Dangers of Caffeine?

[Valkyrie]

What are the short-term and long-term health risk of
using caffeine?

I know that it's addictive; long-term use might lead to
insomnia; it has the same effect on the body as the typical
stress reponse (increase in heart rate and blood pressure,
increase in blood glucose levels, increase in adrenaline
release); and withdrawal symptoms include headaches...

... but that doesn't have me worrying yet. I assume the truth
is out there. ; )

Cheers, Valkyrie

[Bogus Addr]

> What are the short-term and long-term health risk of using
> caffeine?
>
> I know that it's addictive; long-term use might lead to
> insomnia; it has the same effect on the body as the typical
> stress reponse (increase in heart rate and blood pressure,
> increase in blood glucose levels, increase in adrenaline
> release); and withdrawal symptoms include headaches...
>
>... but that doesn't have me worrying yet. I assume the truth
>is out there.

I recommend what Bernard Lewis reports about it from the early
17th century in "Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman
Empire". Coffee was introduced into Turkey a bit before 1600,
became a huge social phenomenon almost instantly (instant,
geddit?), and ran into furious opposition from the ulema (at
least, from such of them as weren't drinking it, which
probably meant a minority) on the grounds (geddit?) that it
was a carbonized food and hence prohibited under Islamic laws
against sacrifice.

What happened next was an even closer parallel to the current
War on Drugs. Tobacco was introduced by the English in the
early 1600s, and coffee immediately became a "gateway drug"
for tobacco. The coffee-houses all became smoking-houses as
well, on such a scale that you hardly see anything in them for
blue smoke, and something like 100,000 people were burned out
of their homes by tobacco- induced fires. Sultan Murad IV
decided to Do Something About It, and started executing coffee
drinkers and tobacco smokers alike in 1633. Then realized he
might not have a population left to pay him any taxes if he
continued, so he and the ulema gave up and ruled that roasting
wasn't really carbonization after all.

As the spirit of Murad IV lives on in Utah, I guess you can
find similar opinions to his about coffee on Mormon websites.
Just Say No. It probably leads to premarital sex and wearing
non-approved underwear as well.

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[J-Cloud]

One danger of caffeine is it's demand for mineral depletion:
It says at http://www.healthwell.com/delicious-online/d_backs-
/Mar_98/caffeine.cfm that caffeine forces the body to excrete
the minerals calcium, potassium, iron, and trace minerals.

My philosophical generalization of this aspect of caffeine: In
the realm of personal improvement or health maintenance,
healthy payments are those made in advance; the unhealthy
payments the ones are made on credit. In either case, one pays
for what one gets.