Are you a slug in the morning without your cup or two of Starbuck's
finest, Morning Thunder, or Market Spice blend? Is your favorite part of the day
sipping a cafe latte at your corner expresso shop? Would you die for a piece of
chocolate decadence?All of these contain caffeine as well as such common
American standbys as Pepsi, Anacin, Midol and NoDoz. It's one thing to choose
to indulge in an occasional expresso. It's another to depend on caffeine to get
you going in the morning or to move your bowels. We hope that this article will
help you to assess just how much caffeine you're ingesting and to seriously
entertain the possibility of giving up caffeine completely, or at least of
decreasing your caffeine intake.
Caffeine is the most popular and widely consumed drug in the world.
According to legend, an Arab goatherd first noticed in 850 A.D. that his goats
frisked and frolicked all night after feeding on the berries of the evergreen
coffee plant. When he tried it himself, he found it to be extremely
stimulating. Though coffee was initially con- sidered a health hazard and
orthodox priests imposed severe penalties on its use, its popularity spread
rapidly. As of l976, it was estimated that over one billion kilograms of
coffee were consumed annually in the United States alone. This averages out to
l6 pounds of coffee per American per year! Despite what we mellow Seattleites
may think, caffeine intake is higher on the West Coast of the U.S. than the
East Coast (of course, it must be the Californians).
Though cocaine and the drug cartels are front page news, the red-blooded
American coffee break is rarely challenged. Coffee or tea are the drug of
choice even at Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve step meetings. We tend to
reserve the word "drug" for illegal narcotics or hallucinogens or for
prescription medications and to forget or ignore the most common drug of all-
caffeine. Most of us think pretty much exclusively of coffee and tea when we
consider caffeine consumption. The following list may be an eye-opener for
you.
Substance Mg of caffeine
Substance Mg of caffeine
Coffee (5 oz. cup) Prescription
Drugs
Brewed, drip 60-l80 per cup Cafergot
l00 per capsule
Brewed, percolator 40-l70 Darvon
32
Instant 30-l20
Fiorinal 40
Decaf, brewed 2-5
Decaf, instant l-5 Over the
Counter Drugs
Stimulants
Tea (5 oz. cup) No Doz
l00
US brands, brewed 20-90 Caffedrine
200
Imported, brewed 25-ll0
Instant tea 25-50 Menstrual
Drugs
Iced (l2 oz.) 67-76
Midol 33
Aqua-ban/plus l00/200
Chocolate and Cocoa
Cocoa (5 oz.) 2-20
Analgesics