Why is coffee poisoning dangerous? How to determine an overdose and remove caffeine from the body?

Many people drink at least 2-3 cups of coffee a day. Previously, the drink was considered harmful, but in recent years scientists have found a lot of evidence that coffee is good for the body, prevents the development of many diseases, helps to lose weight, etc. In addition, in the modern rhythm of life, it helps to focus, concentrate, work and live more actively. But how much can you drink without harm, can you be poisoned by coffee and what kind, and what to do if the dose is too high? How to recognize the symptoms of coffee poisoning?

Can you get poisoned from coffee?

You can be poisoned by anything, and coffee in this case is no exception. True, this option is unlikely. This is usually closer to an overdose rather than actual poisoning, since coffee, as a rule, does not contain poison. There is an individual reaction to individual components, as well as exceeding reasonable consumption standards when too much caffeine enters the body.

Doctors report that most cases of caffeine poisoning occur as a result of taking stimulant pills and energy drinks, not from the coffee itself.

However, you can still get poisoned, especially in the following situations:

• If you have drunk too much coffee. A lot in this case is a subjective concept, but definitely more than you usually drink. Exceeding the dose by just one or two cups can lead to unpleasant consequences, especially if you are not used to such doses.
• If the body is weakened, the person has not had enough sleep, or is in a state of stress, the likelihood of coffee poisoning is much greater.
• If you drink coffee on an empty stomach, especially in situations where the body is weakened.

How to neutralize harmful effects

Everyone knows that good coffee or strong tea contains caffeine, which in large quantities can have an aggressive effect on the brain and heart, as well as cause digestive upset.
It is impossible to completely neutralize caffeine in the body. However, you can reduce its negative impact:

• One simple way is to add milk or cream to the drink. The protein they contain can reduce the effects of the toxin.
• In addition, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to your coffee.
• Plain water neutralizes the harmful effects of the substance. To do this, put less coffee in the cup and pour more water.
• Drinking plenty of water will help reduce caffeine levels in the body: it helps eliminate the substance through the kidneys. The daily norm is 1.5-2 liters.
• Some spices can improve the taste of coffee and also enrich the drink with vitamins. Spices that can be added to coffee include: ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In this case, the main thing is to observe moderation so as not to lose the taste of the drink.

Another option is to use black or green tea instead of coffee: they contain much less caffeine and are more gentle on the body.

If a person systematically consumes caffeine-containing substances in large quantities, chronic intoxication may develop. To completely get rid of their remains, you should not take any special actions: it is enough to stop using them for a while. You should feel better within a few days.

Poisoning with natural and instant coffee

Natural coffee poisoning usually occurs due to an overdose. As an option, if a person usually drinks a weak instant drink, and then decides to drink a large cup of a strong natural one.

It is much easier to get poisoned with instant coffee. It is processed chemically, and the finished powder or granules usually contain up to 15-20% of the original grains. The rest is stabilizers, preservatives, emulsifiers, dyes, starch, synthetic additives, etc. The cheaper instant coffee is, the more dangerous it is to drink, since there is less and less natural product and more and more chemicals.

Decaffeinated coffee is also unsafe. Caffeine is washed out with chemical solvents, which are also present in minimal doses in the finished product. If the coffee is instant, it also contains all the dyes and preservatives described above.

Most often, people get coffee poisoning due to an individual reaction to artificial components or a combination of them. Therefore, you should not get carried away with an instant drink from an unknown brand if you are prone to allergic reactions or have diseases of the cardiovascular system.

You can get poisoned if you usually drink coffee with milk and suddenly drink black coffee.

What to do if you overdose on coffee

Let's say you have discovered several of the symptoms described above in yourself or your friends. What to do if you overdose on coffee?

To drink a lot of water.

Coffee causes dehydration, so the first thing to do is drink plenty of water. If the symptoms of dehydration are too severe, or diarrhea is added to them, you can add a little salt to the water. It will delay the removal of fluid. Experts say that for one cup of espresso you should drink at least 1 glass of water. Please note that the traditional oriental coffee recipe includes serving coffee with water, since after a very strong drink it is necessary to restore the water balance in the body.

Eat a banana.

As experienced baristas say, bananas perfectly relieve tremors and feelings of internal tension. Most likely, this is explained by the fact that bananas contain a lot of potassium, which has a very beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system.

Come out for air.

An influx of oxygen and a slow walk will be beneficial if the overdose of coffee is mild, and manifests itself in redness of the face and mild dizziness.

Lie down and open the window for fresh air.

This measure is suitable if you experience a feeling of weakness, nausea and dizziness. Water and a couple of bananas will complete the relief of symptoms.

In severe cases, if the skin turns blue and the person feels unwell, it is necessary to induce vomiting, then drink large amounts of water. If the symptoms do not subside, then you need to go to the doctor.

If a person has lost consciousness, then it is necessary to call an ambulance, and before it arrives, make sure that the victim has access to air.

