How Does Caffeine Affect Your Brain Function?

Every day, billions of people drink caffeine. Their reasons for this differ. Either they are relying on it to wake up, or to get through an afternoon slump, or maybe a night shift.

Caffeine is a well-known natural stimulant and is one of the most widely-used ingredients globally (1).

One of the main reasons caffeine is popular is its negative effects on the brain, including anxiety and sleep. But then, several studies have commended its many health benefits.

This article examines the effects of caffeine on your brain, as well as how it affects your sleep and your health in general.

How caffeine can affect your nervous system.

What is Caffeine?

It is a natural stimulant widely found in coffee, cacao, and tea plants. It stimulates the central nervous system and the brain and helps you to remain alert while also preventing fatigue.

According to history, the very first tea was brewed in 2737 BC (1).

It was discovered by a shepherd in Ethiopia who observed that it gave his flock extra energy. And then, in the late 1800s, caffeinated soft drinks came on board, followed by energy drinks.

Currently, over 80% of the global population takes at least one caffeinated product each day. In North America, over 90% of adults take caffeinated products daily (1).

How Does Caffeine Affect Your Brain?

After caffeine is consumed, it is absorbed from the digestive system into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, it moves to the liver and is metabolized (broken down) into elementary compounds that can affect your organs and how they function.

However, the main effect of caffeine occurs in the brain. Caffeine blocks adenosine’s effects. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that causes your brain to relax and gives you that tired feeling (2).

Normally, the adenosine levels in your body build up over time, causing you to feel tired and give you that sleepy feeling.

But caffeine will keep you mentally alert and awake by binding to adenosine receptors but without activating them. This will block adenosine’s effects, thus reducing tiredness (3).

Caffeine also increases the level of adrenaline in the blood and the activities of norepinephrine and epinephrine in the brain (3).

This stimulates the brain and triggers a state of alertness, focus, and arousal. Caffeine is classified as a psychoactive drug because of its potential to affect your brain. Also, caffeine is “quick-acting.” For example, the amount of caffeine present in a cup of coffee can reach your bloodstream within 20 minutes, while its full effects can be felt within an hour of taking it (1).

Foods that Contain Caffeine

Caffeine is found naturally in nuts, leaves, or the seeds of certain plants. These sources are then harvested and processed, resulting in the production of caffeinated beverages and foods.

Below, we have the amounts of caffeine you may get per 240ml serving of some beverages (1):

• Coffee: 102–200mg
• Espresso: 240–720mg
• Energy drinks: 50–160mg
• Yerba mate: 65–130mg
• Chocolate milk: 2–7mg
• Cocoa beverage: 2–7mg
• Decaffeinated coffee: 3–12mg
• Soft drinks: 20–40mg

You can also find caffeine in some foods. For example, an ounce (28g) of milk chocolate contains 1–15mg, while an ounce of dark chocolate will provide 5–35mg (4).

Caffeine is also present in some over-the-counter drugs or prescription drugs like pain, allergy, and cold medications. It is also used in weight loss supplements.

No Grain, No Gain: Exposing the Whole Wheat Myth

[Read time: 2-3 minutes] 

Did you know that two slices of whole wheat bread can cause a bigger and faster blood sugar spike than a spoonful of table sugar? Yes, even with all that fiber it can still do that to our body.

Whole wheat bread is claimed to be far healthier than white bread, but is it really? Well, for starters, neither contains high levels of fiber or micronutrients.

But, WHOLE WHEAT has more fiber than white.

Yes, whole wheat bread has a higher fiber content than white -- but it pales in comparison to fruits and vegetables; the better sources of your daily fiber. You should definitely not go to whole wheat bread for your fiber when a single pear has 6 grams and is packed full of additional vitamins and minerals.

Yeah, well...WHOLE WHEAT isn't processed and has way more nutrients.

Yes, white bread loses its micronutrients during processing — but those micronutrients are “enriched” or added back in at the end.

A hidden downside to whole wheat bread is its higher phytic acid content. Phytic acid binds to dietary minerals, such as iron and zinc, and can reduce their absorption in your body.

So, why does the media promote whole wheat as the much healthier option?

Easy, for the money.  No grain, no gain.

In 2015, the Whole Grain food market sales were estimated to be $29.4 billion. It's expected to reach $46.2 BILLION by 2022. (1)

Essentially, they created a mythological health paradigm and sold it to the public as a healthier option.

How'd they do it, you ask?

1. Education - They placed their huge revenue source at the bottom of the food pyramid and then promoted it religiously at an early age in school. Eat your carbs so you have lots of energy! Let's face it, wheat is very easy to grow and has a much higher shelf-life with all the genetic modifications done to it. Why not mass produce and subsidize it?

2. Contrast - They needed white bread to stay on the shelf so they could sell the much more expensive wheat. They needed the inferior version to make the comparison that whole wheat is much healthier.

3. Perception of Value - Even though whole wheat products require less processing than white, the retail price is still much higher. Consumers will gladly spend 20-30% more if the packaging had a heart printed on it and said the words '100% whole-grain' and 'heart healthy'. 

Believe it or not, history has flipped its view on bread. For example, the Greek and Romans really liked their white bread; the color was one of the main tests for quality. There were three grades of bread made in these times: black, brown and white. (2)

Guess which one was reserved exclusively for the rich?

References
1. http://www.strategymrc.com/report/whole-grain-and-high-fiber-market
2. http://www.cerealialudi.org/en/alimentazione/pane-e-panettieri-nellantica-roma/

Greek Yogurt - The Laughing Cash Cow

[Read Time: 1 minute]

What is Greek Yogurt? Is it healthy for you? Why is it called that? 

