Caffeine: A User's Guide to Getting Optimally Wired

From: Scienceblogs.com / Cognitive Neuroscience
By Chris Chatham

Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant in the world, but few use it to maximal advantage. Get optimally wired with these tips.

1) Consume in small, frequent amounts.
Between 20-200mg per hour may be an optimal dose for cognitive function. Caffeine crosses the blood-brain barrier quickly (owing to its lipid solubility) although it can take up to 45 minutes for full ingestion through the gastro-intestinal tract. Under normal conditions, this remains stable for around 1 hour before gradually clearing in the following 3-4 hours depending on a variety of factors.

A landmark 2004 study showed that small hourly doses of caffeine can support extended wakefulness, potentially by counteracting the homeostatic sleep pressure, which builds slowly across the day and acts preferentially on the prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain thought responsible for executive and "higher" cognitive functions). At doses of 600mg, caffeine's effects on cognitive performance are often comparable to those of modafinil, a best-of-class nootropic.

2) Play to your cognitive strengths while wired.
Caffeine may increase the speed with which you work, may decrease attentional lapses, and may even benefit recall - but is less likely to benefit more complex cognitive functions, and may even hurt others. Plan accordingly (and preferably prior to consuming caffeine!) Caffeine has long been known to improve vigilance, but work focusing on its more more cognitive effects - through interactions with the "frontal task network" - show less clear effects.

In tests of lateral prefrontal function, caffeine only remediates some fatigue-related symptoms. For example, in a random number generation task (a commonly-used measure of prefrontal function), caffeine increased the quantity of numbers generated to pre-fatigue levels, but did not significantly affect more demanding aspects of performance: caffeine didn't affect the likelihood of subjects generating numbers outside the acceptable range, or their tendency to perseverate on particular numbers.

Another study indicates the same is true of caffeine's effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. In that study, sleep deprivation-related decrements on the Iowa Gambling Task were not mitigated by caffeine.

The Stroop task, which a wealth of neuroimaging shows is related to functioning of the anterior cingulate, may also benefit from caffeine, but this effect may also be due to general speed improvements rather than those of cognitive control specifically.

(Interestingly, it appears that none of these studies follow guideline #1 - and there are hints in the second one that subject's performance might have shown significant improvements if another dose of caffeine had been provided about half-way through the task).
Recall from memory may be improved by caffeine (here and here), possibly due to enhancements in memory encoding rather than retrieval per se. Another study shows caffeine can actually impair estimates of "memory scanning" speed (in the Sternberg paradigm), so the failure of many studies to find recall-related effects of caffeine may reflect a speed-accuracy tradeoff at the time of retrieval.

3) Play to caffeine's strengths.
Caffeine's effects can be maximized or minimized depending on what else is in your system at the time. The beneficial effects of caffeine may be most pronounced in conjunction with sugar. For example, one factor analytic study has shown caffeine-glucose cocktails provide benefits to cognition not seen with either alone.

Some flavonoids (such as soy) may act in the same way as caffeine - i.e., through adenosine receptor antagonism - in particular galangin, genistein, and hispidol. Evidence showing that markers of caffeine metabolism are slowed by flavonoids might suggest that ingestion of flavonoids would enhance the effects of caffeine - some studies show grapefruit juice might keep caffeine levels in the bloodstream high for longer, though others have found no such effect (thanks to commenter Matt McIntosh for this latter reference).

Caffeine's effects might be masked by green tea extract, Kava Kava or St. John's Wort - all of which contain theanine and are associated with subjective feelings of relaxation - but other preliminary evidence indicates the opposite effect: theanine might actually potentiate the benefits of caffeine on some tasks (reported in longer format here). Similarly, nicotine may speed the metabolism of caffeine.

Because caffeine is a competitive antagonist for adenosine 1 & 2a primarily at striatal sites, it may also selectively increase the efficacy of D2 receptors, given evidence that D2 depleted mice show reduced effects of caffeination. According to theoretical computational models of D2 receptor activity in the striatum, this should increase cortico-thalamic excitability. It will be important for future work to examine caffeine's effect on tasks thought to require NoGo pathway activity. A variety of other chemicals may work on the A2 receptor in similar (SCH 58261, ZM 241385, CSC, KF17837) or opposing ways (CGS 21680, APEC, 2HE-NECA).

4) Know when to stop - and when to start again.
Although you may not grow strongly tolerant to caffeine, you can become dependent on it and suffer withdrawal symptoms. Balance these concerns with the cognitive and health benefits associated with caffeine consumption - and appropriately timed resumption.
Long-term ingestion of large quantities of caffeine (by way of coffee) is associated with a variety of health benefits - not only cognitive enhancements but also reduction in risk for type 2 diabetes (c.f.), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's . These beneficial effects may be related to the neuroprotective role of adenosine.

