Caffeine Test

ANCHORAGE – The usual chitchat at coffee stands has taken a somber turn in light of Samantha Koenigs kidnapping.

Coffee lovers are reminded of the incident every time they drive up for their daily caffeine fix; almost every stand around town has flyers up in their windows with information about Koenigs abduction.

At the Kodiak Kup, near 36th and Arctic, baristas say there are surveillance cameras capturing video and audio and all of the girls are now coming to work with a little something extra.

Pepper spray, and we just try to check as much as we can. We lock the doors. We check on each other a lot. I have girls come in here all the time, said barista Jordan Cummings.

Her co-worker Sari Phillips said, I know a lot of girls are scared that work in coffee shops. My family got me pepper spray. I know a lot of girls families are doing that.

Theres also a door with bars on the back of the shop and employees say owners are doing what they can to make sure the inside and outside of the stand are well protected.

Up until this happened a lot of us felt safe. Lighting is really important, weve been trying to light the sides really well, said Cummings.

Baristas at Qwik Cup Espresso near International and C Street are watched by six cameras with audio that their boss can see instantly on her phone, and they keep a can of bear mace by each window.

They say theyre fortunate to have a good group of customers looking out for them and hope getting the word out about Samantha will bring her back home safely.

This shouldnt happen, especially in our small little town at the coffee shop around the corner, thats really scary, said Qwik Cup barista Christina Johnson.

Anchorage Police Detectives investigating the kidnapping say the best thing baristas can do if a person tries to rob a coffee stand is to give the person the money and do whatever they can to stay inside the building.

Sports drinks, sports bars, protein powders and meal replacement drinks are regulated as food in Canada, which means there are no requirements for nutrition stores to prohibit teenagers from buying them.

Craig Ronan, who owns Popeye’s Supplements on Chemong Rd. and sells products such as Razor 8, said he’s not obligated to refuse customers based on their age but says that doesn’t mean it will recommend them.

“If a 15-year-old goes into Mac’s and buys three red bulls, are they going to stop him?” he said. “There are no regulations saying I can’t sell it to him.”

That doesn’t mean he’s going to recommend products he doesn’t believe will benefit his customers, he said.

From teenagers to seniors, Ronan said he works with customers to find the best products to meet their needs.

“You don’t just recommend any old product to anybody,” he said.

But the companies that make supplements such as pre-work out powders and protein shakes tend to target teens in marketing strategies, encouraging them to buy products that are unproven or that could even be harmful, Peterborough County-City Health Unit public health nutritionist Erica Diamond said.

“It’s enticing for youth due to the marketing around such products. Youth are buying into it,” she said.

MacDonald said her son works out 45 minutes a day, about four times a week and purchased the product on the recommendation of a cousin.

“I told him there is no way he’s using this stuff,” she said, adding that he already uses protein powder. “He doesn’t need it.”

Many of the ingredients that find their way into protein powders and sport supplements have yet to be fully researched, meaning the effectiveness and risks of such products are unknown, Diamond said.

“You don’t know if it’s safe or if it’s effective. The research isn’t there,” she said. “We highly caution parents. Due to the lack of research we wouldn’t recommend (these products).”

Ronan disagrees. Given the amount of processed foods in the North American diet, Ronan said there are benefits to many supplements such as fish oils, Vege Greens products and whey protein mixes sold in his store.

“The nutrient value in the majority of Canadians’ diets is terrible,” he said. “A lot of people eat out of a box, which is ridiculously high in fat, sodium and everything else.”

Diamond said it’s often difficult for trained dieticians to discern what ingredients make up many of these supplements, so it makes it that much harder for parents to make informed choices.

“As a dietician we often caution people, when you see an ingredient on a nutrition fact table that’s not part of the core nutrients…all these ingredients such as enzymes and amino acids, there is really not enough research to know whether or not they even do anything,” she said. “Most Canadians are getting a sufficient amount of protein just from their diet, so they don’t really need more protein.”

Ronan said pre-workout powders such as Razor 8 allow a user’s body to endure more stress and aren’t necessarily designed to give an energy boost.

Razor 8 includes a significant amount of “pharmaceutical grade synthetic caffeine.” The product, which contains 182 milligrams of caffeine per half-scoop, warns not to take more than two scoops per day, which would amount to about 728 milligrams.

In contrast, the typical 12-ounce soft drink includes about 30 to 55 milligrams of caffeine while an eight-ounce Red Bull includes about 80 milligrams.

Health Canada recommends an adult daily caffeine intake of no more than 400 milligrams, which Diamond says is the equivalent of about three cups of coffee.