A slight overdose of coffee often occurs at friendly gatherings, in small cafes or bars, where there is little space, a lot of people and strong coffee. To avoid unpleasant consequences, drink more pure still water, order yourself extra citrus juice and a few bananas. Be attentive to yourself and only enjoy your favorite drink.

Symptoms of coffee poisoning

The first symptoms usually appear within 5-10 minutes after drinking your favorite drink:

• The face turns red from the rush of blood;
• The eyes sparkle;
• Feeling dizzy and weak;
• Heat is felt in the body, it can be sharp or increase gradually;
• The body or limbs may tremble, individual muscles or eyes may twitch;
• The heart beats faster and faster, pain may be felt;
• Breathing is shallow and it can be painful to inhale.

With prolonged intoxication of the body or stable consumption of large amounts of coffee, the following symptoms may occur:

• Nausea or vomiting;
• Stomach upset, diarrhea, cramps;
• More frequent urination in small volumes;
• Body heat, increased sweating.

With a sudden overdose of caffeine (usually from pills or energy drinks), acute phase symptoms may appear:

• The face turns sharply blue, especially around the lips and lips, the area under the eyes;
• Convulsions appear;
• Sticky cold sweat;
• Excessive nervousness or nervousness;
• Hallucinations and delusions.

How long does it take for it to be released?

Caffeine acts for 2 to 7 hours, depending on the dose taken. The half-life of caffeine in adults is 5 to 7 hours. Residues of the substance can remain in the body for a long time: from 8 to 14 hours. The highest concentration in the body is observed within 1 hour.

Caffeine is completely eliminated from the body after 14 hours, with women taking a little longer than men.

It is noteworthy that smokers remove the substance from the body twice as quickly as others. This explains the strong need for coffee among smokers.

It is necessary to stop using the substance 6 hours before going to bed. For people with increased nervous excitability - 8 hours before bedtime.

How to deal with coffee poisoning?

The list of actions depends on what stage the person is in and how much coffee he drank:

• In the initial stage, if you feel sick 5-10 minutes after a cup of coffee, the best way to cleanse the body is vomiting. You can drink a glass of warm water and also induce vomiting. Provide fresh air flow. If you feel dizzy and weak, lie down or sit down. Drink water and try to breathe deeply. Usually after 15 minutes everything goes away, you may want to sleep.
• For more serious poisoning, if caffeine has already been absorbed into the stomach, or you have drank a lot of coffee over the past 24 hours, milk and banana, fresh air, as well as sorbents - activated carbon or any analogues - can help. You should give up coffee for several days.
• In the acute stage, it is best to call an ambulance. There is no antidote for coffee, so in a hospital setting they usually lower the blood pressure, monitor the condition, and administer medications to help remove toxins faster and prevent a critical condition.

The effect of caffeine on the human body

The content of caffeine, a stimulant (alkaloid) component, varies between 1-2% in different types of coffee. The mechanism of its action has not been fully studied, but it is known for certain that caffeine primarily affects the functionality of the human nervous system. It forces the body to intensively synthesize the hormones adrenaline and dopamine, while reducing the sensitivity of nerve endings to adenosine.

The effects of caffeine and the antioxidants found in coffee can be both positive and negative:

• stimulation of mental and physical activity;
• strengthening and regulation of processes in the cerebral cortex;
• relieving fatigue, drowsiness, short-term burst of energy;
• increase in the number of contractions of the heart muscle;
• increased blood pressure and metabolism;
• production of gastric juice.

Caffeine is indicated for decreased performance, headaches, hypotension, drowsiness, shock, respiratory problems and diseases associated with central nervous system depression. Thanks to its diuretic effect, coffee relieves swelling and is used for weight loss to remove excess fluid from the body. Coffee plays the role of a heart trainer, so cases of stroke among drinkers are half as common.

Caffeine is not only found naturally in coffee beans. Tea leaves, cocoa beans, coca leaves, cola fruits, guarana, and all drinks and food products derived from them have a similar effect.

Conclusions:

1. Natural coffee does not contain poisons, and you can only get poisoned if you exceed the usual dosage.
2. Instant coffee often causes poisoning, since most of its composition is chemical components, to which there can be an individual reaction.
3. Poisoning from one cup of coffee usually goes away within 15-20 minutes.
4. If a person is very ill and the nasolabial triangle turns blue, it is necessary to call an ambulance.
5. People usually don't die from coffee poisoning.

Dangerous dose

The fact that coffee overdose is real is stated in many sources of medical literature. It rarely goes to extremes, but general malaise is always present. It is believed that you can drink 2-3 cups of the drink per day without negative effects on health. In this case, the person will feel a surge of strength, increased concentration, and will be able to cope with an attack of fatigue and drowsiness.

Perhaps doubling the dose of caffeine will also have a positive effect on your well-being. But here everything will depend on a person’s sensitivity to caffeine in general and on his level of health. It has been noticed that people who regularly drink coffee do not react as sharply to increasing the dose than those who drink the drink rarely and little.

