourage you to include it in a smart way. And what I mean by that is. You know, eating before you drink the caffeine, not drinking at past a certain hour, which is usually we say like 2:00 PM or at least six hours before you're going to go to bed. But doing that is just a good rule of thumb to make sure your hormones don't get really mad at you. I also typically recommend avoiding caffeine and your luteal phase. So for female hormones, This would be the time before your period. And that's just to decrease PMs symptoms. So especially for people who experience more anxiety or irritability before their period it's definitely something that I personally recommend. And the science on that is actually pretty mixed. Like the association between caffeine and PMs,

Emily:

I was just going to ask you if it mattered, if we decrease consumption, like, is it maybe just like, if you normally have like three cups of coffee a day, could you still have one.

Vanessa:

Yeah. I would say a decrease. Would would definitely help. I mean, if you think if you're consuming 600 milligrams and you go down to 200 milligrams, that's going to cause a huge difference. And like I said, a lot of it has to do with that, like anxiety and irritability. So, You know, I mean, everyone who has had a lot of coffee knows the difference between having a little bit and feeling fine, and then getting to that level where you're feeling super jittery or maybe anxious. So you're definitely going to want to avoid during that time, like I said, science is mixed, but anecdotally it, it tends to help and again, it's something that's going to be an individual basis too. Cause everyone's tolerance is.

Emily:

Absolutely. And everyone's life circumstances are different. There might be a time, you know, when you're working midnights and you have to have your caffeine or you cannot survive and do your job. So I mean, you're, you're weighing the pros and cons, right? If you've got like the most painful periods ever, you take a week off work every month, like yeah. Maybe try giving caffeine a good ditch for a little

Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah, One thing too, to think about. I mean, when we think about that luteal phase or time before your period for a lot of people, they tend to feel more tired during that time. So I'm not gonna, if someone's like, I need some caffeine to get through my day. I'm not going to say no, like, sorry. You feel tired. I guess you're just going to have to like, feel exhausted and not get through your day for that week. Every month. It's just maybe decreasing or like I said, consuming in a smarter way. So including protein sources doing it during the morning, not doing it too late into the afternoon and avoiding, you know, any extra anxiety or irritability that excess caffeine could cause.

Emily:

Yeah, absolutely. It's basically just, you can still do it, but just in a smarter way. So to sum things up, there's a ton of benefits in drinks, like coffee and tea, including antioxidant function, along with improving mental clarity, there is definitely an upper limit around 400 milligrams a day for most adults. You know, if you need a reminder, that's about four cups of coffee a day, depending unless you have Starbucks. Apparently it's like two ounces of coffee at Starbucks.

Vanessa:

20 fluid ounces would be about 400 milligrams at Starbucks.

Emily:

well, there you go. So there's that take that information. Try to avoid tea and coffee around your meals and Vanessa, anything else?

Vanessa:

Yeah. So I also wanted to talk about the recommendation for pregnancy. So this is something I stumbled upon sorta recently. And so the general recommendation for caffeine during pregnancy has been 200 milligrams a day, right? Ben the recommendation for quite some time. But study actually came out in June of 2020, and it showed an association between maternal caffeine consumption and low birth weight and also childhood obesity. So it's just food for thought. If you are a pregnant person and your, on the fence of, you know, should I drink caffeine? Should I not? Yeah, caffeine. Doesn't add that much to your life. I would probably say, you know, maybe skip it, but if you're someone who can't get through your day without it it's probably not the end of the world. I would still follow that 200 milligram per day recommendation, but it's just something to think about. You know, if you are pregnant.

Emily:

Yeah. And definitely like thinking about all of your different factors, right? If you're someone who already has a higher heart rate or that's something that you're struggling with, maybe caffeine, isn't the best choice in that scenario, but it's really just so individualized. So talk to your dietician and make the right choice.