Caffeine

Some people can't start the day without a cup of coffee, knowing that the caffeine will see them through at least a few hours. Learn about the pros and cons of this popular stimulant in a live Web chat with registered dietitian Ruth Frechman Monday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET). Frechman is a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn. and the founder of "On the Weigh," a nutrition consulting business in Burbank. Considering the number of people we see chugging coffee at the gym, we wondered whether it was OK to have a caffeinated beverage just before a workout.

Hey, boys and girls, it's free Slurpee day at 7-Eleven stores! To celebrate the company's sort-of birthday (check the date - it's 7/11. Get it?) the company is giving away 7.11-ounce Slurpees at participating stores. But because this is a blog about health we couldn't let this auspicious occasion pass without letting you know what you'll be sucking down if you give in to the Slurpee. Most 8-ounce Slurpees weigh at in about 70 calories, which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things, provided you don't pair it with a couple of Twinkies, a bag of Doritos and some Skittles.

You can’t believe everything you hear, especially if you’re polishing off the third refill of your venti coffee. Australian researchers at La Trobe University have just published a study suggesting that people on a serious caffeine buzz are prone to hear things that aren’t there. The study might raise new concerns about the safety of caffeine. But for the average person who’s weary of conflicting reports about coffee and health , the new findings may not amount to much more than background noise.

Drinking coffee is a fine way to start the day, many men would agree. For those worried about prostate cancer, it appears to be a great way to start the day. The latest of many studies on whether a daily cup, or many cups, of java might lower a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer, especially lethal prostate cancer, falls on the side of coffee enthusiasts. A Harvard School of Public Health study of nearly 48,000 men found that those who drank more than six cups of coffee per day had a 60% reduced risk of developing lethal prostate cancer compared with nondrinkers.

Do you get your buzz from a big mug of java or a shot of espresso? Maybe a soy hazelnut latte with honey or an icy frappé dripping with whipped cream and cinnamon? Or just a cuppa joe? How about your tea — black, white, green, yellow, red bush, oolong, pekoe, chai, herbal or obscure? No matter how you dress them up, naked coffees and teas from around the world are the first and most important step to creating beverages savored daily by nearly 70% of Americans. In fact, one-third of the world's population now drinks coffee.

If mixing Red Bull and vodka seems like a way to imbibe while avoiding late-night drowsiness — well, it is, according to the headlines this week, but at a cost. College students who drank a cocktail of alcohol and energy drinks reported feeling twice as stimulated as those who drank alcohol alone, according to a new study from Northern Kentucky University. The caffeine overrides the drowsiness that kicks in after drinking alcohol. The danger here, says lead author Cecile Marczinksi, is that you don’t realize how drunk you’re getting.

Attention coffee drinkers: If you think your craving for a cuppa joe stems from sleepiness, habit or simply a desire to make Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz an even richer man, you are sorely mistaken. A team of researchers from Harvard, the National Cancer Institute and other esteemed institutions of biological science reports that our need for caffeine is in our DNA. As if there were any part of our lives that weren’t subject to genetics in some form or fashion. But back to the so-called caffeine genes.

Kids might be getting more caffeine than parents realize -- and it might be keeping them up at night. Seventy-five percent of children surveyed in a new study were found to have consumed caffeine every day. Researchers also found -- no surprise here -- that the more caffeine a kid had, the less they slept. Parents of more than 200 children 5 to 12 years old answered questions on the types of snacks and beverages their kids had each day. Here's what the report on this data says: "Children aged 5 to 7 years old consumed approximately 52 mg of caffeine per day, and children aged 8 to 12 years old consumed approximately 109 mg. " Here's an abstract and the full report by the University of Nebraska Medical Center published Thursday in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Caffeinated alcohol drinks like Four Loko and Joose are being whisked off store shelves faster than college kids can stock up. The fallout from the Food and Drug Administration's safety warning Wednesday on what amounts to a ban on such beverages remains to be seen. "I'm afraid that horse is already out of the barn," columnist Nicole Brochu writes in the Sun Sentinel in Florida . "And in fact, some drinkers, taking a cue from a trend that started in European bars, were already mixing their own alcoholic energy drinks when fashionable labels like Four Loko, Joose and Max hit the scene.

Caffeinated alcoholic beverage manufacturers received official word Wednesday from the Food and Drug Administration that caffeine added to their products is considered an "unsafe food additive. " The FDA sent warning letters to four companies, including the makers of popular fruit-flavored alcoholic drinks Four Loko, Joose and Max.  "FDA does not find support for the claim that the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic beverages is 'generally recognized as safe,' which is the legal standard,” Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner said in a statement.