CAFFEINE January 5, 2012

For caffeine, probably the most important risk is that it can precipitate a panic attack. If you ingest too much of it, you can get what’s called caffeinism — jitters and tremors. Caffeine can increase blood pressure and can aggravate heart arrhythmias. However, if you consume caffeine on a regular basis, you can develop a tolerance to most of its side effects. French press or boiled coffee has chemicals that can raise cholesterol, but filtering coffee removes these chemicals, and in fact filtered coffee can actually protect the heart because it also contains antioxidants. You can clearly become physically dependent on caffeine but that isn’t the same thing as addiction, in which you have a compulsion to use a substance and can’t easily quit even if you need or want to. In itself, being dependent on caffeine isn’t harmful. (Neal Benowitz, M.D., professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco, “The buzz on caffeine,” Consumer Reports on Health, January 2012)