Re:What caffeine does to your brain
by mjfl on Monday July 20, 2015 @12:52AM
(#9914051)
My father, who is a cardiologist, has all these stories about how they keep trying to prove that caffeine and coffee in general are bad for you, bad for your heart specifically. But the more they try to prove it is bad, the more they keep finding that caffeine is actually good for you and reduces the risk of heart disease. I'll have to ask him for specific studies. Now the sugar they put in the coffee, that's a different story...
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Re:What caffeine does to your brain
by Frenchgeek on Monday July 20, 2015 @01:56AM
(#9914217)
On the other hand, it is very easy to prove that a lack of caffeine make me very bad for everyone else.
> caffeine and coffee in general
Why coffee specifically? Other things contain caffeine. Tea, for example.
Tea also contains L-theanine which modulates the effects of caffeine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10737183
Re:What caffeine does to your brain
by provemewrong on Monday July 20, 2015 @05:28AM
(#9914874)
True, but in miniscule amounts. Significantly lower than the doses taken by the people who use L-theanine as a supplement. Also L-theanine to caffeine ratio is all wrong.
>Why pick pure l-theanine and caffeine over green or black tea?
>Most studies done on the l-theanine-caffeine combination have a l-theanine to caffeine ratio that isn't consistent with ratios you would expect from most teas. The studies used about twice as much l-theanine as caffeine by weight. The ratio found in most teas is reversed, with the possible exception of high quality green tea. [1]
Which is why I drink high quality green tea.
I would guess because coffee is so widely consumed in the US.
Coffee (but not necessarily caffeine) has been linked to elevated homocysteine which is associated with cardiovascular disease. One such study: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/6/1244.full