How Much Caffeine Is Too Much
Patients with RA often experience fatigue, so they may turn to coffee to give them a boost. Other people simply like the taste or are in the habit of drinking it.
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Experts say that until more research clarifies caffeines role theres probably no reason to stop drinking what you love. You might want to drink in moderation something like a cup or glass or two a day especially if caffeine makes you hyper or keeps you up at night.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does say that up to four or five cups of coffee, some 400 mg a day, is not associated with any dangerous side effect, but it notes that people vary in their sensitivity, and that some medications can impact caffeine metabolism.
Youre definitely overconsuming if you experience insomnia, jitters, a fast heart rate, nausea, a headache, or other unwanted effects, the FDA says. If you decide to cut back, do so gradually to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms like headaches or anxiety.
Caffeine Substitutes For People With Lupus
For some people with lupus, cutting back on caffeine or cutting it out entirely may be the best way to go. But what do you do about the need for energy and mood boosts?
These are just a few of the alternatives to caffeine! Try them out as you begin to cut back, and make your transition seamless.
Navigating Your Arthritis With Diet
If your specific type of arthritis has you confused about which type of foods you should eat, don’t let that worry you. “An anti-inflammatory eating pattern can be perfectly safe for any type of arthritis,” Wyosnick assures.
If you have food allergies or want to confirm an allergy or intolerance that may be aggravating your arthritis pain, speak with your doctor.
In addition, a registered dietitian can help you evaluate your current diet, remove troublesome foods from your diet and add in foods that may help provide some relief.
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How Much Caffeine Is In Our Diet
The biggest sources of caffeine are coffee and energy drinks . Be aware of your portion size. Many mugs and coffee-shop drinks can hold as much as 20 ounces.
According to Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health, other sources of caffeine include a shot of espresso , a cup of black tea , green tea , 12 ounces of Mountain Dew or cola , an ounce of dark chocolate , and decaffeinated coffee .
Of course, dont forget to drink water, which not only hydrates the body, but helps counter the potential diuretic effects of caffeine.
Failure To Protect Joints
Joint protection is recognized as an important part of any treatment program for RA. The goal of joint protection is to reduce pain, prevent deformity, stabilize the joints, and reduce stress on the joints. This is accomplished through the use of splints, braces, assistive devices, exercise, proper body mechanics, pacing your activities, and modifying your environment if necessary. Failure to protect the joints can make RA worse.
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How Can We Cut Back On Caffeine
Can you keep kids caffeine-free? Absolutely! The best way to cut caffeine is to eliminate soda. Instead, offer water, milk, or flavored seltzer you also can serve 100% fruit juice in small amounts. You can still allow the occasional soda or tea just make it decaffeinated. Watch for hidden caffeine by checking the ingredient list on foods and beverages.
The best way to reduce caffeine intake is to cut back slowly. Otherwise, kids could get headaches and feel achy, depressed, or just downright lousy.
Someone cutting back on caffeine may feel tired. The best bet is to hit the sack, not the sodas: It’s just a body’s way of saying that more rest is needed. Don’t worry energy levels will return to normal in a few days.
As with everything, moderation is the key to keeping your kids’ caffeine consumption under control.
Intake Consumption And Sensitivity Levels
Different people have different sensitivity levels to caffeine, but it is generally safe.
Toxic levels of caffeine begin at 1 gram, with a lethal dose leveling out at 10 grams. Reaching that level would would take thousands of cups of coffee or energy drinks all consumed at the same moment. By the time someone was able to consume that much caffeine, it would have already been processed and excreted from the body . However, caffeine can be administered in tablet or powder form. This is slightly more dangerous, though toxic doses or overdoses are still rare. Over-consumption can cause dangerous side effects, however:
As a part of its effects on metabolism, caffeine also increases heart rate. This can lead to cardiovascular risks and higher blood pressure. Rapid or abnormal heart rates, such as heart palpitations, are not uncommon. These problems can persist even after the crash.
Unsurprisingly caffeine intake can wreak havoc on ones sleep schedule. Switching to decaf after lunch and not drinking coffee close to bedtime can help. But, some people are very sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
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What Is Caffeine Sensitivity
Caffeine sensitivity refers to the amount of caffeine that will produce an effect in someone. On average, the smaller the person, the less caffeine necessary to produce side effects. However, caffeine sensitivity is most affected by daily caffeine intake.
People who regularly drink beverages containing caffeine soon develop a reduced sensitivity to it. This means they need higher doses of caffeine to achieve the same effects as someone who doesn’t drink caffeinated drinks often. So, the more caffeine kids take in, the more caffeine they’ll need to feel the same effects. In general, kids are more sensitive to caffeine than adults and can feel its effects for up to 6 hours.
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How Much Coffee Is Ok
The recommended safe amount of caffeine to consume in a day is about 400 milligrams , which is about four 8-ounce cups of coffee per day.
