Comments on: Caffeine is worse for you than alcohol and tobacco

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:36:14 +0000

This is true for me, at least as far as alcohol goes. I don’t use tobacco. A coffee makes me feel drained of energy and short of breath for a couple of days after drinking it. I’ve been back and forth with the coffee for years because it’s so addicting. I quit when i feel worn out or high strung. It doesn’t have the same affect on everyone, but there are a lot of crazy people out there, chances are the ones you know drink coffee. And chances are they wouldn’t recognize the connection between their coffee drinking and their energy level or behavior. Reading about how something is an anti-oxidant and healthy might be helpful to get some feedback, but don’t believe everything you read. Test things for yourself and base it on your own experience.

By: teeboning

teeboning — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:33:09 +0000

Coffee and caffeine are as bad if not worse than alcohol, meth and nicotine. Caffeine is a lot like meth, though milder and legal and pushed on kids and approved by doctors as ok in “moderation”.

Caffeine is supremely addictive. Most kids and doctors are addicts. Coffee and caffeine affects important hormones in the body like cortisol and adenaline, increasing cortisol levels, which is the way of death, messes with the brain and gaba (which alcohol counteracts), causes blood sugar to drop due to its insulin raising effect, and combined with sugar, rapidly adds visceral fat.

anyone defending it should be give it up for a week and then lets talk about it

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:13:40 +0000

Jason, thank you for your comment. I’ve edited out the profanity as it has no real place on my site. That said, I don’t disagree that my opinion on caffeine is related to my own experiences, nor do I think that the problems for an individual are worse than for alcohol or tobacco related deaths. In fact, if you read the article above again, and take a look at the comments below the article, you’ll see that’s what I’m stating, specifically the one I made on Feb 15, 2007.

Just because caffeine doesn’t directly lead to overdosing and death, though, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t cause a whole host of other problems that lead to a larger burden on the health care system. Caffeine alone isn’t to blame, but it is certainly one of the worse culprits.

I have no idea what the situation is like across the pond as I haven’t made it to Britain yet, but there are certainly a large number of obese people in the United States.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:30:56 +0000

What a crock of ****. Alcohol and tabacco are the two largest causes of substance-use-related deaths in England (and the rest of Britain, most of Europe and many parts of the rest of the world… and yes… that’s right… also in the United States! -- I’m English if you didn’t guess). Just because alcohol gave more noticably painful symptons, does not mean that it biologically worse (that is to say more of a killer than alcohol or tabacco). You are basing this on your own personal experience, rather than actual pharmacological, anatomical, physiological or neurological evidence. A typical American, running off great ideas and no hard evidence. You **** ****!

By: coffee lover

coffee lover — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:15:32 +0000

Well everything that is too much is bad for you. But I don’t think caffeine is worse than smoking tobacco.

By: brad

brad — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:52:21 +0000

Some people use caffeine because they think it helps them, just the same way people smoke tobacco none of them are good for you and i believe they are both are just as bad and im a smoker and i love caffeine but it was easy for me to quiet smoking then to cut off the caffeine when i was pregnant….

By: tyler

tyler — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:18:31 +0000

clearly you cant read, i corrected my error in the subsequent post.

By: Chrisfs

Chrisfs — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:44:05 +0000

“caffeine is the most anti-oxidant rich food on the planet.”

Caffeine is not a food. It is a specific molecule. As such, it has no anti-oxidants, soda has very few if any anti-oxidants in it.

By: This Week Last Year: Caffeine and Running Books @ Run to Win

This Week Last Year: Caffeine and Running Books @ Run to Win — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:47:47 +0000

[...] week last year, I claimed that caffeine is worse for you than alcohol or tobacco. I fully admit that I’m prejudiced, but at least here in the United States I think that [...]

By: tyler

tyler — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:34:35 +0000

*coffee s the most anti-oxidant rich food on the planet.

By: tyler

tyler — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 04:54:01 +0000

I understand your personal dislike for caffeine, and that it isnt for everybody, and that is it is easy to become dependent on, but to suggest that it is worse for you than tobacco or alchohal is silly.
Tobacco is a carcinogen, and alchohal can cause serious physical damage to your body.

caffeine is the most anti-oxidant rich food on the planet. It helped my performance at running and lifting weights tremendously, as well as helping me perform better in college.

i think you should present a balanced view thats all.

By: A bit of Humor: How to Quit Drinking Caffeine @ Run to Win

A bit of Humor: How to Quit Drinking Caffeine @ Run to Win — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:34:37 +0000

[...] I am not shy about sharing my belief that caffeine is worse for you than alcohol and tobacco. Rather than repeat myself, I would rather give you a laugh by pointing you over to a Basic [...]

By: Sasha Pachev

Sasha Pachev — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:56:18 +0000

I agree. Technically, a caffeine user will outrun a caffeine free smoker (not many people in that category, caffeine addition usually precedes nicotine addiction). But still, I believe if we want to see a sub-2:00 marathon, the right guy will need to give up caffeine. I have not had any since I joined the LDS church 14 years ago. Now at the age of 33 I can race a marathon at 90% of my max heart rate start to finish. My biomechanics limit my speed and economy, so I am stuck at 2:24 for the marathon, but I am thankful for being able to do that with my limitations, and attribute it in part to being caffeine free for a long time.

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:07:58 +0000

I don’t point at any hard data that it is worse. It is my opinion that it is worse (as mentioned above) because it is not regulated and it is not usually considered an addictive substance. Our children tend to get hooked on and abuse caffeine at a much earlier age than they do with tobacco or alcohol.

Plus, in my personal experience, neither tobacco or alcohol contributed to my going blind for two weeks, so I have a personal reason above and beyond the health issues for disliking caffeine.

By: Dave T.

Dave T. — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 03:37:15 +0000

what data indicates this?Worse then cigarettes?I beg to differ…

By: WannaBe5Ker

WannaBe5Ker — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 02:51:27 +0000

I gave it up for awhile while i was pregnant and it was tough, especially the first few days, ouch.

Oh, I just love it, though… I will continue to ponder this.

By: The Financial Ladder

The Financial Ladder — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 18:30:52 +0000

Two interesting tid bits:
Caffeine is the worlds most widespread drug.
Nothing with caffeine is served in the whitehouse.

By: Wes

Wes — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:55:02 +0000

Give up coffee? Blasphemy! I didn’t start drinking it until about 10 years ago I drink coffee mostly when I work. It hasn’t been good for my acid reflux problem (now past). I’m sure you are right though. It probably contributes in large part to a lot of other issues.