A truly dangerous dose is 25 cups of coffee drunk in a short period of time. And here the problem lies not so much in the effect of caffeine itself, but in all the components of the drink as a whole.

The alkaloid is absorbed into the blood approximately 15-20 minutes after entering the stomach. It is this organ that can be the first to respond to an overdose. Then the nervous system, muscles, and excretory system are included in the process. If the intervals between drinking coffee are less than 20-30 minutes, the level of caffeine in the blood increases sharply, and this is fraught with serious health consequences.

Headache is the first symptom of overdose

How much can you drink an invigorating drink and at what intervals to avoid an overdose? The minimum break should be 2 hours, that is, 5 cups per day can be considered a safe dose. With this regimen, caffeine will be partially eliminated from the body, which means its concentration in the blood will not increase to a level that can cause poisoning and deterioration of well-being.

Proven cases of caffeine overdose

Caffeine overdose does occur and is documented. Here are some of the latest cases resulting in death or hospitalization;

• 19-year-old James Stone dies after taking 25 to 30 Do Doz tablets in 2007 (at least 2.5 grams of caffeine)
• A 56-year-old Briton man drank 25 red bulls in the evening and woke up the next morning with a brain haemorrhage.
• Jasmine Willis, 17, Durham, British waitress, overdosed on 7 double espressos in 2007. She was taken to the hospital but recovered shortly after (that's about 1.078 grams).
• In the late 1990s, an Australian woman with heart disease died after eating guarana from her local health food store. This product is no longer on the market (caffeine content is 10 g/l, ok, it's just nuts!).
• 2010 A 23-year-old British man from Mansfield, England died after taking 2 scoops of pure caffeine powder with an energy drink at a party. His death was controlled randomly.
• 2011 Fourteen-year-old Anaïs Fournier died after she consumed two 24-ounce Monsters (480 mg of caffeine) in a 24-hour period. The cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity.
• 2012 The FDA investigates Monster Energy as the energy drink has been linked to five deaths in the past year.
• 2013: According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of ER visits involving energy drink use has doubled over the past 4 years, however, 42% of those visits involved caffeine in combination with other substances such as alcohol or others.
• 2013 A New Zealand woman died from cardiac arrhythmia related to her habit of drinking 10 liters of Coca-Cola a day. She also smoked 30 cigarettes a day. Caffeine was a factor, but the 900-1000 mg daily dose was not the only factor.
• March 2014: A 14-year-old Norwegian boy was hospitalized with kidney failure after drinking 4 liters of a caffeinated energy drink.
• September 2014: A Tennessee man was taken to the hospital after drinking 20 caffeine pills to "test the limits of his body" according to what the man told paramedics. He took 4000 mg of caffeine at once.

Caffeine Overdose Facts

Luckily for us, we have mechanisms built into the human body that let us know that we've had something.

This is true when you overdose on caffeine. Well, before we are at a toxic level, we experience side effects that prevent us from consuming more, i.e. nausea and vomiting.

This means that in front of the 149 or so cans of Red Bull that it would take to kill the average adult male, you will probably vomit.

For most, this will happen after about the 5th can!

However, it is important to note that caffeine is a drug and should be respected and not abused. Since some people have an extremely low tolerance to caffeine, they could - in theory - overdose quite easily

How to Know If You've Overdosed

Most people first feel a "shiver" - a shaking or shaking sensation.

This is your cue to stop consuming caffeine for the day.

You should also be aware of the caffeine level in what you're drinking. Some amounts of caffeine will surprise you.

If you find that you are often tired after drinking caffeine, this is a sign that you need to change your long-term habits and may indicate adrenal fatigue.

The point is to know what you are consuming.

How common is caffeine overdose?

With the plethora of caffeine products on the market, one would assume that overdosing on caffeine is quite common.

If we look at the statistics we find that this is not as common as we might think.

Because caffeine is consumed so widely, there are many half-truths, rumors, urban legends, media hype, and even fiction.

It's nice to take an honest look at this topic and try to put all the information into perspective. We can then determine whether caffeine should be in the same category as other drug overdoses.

Cause of tinnitus

According to La Trobe University professor Dr. Simon Crowe, in white noise (noise with a uniform amplitude-frequency spectrum) we can hear, for example, part of the song “White Christmas”. For some reason, doctors discovered that a large number of Americans who were very stressed and had high caffeine levels believed they heard this particular song.

The combination of high amounts of caffeine and stress affects the likelihood that an individual will have symptoms of a psychotic disorder. This is why coffee is called “the most commonly used psychoactive drug.” And naturally, after drinking more than 5 cups of coffee a day, you may hear different things.

On average, coffee has a 6-hour effect. Of course, this depends on how well your body absorbs caffeine. But in general, this means that drinking coffee before bed doesn't seem to be an option if you want to have quality sleep. Better drink it between 9 and 11 am.