When you’re considering your total caffeine intake remember to consider other sources of caffeine, including espresso, soft drinks, energy drinks, black or green tea, and energy shots. Dark chocolate is another source of caffeine, providing about 20 mg of caffeine per 1 ounce of dark chocolate.
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Understanding Diet For Rheumatoid Arthritis In General
Eating right may have much more contribution than what we think in some people with RA. However, mostly a healthy and well-balanced diet can be the correct prescription.
We know well that the body weight plays a role in affecting the amount of pressure that hits the joints. The more pounds of weight we have, the more strain we put on the joints. In other words, being obese can make the joints work harder than usual.
In fact, obesity is one of main risk factors for osteoarthritis , an arthritis associated with wear & tear of cartilage in the joint as the age. OA itself is the most common arthritis form.
Obesity is also considered bad for RA. It is not only bad for the joint, but also can worsen the risk of RA complications such as heart problem and hypertension. Overall, its important to maintain your weight as well if you have RA.
And your diet will play a key role to help keep your weight under control! Your diet should be balance, especially in the calorie counts.
Controlling weight is not the single issue of diet related to RA. Some experts think that certain foods have essential properties to help control the disease, too.
For instance, there are some foods that can act as a natural anti-inflammatory agent or have certain essential property that may help treat RA. The following are some of these foods:
How To Best Reheat Your Coffee
If youre on board with the slightly more bitter taste of reheated coffee, then you should continue reheating it.
However, he advises sticking with the microwave instead of the stovetop to shorten the amount of time those volatile compounds have to escape.
Even better yet, if youre looking to keep your coffee warm for longer without reheating it, Hendon suggests trying out a temperature-regulating mug or even a mini desktop warmer . Or you could even go old school and pour your coffee into an insulated thermos.
As for Hendon, he says he can barely remember a coffee that he didnt gulp while it was still hot.
Ive never had a cup of coffee in my life that didnt get to the bottom of, Hendon laughs. Id rather even just drink it at room temperature than heat it back up.
CHECK, PLEASE is an Inverse series that uses biology, chemistry, and physics to debunk the biggest food myths and assumptions.
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Mixed Research Results On Caffeine And Rheumatoid Arthritis
Some studies have shown that coffee is beneficial for health, but others have not.
A review of various observational studies by Danish scientists published on July 28, 2021 in the European Journal of Nutrition found that high coffee consumption was associated with a low risk of mortality, as well as reduced odds of cardiometabolic diseases, some cancers, and gallstones.
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But other research has been less positive. A small study published in August 2016 in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research found that after drinking coffee some people exhibited anti-inflammatory effects in their blood, but others actually had increased inflammation.
Some scientists have specifically studied people with RA and found a possible association between heavy coffee consumption and incidence of the condition. A meta-analysis published in Clinical Rheumatology concluded that people living with seropositive RA were more likely to drink a lot of coffee, although doctors were quick to say that an association doesnt prove that one causes the other. Drinking a lot of decaf was not linked to higher RA rates.
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Meanwhile, Swedish researchers studying tea consumption, which has caffeine but not at the same levels as coffee, found that heavy use of the beverage was correlated with lower rates of RA, as they reported in August 2021 in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
Caffeine The Heart And Inflammation
Caffeine has upsides and downsides for your health. But new research suggests your morning mug of joe could be a net positive when it comes to your cardiovascular risk.
Researchers from Stanford University in California reporting in the journal Nature Medicine found that the more caffeine older people consumed, the more protected they were against chronic inflammation. In the process the scientists uncovered an intriguing connection between aging, systemic inflammation, heart disease and caffeine.
The multi-year study involved analyzing the medical and health histories, blood samples, and survey responses from 100 people, both young and old. Using the data, the scientists discovered the mechanism behind a key inflammation process associated with chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes that tend to increase as we age.
Heres what they found: Some of the older people in the study were shown to have increased production of immune cells called interleukin 1 beta . These cells help to fight off infections, but when their production is in overdrive, inflammatory conditions like heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimers disease can result. In fact chronic inflammation is thought to underlie up to 90 percent of non-communicable diseasesfrom heart disease and diabetes to dementia, cancer, arthritis, and mood disorders.
See www.knowyourrisk.com for info on Cleveland HeartLabs inflammation tests.
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Beverages To Ease Arthritis Pain
Remember the saying You are what you eat? Well, turns out you are what you drink, too! When we think of nutrition, we often think only of solid foods. But what you drink is a large part of what we put into our bodies and should be considered as part of our overall nutrition. Making healthy beverage choices is equally as important as choosing healthy foods.
What you eat and drink is passed on as information to your bodys organs and can have an adverse effect on how you feel. Consuming sugary drinks such as soda can negatively affect your bodys ability to absorb calcium. Instead, try these drinks. Besides being healthy choices, you may very well find them to help relieve arthritis pain!
