Do you assume you can rely on network television news to learn reliable information about your health? At least when it comes to ABC News “Good Morning America,” this assumption is unfortunately unjustified!
Caffeine and Deaths and Adverse Health Effects
The ABC News Report: According to a recent ABC News report, the FDA announced that a Monster energy drink may have been involved in five deaths and that another energy drink containing caffeine may have played a part in more than a dozen deaths and more than 3o hospitalizations over the past four years.
The TRUTH: The FDA has repeatedly stated that none of the deaths or serious adverse health consequences that irresponsible scare-mongers have attributed to caffeine had anything to do with caffeine! (See our post, “FDA Dismisses Concerns about Caffeine and Energy Drinks.”
Caffeine’s Effects when Combined with Alcohol
The ABC News Report: Another imaginary adverse effect of caffeine is also touted by ABC News. The ABC News report states that the “current theory” is that caffeine in energy drinks offsets the sedating effect of alcohol, making your brain think that you are less drunk than you actually are. In consequence, you might be more likely to engage in risky and criminal behavior such as drunk driving or sexual assault. The masked intoxication may also encourage people to drink more than they would normally.
The TRUTH: The journal Addiction recently published a definitive study by researchers at Brown University proving that combining alcohol with caffeine in no way confuses the consumer of these beverages and does not make the consumer falsely believe that he is less affected by alcohol than he actually is! Further, these studies demonstrate that combining caffeine with alcohol does not alter the degree or quality of alcohol intoxication. In other words, there is no reason to be charry of downing an Irish coffee (a shot of Irish whisky mixed in a cup of coffee), much less to worry about less potent beer and caffeine mixtures, such as Four Loko. (See our post, “Ivy League Study PROVES Caffeine Combined with Alcohol is Safe.”)
Caffeine and Dehydration and Hangovers
The ABC News Report: The ABC News report finally concludes, “One thing is for sure: excess caffeine will dehydrate you and slow your New Year’s Day hangover recovery.”
The TRUTH: Caffeine does not alter the fluid balance of the body’s organs and therefore does not and cannot cause any dehydration! (See our post, “Caffeine Does NOT Dehydrate!“) Also, caffeine, alone or combined with Advil (ibuprophen), has been proven by double-blind, peer-reviewed studies at Thomas Jefferson University and other research institutions to be the best hangover remedy available! (See our post, “Hangover Remedy: Caffeine and Ibuprophen.”)
It only makes matters worse that ABC News relies in part on quotations from physicians to build its scientismic case against caffeine. The conclusion is inescapable: ABC News is either deliberately lying to alarm and possibly stampede its audience, or ABC News has failed to do the minimal homework on which the network could base an accurate report.
I am concerned about your apparent (to me) motivation to support the use of caffeine at all costs…including the truth. I use caffeine for certain purposes but I don’t think I can rely on you for the whole truth about caffeine to help me use it safely. You seem rigidly biased in favor of caffeine and hyper-defensive of it to the extent of avoiding and/or denying the truth about it’s risks and limitations. Maybe I’m not aware of your efforts to provide the whole truth about caffeine. Maybe you really are interested in helping people. But, that is not the impression I’m getting. You come across as people “on the take”. Is someone lining your pockets to paint an exceptionally rosy picture of caffeine? You clearly read a lot about caffeine. It’s hard to imagine that you’ve somehow missed all the corroborated facts of caffeine’s dark side. You write like you are the ones speaking the real truth about caffeine and yet your whole delivery is absurdly lop-sided and, if taken seriously, dangerous. What’s up wi’dat? Why not present the whole truth about our friend…and enemy: caffeine? The truth won’t set you free but, it will make you more honorable and trustworthy.
We do tell the whole truth. Sometimes the truth is one sided. Caffeine, if you are one of the luck 99% of the people who can tolerate it, is a gift from God and virtually a panacea!