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More Excerpts from The Vitamin Bible: Chapter XVII Drugs and You Effects of Caffeine on the Body There are no doubts about it, Caffeine is a powerful drug. That's right, drug. Chances are you're not just enjoying your daily coffees or colas, you're addicted to them. Caffeine acts directly upon the central nervous system. It brings about an almost immediate sense of clearer thought and lessens fatigue. It also stimulates the release of stored sugar from the liver, which accounts for the "list" coffee, cola, and chocolate [the caffeine big three] give. But these benefits may be far outweighed by the side effects. The release of stored sugar places heavy stress on the endocrine system. Heavy coffee drinkers often develop nervousness or become jittery. Coffee-drinking housewives demonstrated symptoms typical of drug withdrawal when switched to a decaffeinated beverage. People who drink five cups of coffee daily have a 50 percent greater chance of having heart attacks than non-coffee drinkers, according to the British Medical Journal. Scientists at John Hopkins University have shown that caffeine can interfere with DNA replication. The Centre for Science in the Public Interest advises pregnant women to stay away from caffeine, since studies have shown that the amount contained in about four cups of coffee per day causes birth defects in test animals. High doses of caffeine will cause laboratory animals to go into convulsions and then die. Caffeine can be highly toxic [the lethal dose estimated to be around 10g] new research shows that the one quart of coffee consumed in three hours can destroy much of the body's thiamine. Regular tea is not the answer either, since that has nearly as much caffeine. But herb teas can be quite invigorating. What Alcohol Does to Your Body Alcohol is the most widely used drug in our society, and because it is so available, most people don't think of it as a drug. But it is; and if misused, it can cause a lot of damage to your body. Alcohol is not a stimulant, but actually a sedative-depressant of the central nervous system. It is capable of rupturing veins. It does not warm you up, but causes you to feel colder by increasing perspiration and body heat loss. It destroys brain cells by causing the withdrawal of necessary water from them. It can deplete the body of vitamin B1, B2, B6, B12, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin K, zinc, magnesium and potassium. Four drinks a day are capable of causing organ damage. It can hamper the liver's ability to process fat. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com