Comment by cletus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cletus | Hacker News Reader

So the article touched on this briefly but I think it's a point worth exploring: a big problem with many sources of caffeine is also that sugar confuses the issue. Many people have an excessive amount of sugar with their coffee (personally I find coffee revolting and 4+ sugars is the only way I could cope if I were forced to drink it).

Other caffeinated drinks (eg sodas) are either sweetened (sugar or HFCS or have artificial sweeteners.

So about a month ago I decided I was drinking too much caffeine. I'm talking 600-700mg a day. I should also point out that my variance with and without caffeine is pretty low. In college for example I tried once to take caffeine pills to stay awake to cram. Not sure how much I took but it was enough that my hands were shaking. I still fell asleep just fine. Some people really do seem a whole lot more sensitive to this than I am.

Anyway, my reason wasn't coffee in particular but sugar. For years I've drunk artificial sweetener sodas and ignoring any other possible side effects I think the big problem is that they still taste sweet so it seems like they still feed the craving loop for sugar without containing any sugar.

It's early days yet but I think I can already notice some difference. Like I had ice cream tonight that I've had many times before and it tasted too sweet.

Anyway I think it's impossible to talk about caffeine consumption without also considering sugar consumption because they really do go hand in hand.

Caffeine is a stimulant and seems like it can be used to enhance some activities including athletic ones [1].

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/how-athle...

> Anyway I think it's impossible to talk about caffeine consumption without also considering sugar consumption because they really do go hand in hand.

Not for everyone - there are people who drink coffee black with no sugar (especially espresso drinkers).

This, like some other comments here, are variables easily controlled for.

I always drink my coffee black. I don't drink the stronger blends like you might get in a French roast or at Starbucks. I do dring espresso however a few times a year.

I think Starbucks tries to cater to people who like the flavours in black coffee, but enjoy drinking their coffee with dairy. My theory is that it's 'roasted to pair with dairy' and if you drink starbucks coffee black, cold brew, or espresso without dairy, you're missing half of the 'starbucks' flavour.

I prefer my coffee black, so that makes starbucks worse than most fast-food coffees flavour-wise (though I still enjoy Starbucks locations and amenities better :D)

Coffee is not supposed to be sweet or iced for that matter. The only proper way to drink coffee is either black or with a little milk. :)

Yep. I only drink black coffee, no sugar, and I don't eat sweets, cookies, or anything. In fact, I mostly don't consume anything but coffee from I wake up until dinner time, 6-7 PM.

So you're repeatedly having coffee on an empty stomach? That can't be good for you.

Haven't noticed any of the supposed side-effects doing so could cause. For a while, not eating for hours was also supposedly bad for you. Then fasting started to show benefits. It turns out traditional dietary advice might not be worth jack shit.

https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/coffee-and-di...

One study found a slight increase in acid reflux when drank on an empty stomach, a problem I don't have, other than that there does not seem to be any associations with gastritis, ulcers, or dyspepsia.

Yes, intermittent fasting is said to be quite good for organisms. Maybe a form of hormesis. I'm unfortunately not in a position to comment much on caffeine's health effects aside from various interesting and likely true points of speculation but I find what you shared interesting and do not doubt for a second that medical science (including nutrition, and immunity) is not properly understood except by a rare handful who have the ability to see things whole.

I believe coffee has a lot of beneficial properties, but I have a slight concern regarding caffeine as it reduces CBF. That might impair cognitive functions. Supposedly you can mitigate some of the vasoconstriction with flavonoids.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19219847/

To add to your anecdote - I also have an extremely high caffeine tolerance and can fall asleep just fine even if I've had an espresso (or two!) after dinner. Similarly to you, I don't really notice the lack, as I rarely drink caffeinated drinks on weekends and have no noticeable dip in energy.

I think your ice cream experience might have an entirely different cause - you were used to stimulation from particular flavors, so when you quit consuming sweet food/drinks. your perception of ice cream was like a bombshell for your tastebuds.

Now, it's entirely possible that artificial sweeteners have detrimental effects on your gut biome or causes a reward response, which create cravings but I'm skeptical until more literature is published on the subject.

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