However, there are some suggestions that caffeine also has adverse effects (mostly cardiovascular, which might be balanced by flavonoids - see guideline #3). And some people just don't like the thought of cultivating an addiction - or the spectre of withdrawal symptoms.
Some evidence indicates high heritability for caffeine addition (note: this is based on interviews of twins) and others are advocating the recognition of caffeine addiction as a bona fide mental disorder. Withdrawal symptoms can onset within 12 to 24 hours of caffeine consumption and last between 2 and 9 days.

There are more cognitive concerns here as well. For one, caffeine probably follows the Yerkes-Dodson law, in which a moderate dose is superior to too little or too much. In addition, there are well-established cognitive effects where recall is best when it matches the context of encoding - so if you're caffeinated when you study for the test, you better be caffeinated when you take it.

5) Finding good sources of caffeine
Despite the huge variety of sources of caffeine - including caffeinated soap, candy, and of course chocolate - the optimal use of caffeine is likely to involve small, hourly doses along with some cardioprotective agent. Given the high solubility of caffeine, absorption time should not be an issue (but if for some reason it is, try gum). Otherwise, why not enjoy a cup of green tea (coffee-flavored, if you must), as the Chinese have for nearly 5000 years? It's hard to come by a better longitudinal study than that.

http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2008/02/optimally_wired_a_caffeine_use.php

Recipe of the Week: Blueberry Coffee Cake!

Switching things up this week and going with a recipe that creates a delicious companion to your cup of Tylers Coffee:

Think Seattle Spends a lot on Coffee?

Think again!

Seattle may spend more then 2.37 times the national average, but sip on this tid bit:
Chicago: 2.94 times as much
New York: 2.9.

Sorry Seattle...you may have the most cafes per capita but Chicago and NYC have ya beat on paying for it. However, given Seattle size compared to the other giants...Seattle wins on being the most caffeinated.

Check out this graphic from bundle:

Now......big city coffee drinkers: try our coffee!!!

New myPlate

The USDA released the new myPlate earlier this year, replacing the decades old food pyramid with a more balanced stylized pie chart. However, a lot of academics feel as if myPlate doesn’t go into enough details and in some cases misses the point. Faculty members at Harvard are just a few of those academics. To fix this problem, they came up with a more refined myPlate, complete with facts, tips, and hints:

 

Notice one thing? Pay attention to the ‘Water’ category: “Drink water, tea, or coffee.” This is the first time since the government began issuing dietary recommendations that coffee was recommended. Perhaps it is the increase in research that proves coffee and teas are beneficial to consume in moderation that finally got it listed. Whatever the case, we’re glad to see it there and hope it stays!

Smaller Harvest Expected

Recipe of the Week! Infused Cafe Mocha!

   This weeks recipe is a delicious Infused Cafe Mocha! Give it a go and let us know what you think!

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
•  1.5 tablespoons mocha flavoring
• 1 cup crushed  Tylers Acid  Free Coffee ice cubes

Caffeinated...It's All In Your Mind!

Well, at least that's what some British researchers are saying! In a new study coming out soon, British researchers from the University of East London took a sample of 88 coffee lovers- gave some regular coffee and other decaf but told them it was regular. (Pretty sure I could spot the difference...)

The researchers then did various tests on reaction time, mood, mental performance, and other metrics that caffeine is said to enhance. Turns out that those who were given the decaf showed an increase in performance on those metrics. So perhaps just thinking you'll be getting a kick-to-the-pants from the caffeine is enough to get the same benefits.

In the end, this study raises more questions then it answers. If these participants were avid coffee drinkers, then perhaps missing one cup of regular coffee wouldn't cause a change in performance. However...get them off of it for a few weeks and see what happens. Better yet, how do people who don't drink coffee at all stack up in this test? Furthermore, such claims shouldn't be made off such a small sample size, 88 is awfully small to make sure broad claims.

We're not saying they performed bad science or anything, just the study wasn't as well done as it could have been and it leaves more questions in the end.

Tylers Coffee....we like our caffeine be it real or perceived.

Recipe of the Week

Hard to believe, but holiday season is right around the corner! Soon, Christmas Trees, presents, and Santas will be appearing all over the place...and for some of us we just don't plan out our present shopping as well as we should. Others are a bit better prepared and have lists and plans drawn up. But here is something someone from both camps can appreciate: custom coffee presents! Down to the last minute for a present?! No worries, you can whip up a very nice, and very personal, gift!