2005-1-11
I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.
Coffee, tea and soft drinks usually contain caffeine. Caffeine is
also found in chocolate, in medicine for colds and in drugs that
keep people awake.
In the United States, adults who use products with caffeine get
an average of about two hundred eighty milligrams a day. This equals
the caffeine in about two large cups of coffee. A report this month
in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association says adults
drink nearly half the coffee they did fifty years ago. But they
still get most of their caffeine from coffee.
In general, the more people drink, the more severe the effects if
they miss a day. Yet a recent report says people who drink as little
as one cup of coffee a day can become dependent on caffeine. In
fact, it says caffeine withdrawal should be listed as a mental
disorder.
Researchers examined more than sixty studies on caffeine
withdrawal from the last one hundred seventy years. They identified
several common effects, such as headaches and sleepiness. Some
people have difficulty thinking. Others get angry easily or become
very sad.
The researchers found that half the people suffered headaches if
they did not have caffeine. Thirteen percent had a more serious
problem. They were unable to work or do other normal activities.
These problems generally resulted twelve to twenty-four hours after
stopping caffeine.
Ronald Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
Maryland, led the study. He noted that caffeine is the most commonly
used stimulant in the world. A stimulant produces a temporary
increase in energy.
The good news is that people can free themselves of caffeine
dependence. The researchers say people should slowly reduce the
amount of caffeine in their diet. The report appeared in the journal
Psychopharmacology.
The report published by the dietetic association is based on a
national continuing study of what Americans eat. Researchers from
the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland say almost
ninety percent of adults have caffeine in their diet. So do
seventy-six percent of children, mostly from soft drinks.
After coffee, tea used to provide the second most caffeine for
men age eighteen to fifty-four and women eighteen to thirty-four.
But tea is now third behind soft drinks.
This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn
Watson. I'm Gwen Outen.