I think the better question to ask is:

“Where did this Greek Yogurt craze come from?"

Or even better...

"Why is everyone all over STRAINED yogurt in the first place?!"

Yes, “Greek Yogurt” is regular yogurt that has whey protein strained or removed from it.

But, why would they want to remove whey? Isn’t that needed to build big muscles, bro?

It can be, but it’s needed to sell you overpriced protein shakes. What do you think is the waste product when cheese factories process cheese? That's right, WHEY protein. Both products are hugely profitable and based on nothing more than clever marketing.

Clever marketing that in 2012, the $4.1 billion US yogurt industry attributed most of its sales from this cash cow called 'strained yogurt'. Whey protein, on the other hand, is set to hit $13.5 billion by 2020.

What's in your fridge?

3 Reasons Why You've Been Wasting Your Money On Fish Oils

[Read Time: 2-3 minutes]

There are just a few supplements on the market that are essential for living a healthy lifestyle. Fish Oil is one of them, but you've been wasting your money this whole time.

Wasting my money? What does that even mean?

Hate to tell you this, but you should just throw away what you have in the fridge as what you have maybe rancid and causing your body more harm than good.

You see, fish oil is BIG business for supplement companies. When you have hundreds and hundreds of brands that compete against each other on the price, the overall quality of the fish oil is reduced to help with costs. This doesn't benefit you, the consumer.

Let's learn why you've been wasting your money:

#1. Your fish is in the ethyl ester form, and you had no idea.

Most of the fish oil you see on store shelves is in the ethyl ester (EE) form instead of the natural triglyceride (TG) form, which is the most beneficial and most bio-available for us. In processing and removing the toxins from the fish oil, the TG is broken into EE. 

This type does not exist in any food source in the world as it is biochemically altered. It is expensive for companies to convert the EE back to the natural TG form so this step is almost always skipped. Nature knows best, so converting it back to the natural form is essential. Always, always, always look for Triglyceride Form on your fish oil bottle. If it isn't there, then DON'T BUY IT!

#2. Your fish oil is under-dosed and won't even benefit a toddler.

A common trick most supplement companies use is boldly printing 1,000 mg on the front of the bottle. Then you go to flip it over and discover there's only 300 mg of EPA/DHA, and the rest is 700 mg of soybean oil. This is unhealthy and definitely not good to consume.

Also, the EPA/DHA isn't even broken down, so you don't have the correct ratio that is needed.

Correct ratio?

Yes, there is a correct ratio, and it should always be 3:2. Nowhere in all the vast oceans of planet earth will you find a high DHA fish swimming around or even a high EPA one. This is yet again another clever marketing technique by companies to maximize profits. How so? Well, they make more money if they can sell three separate products as opposed to just one with the correct EPA/DHA.

#3. Lastly, you get fish burps and think it's normal.

Wrong. Just wrong. Believe it or not, you don't have to go through life with daily fish burps. Just take quality fish oil that isn't rancid. That's right rancid, rotten, spoiled. You see, fish oil is very easily oxidized, which means it can spoil very quickly. That explains why you will never see anyone cooking with it.

Next time you go fishing, try this experiment: reel in the fish and leave it sitting out in the sun for a couple hours and report back to me on how it smells. If you bought cheap fish oil at a CVS/Walgreens and got a case of the nasty fish burps, then you got yourself a bottle of rancid fish oil. Probably explains why it was $9.97.

Rancid fish oil actually promotes inflammation which is the exact opposite of what we wanted in the first place! By saving a few bucks, you literally paid to cause your body harm. So, take this post with you when you go shopping and invest in real fish oil.

How Pears Can Help Your Hangover

[Read Time: 2-3 minutes]

Pity the poor pear: The Forrest Gump of the fruit basket.
A lost child in the produce section.
An afterthought in the bowl if there's an apple or orange left.
Never permitted in Club Smoothie -- pears really get no respect.

Rodney Dangerfield

But new research shows this underdog is actually kicking ass. Besides being loaded with vitamin C, pears provide a whopping 24% of your daily fiber (6 grams) -- compare that to apples (17%) and bananas (12%), and the switch over to pears should make things run a lot more smoothly for you.

My mom always told me fiber is good and all, but what about the hangover cure part?

There is no cure for a hangover, but there is a natural remedy that can help. Believe it or not, pears can actually reduce your hangover symptoms by up to 21%, according to research by Horticulture Innovation Australia. Eating one Korean (Asian) pear before (not after) you go out partying has shown to metabolize your booze quicker. Korean pears are also known as “apple pears” because of their apple-like texture.

The Korean Pear

So does the high amount of pear fiber absorb my Bud lights like a sponge or something?

Not exactly. The Korean pear acts on the two key enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), to speed up alcohol metabolism and help inhibit alcohol absorption. The toxic metabolite acetaldehyde, responsible for those miserable hangover symptoms, was actually reduced in blood levels after 7 oz of pear juice was consumed.

Looks like I'll be hitting up Costco later for some pears.

A big box of pears

Indeed you should, but let us not forget about the other health benefits of pears besides the hangover remedy part. Recent studies have shown pears lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke risk, and even protecting against lung cancer.

Gramps could definitely use some pears in his diet then.

As should anyone. Pears should be included in everyone's diet. Also, don't peel them. When you peel off the skin, you take out 25% of the vitamin C and a powerful fruit antioxidant called phenolic acid. In fact, all the chemical components found in the peel were approximately 6 to 20 times higher than those in the flesh of the pear alone. 

So suck it up, wash off the outside, and eat the whole pear with the skin and all before you begin your festivities this weekend.