The Effects of Caffeine

Caffeine

What do you call a cow who's just given birth? De-calf-inated!

How many of you have had a cup of coffee today? How about a soft drink? Chocolate? An Excedrin? All of the above products have one thing in common: They all contain caffeine. In this speech, we'll look at caffeine's origins and how it spread, some caffeinated products, and the effects that caffeine has on the body. On any given day, four out of five Americans have a already digested it, making it the World's most popular stimulant.

According to National Geographic's January edition, less than 200 years ago, people figured out that the buzz they got from coffee and tea was the same chemical. In 1820, after coffee shops had spread across Western Europe, the German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge first isolated the drug in a coffee bean. The newly discovered drug was dubbed "caffeine" meaning something found in coffee. Scientists then began to find caffeine in many of its natural forms. In more than 60 plants, scientists found caffeine in kola leaves, cacao pods, and tea leaves just to name a few. Caffeine motivated the industrial revolution in Western Europe. Boiling water to make coffee or tea helped decrease the spread of disease between workers. Also, the caffeine in their systems kept them from falling asleep while working the machines. In a sense, caffeine is the drug that makes the modern world possible. Without that useful jolt of coffee or diet coke or Red Bull to get us out of the bed and back to work, the 24-hour society of the developed world couldn't exist.

According to webmd.com, Americans of all ages are getting a caffeine buzz. Nearly 90% of adults and 76% of children are getting caffeinated on a daily basis. Caffeine can be found in beverages, foods, and medicines.

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Here are a few examples of caffeine-containing products

With caffeine in most sodas and snacks, it's almost impossible to avoid caffeine even for one day.

The consumption of caffeine has multiple effects on the human body;