![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eftychia at 06:06am on 2002-11-12Catching a bite to eat, had the telly on in the kitchen in case the morning news folks said anything interesting...
Someone started a report on a study of the long term brain effects of caffeine use, with the words, "It's the most commonly used drug in the world..."
I was very pleased to hear it phrased that way -- the explicit recognition of the fact that it is a drug. I think most people tend to forget that even as they're saying, "Oh, I need a cup of coffee so I can wake up." (On the other hand, my second reaction was, "Really? It's more commonly used than alcohol?")
I haven't done a web search to find the study they were talking about, but the television short-attention-span summary was that long term use was slightly beneficial for women but not for men, and that they weren't actually encouraging people to go drink more coffee because of its effects on other organs. I wonder whether the study was specific to caffeine, or whether it included other caffeine-like stimulants, i.e. theobromine (my main vice) and theophyline.
(Oh goody, I just learned a new word: the class of stimulants that includes caffeine, theophyline, and theobromine is methylxanthines!)
Hey, I guess this means that I don't have to feel like I'm being a bad influence when I score a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans to give to a certain adorable EE... :-)
tired
Well, sure!
Re: Well, sure!
Better believe it
And then there is the curious case of Pepsi in the Soviet Union. The USSR had a serious alcoholism problem, so they invited an American soft drink company in, to give their people something else to drink.
This is a little strange, since tea has been a staple of Russian drink for ages.
You also have to remember Rum-and-Coke and Irish-Coffee in any survey. A friend of mine in Germany told me about a drink named a Pharasee -- it is coffee and rum. Yup. Great name.
And catch an employer encourageing someone to use alcohol on the job? Provide beer in the lunchroom, or in vending machines? Or anything stronger?
I'm a Diet Coke addict. Someone told me that Nutrisweet was causing my medical problems. I stopped. Six months. I tried drinking normal Coke. Bleah. I lived on iced tea. (An earlier experiment showed me that caffine addiction was not the problem, either.) Finally, at the end of six months, no improvement in my health. I said to hell with it, and broke open a Diet Coke. It was wonderful. Normal Cokes never did taste right.
So don't make nasty remarks about my Diet Coke ice cream floats. I'm not drinking the stuff to lose weight, I'm drinking it to not drink normal Coke.
Alcohol may be the most common drug taken for its deliberate effects, as opposed to merely "something to drink." Most of us don't grab teh third soda of the day looking for a buzz.
Re: Better believe it