The Worrying Truth About Coffee

By Travis Scharich - January 27, 2023

Coffee is a drink that is enjoyed by many people, but there is concern over the safety of coffee, especially when talking about the amount of caffeine it contains. Is this something we should seriously be concerned about or just something we can push to the side?

Societal Views of Coffee

Coffee has for a very long time been widely accepted throughout many cultures in the world. Many people around the world make a habit of enjoying a cup of joe or two in the morning to get an energy boost. This is so common that about two billion cups of coffee are consumed daily or about a fourth of a cup of coffee for every person on Earth. Even though this is a very popular practice it does bring up some concerns and risks.

Risks Associated With Caffeinated Beverages

Known risks with caffeine consumption include anxiety, headaches, restlessness, rapid heart rate, and insomnia. Like many other drugs it can also be addictive and you can have withdrawals if you try to stop. Caffeine crashes are also a real concern with caffeine as these crashes may lead to more tiredness or even irritability or headaches. There is also evidence to support to that the risk of these side effects increases as you consume more caffeine.

How To Mitigate The Risks

One of the best ways to mitigate your risk when consuming caffeine is to reduce the amount of caffeine you consume, but there are also other helpful tips to decrease your risk even more including when you consume it and lifestyle habits that may help you reduce your dependency on caffeine. One of the most important habits you can change in order to reduce your dependency on caffeine is to focus on getting more and/or better sleep. If you get more sleep you will have more energy hence requiring less caffeine. It can also help to consume your caffeine earlier in the day and make sure you stop consuming caffeine a while before bed. Caffeine can affect your ability to sleep well if you drink it too late in the day so by drinking only earlier in the day you can sleep better and require less caffeine to get through your day. You may also want to try a different source of caffeine. You could try switching to healthier or less caffeinated energy drinks. If you already drink energy drinks and are concerned with them you could switch to coffee. Another great option is switching to tea. Tea doesn't just have less caffeine than coffee, but it also contains amino acids and antioxidants that can help lessen the adverse effects of the caffeine as well as give you an additional energy boost.

Coffee vs Energy Drinks

As you know coffee is generally accepted as a safe and positive way to get an extra boost of energy, this isn't the same for energy drinks though. Why is this? Well, many people may be led to believe that it is due to a higher amount of caffeine, but this is not the case. Coffee is generally more caffeinated than energy drinks with 16 fl oz of coffee having about 170 mg more caffeine than the same amount of energy drink. Both are over the recommended 100mg for adolescents, but coffee is substantially worse.

Reasons Why Energy Drinks Are Vilified

There are multiple reasons why people consider energy drinks worse than coffee and a lot of this comes down to other ingredients in the Energy Drinks such as sugar and not so natural ingredients. There is also concern that energy drinks better target younger people and that it is easier to more quickly drink an energy drink. Even though these are real concerns, they aren't the main contributor to the fear around energy drinks. The main thing that strikes fear in people is how news and media portray energy drinks. News sources sensationalize news surrounding energy drinks which gives a falsified representation of these beverages and leads many people to be fearful or worried about them.