Does Reheating Coffee Reduce Caffeine
So how does this chemical cocktail react to being bombarded with microwaves or the slower touch of a stovetop? Luckily, you dont need to worry about losing any caffeine.
Caffeine is not really that reactive, Hendon says. Its a pretty stable organic molecule that is produced in the biological process of the maturing of a coffee seed.
The only real way to lose caffeine from coffee would be through sublimation where the compound undergoes a direct phase change from solid to vapor.
This requires extreme heat, Hendon says over 350 degrees Fahrenheit. So unless youre warming your coffee in a preheating oven, youre likely not exposing it to enough heat to affect the caffeine at all.
Despite its implausibility, however, Hendon says he can see where coffee drinkers mightve gotten this misconception in their heads. He thinks it stems from a placebo effect or emotional context more so than a coffees changing chemistry.
Where the myth might come from is that when you drink a hot cup of coffee for the very first time through the buzz that you get from a hot cup of coffee when you know its freshly brewed and all that affects you in ways that are intangible and not related necessarily to what the chemistry is that youre actually consuming, Hendon explains.
He equates it to smelling bacon at dinner smacked on some cheeseburger versus the fresh smell of morning bacon. That is a very different experience, Hendon says.
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What Are The Causes Of Joint Pain
If youre experiencing joint pain, its likely that you suffer from arthritis. There are other reasons for joint pain but arthritis is the most common cause of joint pain in adults. If you suffer from Osteoarthritis, joint pain is caused by the protective cartilage in your joints breaking down.
If you have Rheumatoid Arthritis, then you have an autoimmune disease where your bodys immune system attacks the joints and other organs.
Neglect Of Oral Health
Research suggests that tooth loss may predict rheumatoid arthritis and its severity. Researchers who have studied the connection between RA and periodontal disease discovered similarities in the joint and oral tissues, and in the inflammatory processes that affect them. The types of cells that infiltrate tissues of the mouth in periodontitis and the tissue of the joint in RA are similar. Also, the levels of pro-inflammatory proteins are also similar in both RA and periodontitis. There are potential consequences when oral health is neglected.
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Having A Consistently Negative Outlook
When youre hurting, its easy to think the pain is permanent and theres nothing you can do. That mindset, however, may actually make your pain worse and last longer. An important part of your treatment plan is your own outlook on life. Talk to your doctor if youre feeling frustrated. They may have ideas about how to cope or refer you to someone who can help. These tips from mental health experts on coping with chronic illness are also a good place to start.
Effect Of Caffeine Consumption On Efficacy Of Methotrexate In Rheumatoid Arthritis
One of the leading theories explaining the mechanism of action of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis is inhibition of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide transformylase by MTX polyglutamates, which results in AICAR accumulation and inhibition of adenosine deaminase, leading to an increase in adenosine . Adenosine modulates cellular functions by interacting with specific receptors on the cell membrane, resulting in antiinflammatory effects .
Methylxanthines are adenosine receptor antagonists . One of the methylxanthines, caffeine, is an ingredient in coffee, tea, cola beverages, cocoa, and chocolate. Because of their interaction with adenosine receptors, methylxanthines may interfere with the effects of MTX. Recently, Montesinos et al reported that caffeine reversed the antiinflammatory effects of MTX in a rat adjuvant arthritis model of RA . Because caffeine consumption is very common, we investigated whether caffeine intake affects the efficacy of MTX in patients with RA.
Five parameters of disease activity were evaluated before initiation of MTX therapy and at monthly intervals for 3 months. At each visit, 68 joints were evaluated for pain in response to either passive motion or pressure applied directly over a joint, and 66 joints were assessed for swelling . The percentage of improvement in each parameter between visits 0 and 3 was calculated.
| Group A | |
|---|---|
| 5 | 0.381 |
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And The Side Of Fries Instead Of Veg
Researchers at Harvard found that after potato chips, potatoes may contribute to more weight gain per serving than any other food and French fries were by far the worst offenders. Extra weight can exacerbate inflammatory arthritis. Plus, it can put increased pressure on your joints particularly your knees, says Christopher Morris, MD a rheumatologist with Arthritis Associates in Kingsport, Tennessee. For every pound a person weighs, about five pounds of stress goes through the knees with every step, he explains. For a 250-pound person, that equates to nearly two-thirds of a ton of stress on the joint.
The good news is that weight loss really makes a difference, says Dr. Morris. For example, losing as little as 11 pounds can decrease the progression of knee OA by 50 percent. One way to shed pounds: eat tons of brightly colored veggies. Theyre low in calories, high in fiber , and provide nutrients that may help fight inflammation. Here are more tips for losing weight when you have arthritis.