What Is Caffeine And What Are Its Effects On Body?

Caffeine is an alkaloid present in coffee, tea, cacao, and other plants. It is also added to most cola beverages. Caffeine was discovered in coffee in 1820 and in 1838 it came to know that theine, found in tea, is identical to caffeine. Caffeine increases the blood pressure, excites the central nervous system, promotes urine formation, and stimulates the action of the heart and lungs. Caffeine is used in treatment of migraine because it squeezes the dilated blood vessels and thereby reduces the pain. It also increases the effectiveness of analgesics such as aspirin, and helps relieve asthma attacks by widening the bronchial airways. Caffeine is produced commercially mainly as a by-product in production of caffeine-free coffee.

Caffeine has been suspected of a possible cause of cancer or of birth defects. Studies however, have not confirmed these charges yet. People who stop drinking coffee do sometimes develop withdrawal symptoms such as headaches. Caffeine is not included on the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) list of the US Food and Drug Administration but it acknowledges that there is no clear evidence of hazard at normal levels of caffeine use.