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People have a certain preference towards food products that they would consume intentionally or unintentionally despite whether they know the benefits or the consequences of eating them. We know our limited capacity when we replenish our hunger, however there are other types of consumed goods that most people use intentionally that don’t involve the stomach but our minds. It is strange when we hear the word drug that we would presumably think it’s extremely bad like heroin, and cocaine, but putting that in medical terms then it would increase the credibility.

Caffeine in food products such as coffee, sodas, energy drinks, and other edible food products are an invisible psychoactive drug stated from the article “Neuropsychological ….Addictive?” by various authors that we know from the generalization of what it does to our body. They also stated that intake of caffeine categorized as “generally recognized as safe” from the Food and Drug Administration. However, the authors of “Neuropsychological……Addictive?” concluded that caffeine is a potent drug that complies with the criteria of an addictive substance regarding dependence, tolerance, and withdrawal. It is weird how we would be able to obtain nonprescribed legal psychoactive drug easily from convenient stores compared to extreme illegal drugs from the back alleyways.

The use of caffeine in a normalized life differs such as diminishing physical exhaustion and reestablishing mental alertness. However, there are side effects when consuming them. CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi, the voice of the daily art from a podcast by Savin Monique, said that he was a caffeine addict because all he did was do talk shows while drinking powerful coffee in the morning, one in the afternoon, and a triple espresso at night. Ghomeshi shared his struggles with the effects of caffeinated drinks of how he found dramatic ups and downs of his energy throughout the day where he wanted to crash midafternoon where it will impact his career if he continues to drink caffeinated drinks. If the Food and Drug Administration declared that caffeine is generally safe to consume, then how come Ghomeshi is having a difficult time dealing with the effects of caffeine. Shouldn’t it be prescribed or informed people of the amount of dosage they can take in order to prevent facing negative problems?

“Neuropsychological…..Addictive?” stated that caffeine is not truly addictive, but from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, comprises caffeine addiction and caffeine withdrawal as familiar mental disorder. Another proposition from them is that the effects of caffeine can produce life threatening health hazards such as anxiety, insomnia, reproduction abnormalities and death, but it is not accountable for severe health risks linked with the abuse of drugs of addiction. Another article “Caffeine – An Invisible Addiction” by Sidra Ajmal and Laiba Ajmal can back up the claims that caffeine and addiction are not conclusively associated which depends upon the definition of addiction. Of how caffeine consumption is very common in the modern age, its adverse pharmacological effects have no value due to the ease of availability where people can alter their own time at their own pace of intake, dose, and intake intervals of caffeine which slowly accumulates overtime. Their studies suggest that there is a strong link between caffeine consumption and age. Based on their analysis, students aged greater than 18 become more addicted to caffeine than younger students. At least 50% of the students consumed caffeinated drink of tea once or twice a day whereas 26% consumed more than twice a day which significantly shows their desire towards caffeine. Ajmal analysis proves that caffeine addiction is true but slow and becomes stronger with age.

Without an examination of doctors on ourselves for diagnostics, we self-proclaimed a specific word that is followed up by a word which is addiction. We don’t even need doctors to tell us how much caffeine to take into our bodies. People would state certain claims to have a medical craving or a habit of something that they tend to do repeatedly like gambling, drinking or smoking.  There is a repeated process that at first, it’s rewarding then they become addicted and eventually get withdrawals and then back from the beginning to nullify that behavior which negatively bites them back. In the article “Comorbidity….Consumption” by Mona Mrad and Charles Chi Cui proposed that there are two types of psychoactive behaviors towards addictive consumption which is compulsive buying and brand addiction that impacts on consumers self-esteem and life happiness. Compulsive buying is defined as repeated and excessive buying of consumers goods are not needed in short term while brand addiction provides long-term gratification. Caffeinated products fall under these two psychoactive behaviors because getting the product is a lot easier with both short- and long-term effects. People can say that they have a collection of a certain item but technically it would fall under the terms of addiction of compulsive buying. Mona and Cui stated that compulsive buying provides short-term relief from dysphoric feelings. However, that positive effect diminishes through time and re-emerge buying urges.

Reference:

Sidra Ajmal  Laiba Ajmal. “Caffeine – an Invisible Addiction.” Caffeine – An Invisible Addiction | Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Food Science and Technology, 11 June 2023, journals.usamvcluj.ro/index.php/fst/article/view/14592.

Mona Mrad, and Charles Chi Cui. “Comorbidity of Compulsive Buying and Brand Addiction: An Examination of Two Types of Addictive Consumption.” Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, 29 Oct. 2019, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829631930548X?via%3Dihub#section-cited-by.

Savin, M. (2010). Caffeine addiction: Ghomeshi’s wake-up call. Toronto: The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fblogs-podcasts-websites%2Fcaffeine-addiction-ghomeshis-wake-up-call%2Fdocview%2F2385342126%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13605

Uddin MS, Sufian MA, Hossain MF, Kabir MT, Islam MT, et al. (2017) Neuropsychological Effects of Caffeine: Is Caffeine Addictive? J Psychol Psychother 7: 295. doi: 10.4172/2161-0487.1000295