After all this negative caffeine-talk, I’m excited to finally share why I’m SO EXCITED about coffee…and it has to do with ANTIOXIDANTS, baby! 

First, I want to clarify that there are a variety of benefits to coffee. I strongly believe it is a key social instrument, fit to tune only the best conversations. It offers comfort. It creates a habit of peace. The smell alone contributes to positive mental-health. 

While I promise to talk more about these in the future, right now I am going to focus on my main love affair with coffee: ANTIOXIDANTS.

We’ve all heard of antioxidants....but.
What exactly is an antioxidant, and why does it matter??

In order to describe the antioxidant, we have to explain what OXIDATION (through FREE RADICALS) is. What exactly are we “anti” anyway? 

I think what surprises most people is that OXIDATION is a normal product of metabolic processes. People tend to think that oxidation is always bad—a product of the polluted world we live in.

But the truth is that our cells always produce OXIDATION—and thus need ANTIOXIDANTS—on a normal basis.

Usually, our body is able to combat this damaging oxidation (more on what that looks like in a minute). But unfortunately, our world operates in an environment increasingly more exposed to such oxidative conditions. And problems result when these conditions (like pollution and preservatives) produce more OXIDATION through FREE RADICALS than we have a supply of  ANTIOXIDANTS.

Here’s a cell. Specifically, one in a membrane. 

Now here is that same cell attacked by FREE RADICALS. 
BAM.

If we zoom in to one of these tiny little lights, we will get the free radical (surrounded by its electrons) we see in the upper right corner of the image below. 

Free Radicals work (or I should say DON'T WORK) like this: 
They are lacking an EVEN number of ELECTRONS (the charged particles that go zooming around them like rings around a planet, which is kinda what they ended up looking like in this picture...). 
 
So instead of, say, 4 electrons, they come into the cell with only 3. This makes them highly UNSTABLE. In order to get stable again, they go bumping around and STEAL ELECTRONS from the cell membrane, which end up damaging the cell (like in the lit-up cell above). It's also important to note that those damaged cells aren't just damaged themselves; the DNA inside them can get damaged as well, leading to replicas of damaged cells! 
Basically, this problem multiplies, people.

"OH NO, WHAT IS THE CELL GOING TO DO?!"

Wait, all is not hopeless!
This is when our mighty ANTIOXIDANTS come in with plenty of electrons to donate to the free radicals. That's right, the free radicals no longer need to steal them from the healthy cells! Problem solved.  

Now can you see why I'm so excited about antioxidants?! 

All of this culminates in a study I found recently concerning coffee drinkers. It explains that drinking 3-6 cups of coffee a day showed a 20% reduction in the likelihood of developing major degenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Type II Diabetes. How is this related to antioxidants? Because in all these cases, coffee was shown to reduce some type of inflammation in them (what ANTIOXIDANTS address, remember). You see, the antioxidant- inflammation-fighting properties in coffee is powerful!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotransmitter_receptor (accessed May 13, 2014).

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-is-how-your-brain-becomes-addicted-to-caffeine-26861037/?no-ist (accessed May 13, 2014).

 “Principles of Anatomy and Physiology”. ed. Grabowski, Sandra Reynolds. Tortora, Gerardo J. e. 8. Harper Collins. 1996.

http://lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain (accessed May 13, 2014).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2343424/If-coffee-perks-you-need-STOP-drinking-it.html (accessed May 13, 2014).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotransmitter_receptor (accessed May 13, 2014).

http://www.news-medical.net/health/Caffeine-Pharmacology.aspx (accessed June 23, 2014).

http://ep.physoc.org/content/82/2/291.full.pdf (accessed July 16, 2014). 

All coffee drinkers have probably experienced them… fatigue, irritability, fogginess, confusion: the symptoms of skipping your morning cup of joe. Did you know that the effects are so significant that the American Psychiatric Association actually considers it a mental disorder?

Now you have a medical excuse. You’re welcome.

Last week I introduced my complicated relationship with coffee by explaining how caffeine works in the body. Today, if you haven’t figured it out already, I want to address what is happening when you go without your usual caffeine. This involves all the negative withdrawal symptoms :/
PS if you really haven't  figured it out already, the owl is how you feel on coffee withdrawal. Suh-LEEEE-py. ZZzzzzzz.

When you drink caffeinated drinks regularly, your body starts to adapt. Your brain actually begins to grow adenosine receptors in order to receive the caffeine chemical*. (You’re putting in all this caffeine, and the body needs a place to store it, right?). This means that over time, you need more caffeine  to fill those receptors to get the same effect. That’s the addiction.
*(See previous post for image)

So here’s the withdrawal part:

You’re getting more and more of these adenosine receptors. (Remember that adenosine is meant to signal to your body that it’s tired and slow your body down. Again, read Part I). Remember that, because of your coffee drinking, you have grown all these receptors that are shaped to receive adenosine--this hormone that signals “you’re tired!”. But when you don’t receive the expected caffeine (like not drinking your regular coffee), here’s what’s happening: you have all these receptors meant to take caffeine, but no caffeine comes. And remember that those receptors are ADENOSINE receptors in the first place. Caffeine fits into them, but they really are meant for ADENOSINE.
So ADENOSINE floods right in.

SO NOW not only do you NOT have the caffeine blocking the “tired receptors” and increasing levels of adrenaline in your brain (see previous post), you now have tired signals there telling you to SLOW DOWN.

Again, before you get too alarmed, you should know that these effects are reversible. Your body is amazing. When you cut out caffeine, your body will notice and eventually decrease those extra adenosine receptors. BUT just note that this’ll take 1-2 weeks.

Because you can increase receptors for caffeine, my suggestion is to drink caffeine in moderation and most especially not to increase your intake over time. I only say that because you do create those receptors with regular caffeine intake, and unfortunately rely on them to be filled to even function normally. So according to this, I figure, “why help increase the amount you rely on?” Accept that cup of coffee for everything good that it is (more on this in the final, part-III post next week on caffeine!) and stay away from excess consumption!