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Daily Digest Archive for May 5, 2004
Q: (Initially posted May 3, 2004) FROM STUDENT
MEMBER JUNGMIN P. IN CA
I've heard before that if you drink coffee, in a long-term effect,
it can
lower your ability to think or perform. Jokingly, I was told
that if I
drink coffee my brain will retrograde. Is this true?
If this is true, is decaffeinated coffee a better option or
does it also hinder brain activity? |
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May 5, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN
RI
I doubt this very much! When one is used to drinking coffee,
going
without it can make you feel sleepy, less alert, slower -
but I don't
think the coffee caused any damage. Plenty of people have
given up
coffee or caffeine, and after they adjust they never complain.
Do
you think they are just too brain-damaged to know how stupid
they've
become? I don't think so.
Coffee contains lots of substances besides caffeine, so we
shouldn't
assume that decaf is going to be totally without effect. I
find it
doesn't have the wake-up effect of caffeinated coffee in the
morning,
and that's in a fairly blind test, being served decaf or even
half
decaf by friends, unbeknownst to me. If there are studies
showing
long-term effects on the brain I didn't find them quickly
- and I
don't want to endorse any particular study. A number that
showed no
bad effects popped up when I searched on 'long-term coffee
caffeine
brain' - you can check them out for yourself.
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