The verdict is still out on how much caffeine is safe for adolescents, but Health Canada suggests youth should intake significantly less caffeine than adults. For example, a 150-pound youth 13 or older should only be taking in about 135 milligrams per day, Health Canada recommends.

When it comes to supplements, it’s a buyer beware situation, Diamond concluded.

“Bottom line, if you are thinking of supplementing, ask yourself do the risks outweigh the benefits?” she said. “There are no shortage of products on the market, unfortunately, many do not work as claimed or haven’t been well enough studied to determine how well they work.”

Ronan said parents and their teenagers should do their own research and come to their own conclusions. There are many supplements that can benefit teenagers, particularly those participating in sports, he said.

“It would be to their advantage, parents and their children, that they did their own research and understood what protein and carbohydrates and fat can do in the body and realize that protein is very important,” he said.

As for parents, MacDonald said they need to keep a keen eye out for the products their children may be buying.

“I think parents should be aware that your 12-year-old could go in and buy this stuff,” she said.

target=_blank>geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

Get ready for confusion, mayhem and panic in the streets on Monday, when Tim Hortons changes the names of its coffee cup sizes.

We need a revolution. Im serious. An uprising of all the people who order medium, said toolmaker Alex Gonzales when he was informed about the change. Well gather everyone who doesnt like this idea and have a huge, mass protest.

When you order your usual medium double-double on Monday, prepare to be asked if you mean the new medium or the old medium. Tim Hortons is introducing a new 710-millilitre size and calling it extra large, making the old, 591-millilitre extra large a large, the old large a medium, and on down to extra small (the coffee size formerly known as small).

Confusing? Nonsense, said Michelle Robichaud, manager of public relations at Tim Hortons. When you want a really big cup of coffee, youre going to ask for an extra large, and when you want something really small youre going to ask for the extra small.

It would have been more confusing to keep calling the old extra large by the same name when it wasnt the biggest size, she said. Robichaud said Tim Hortons is introducing the new size in response to customer demand – and certainly not to keep up with competition from Starbucks, which introduced a 961-millilitre cold drink size called the trenta last year, which is larger than the average capacity of the human stomach.

A preference for super-sized beverages can come at a health cost. Anyone who gets to the bottom of the new extra large size will have already reached their daily caffeine limit as recommended by Health Canada, according to Neil MacKenzie, the manager of the Windsor Essex County Health Units nutrition program.

Not only that, but people who take their coffee with cream and sugar will have to add more to get it to taste the way theyre used to, he said.

When it comes to our diet, we have a problem, and its too many calories, too much fat and too many empty calories. So its something that people might perceive as getting a better value, but its not such a good deal nutritionally.

Robichaud said customers concerned about the health impact of a 710-millilitre beverage are free to order a smaller one. Canadian Tim Hortons locations will continue to carry the 237-millilitre size, unlike American franchises that have already stopped offering the old small.

Certainly for some customers it might be the right size and for other customers, they might choose to order the extra small at eight ounces. Its really up to the individual customer, Robichaud said.

Arnold Goldman, 66, said he wont be joining Gonzaless revolution. Who cares? he said.

Its not too big, for the people who want that size. Its perfect, for those people, he said. I think people who drink coffee only care that theyre drinking coffee. Health is not an issue. And people who dont drink coffee shouldnt have anything to say about it.

cbrownell@windsorstar.com

or Twitter.com/clabrow

Starbucks to open UK franchises as profits jump

Starbucks posted strong profits as customers refused to give up their daily
caffeine fix despite austerity measures and a global slowdown and said it
planned to open it first-ever franchise in Britain.

9. A few squares or a small bar of dark chocolate deliver a burst of caffeine and are digested slowly.

10. Yogurt contains the amino acid tyrosine which aids alertness and memory, according to research carried out by the US military.

11. Use sage in your cooking. It inhibits an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, thus helping to protect memory function.

Drink
12. Your daily caffeine fix doesnt have to be bad for you. A recent Finnish study showed that three to five cups of coffee a day, drunk in middle age, can cut your risk of dementia later in life by two thirds. Caffeine stimulates the regions of the brain that can regulate wakefulness and concentration. Too much, however, causes paranoia and shakes.

13. Drink a daily glass of apple juice. This is believed to delay the onset of dementia by reducing the amount of the plaque in the brain that is believed to impair memory. It is also rich in polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that helps mop up chemicals known to damage and age cells.

14. We all know binge drinking is bad for you (it stops the brain repairing itself) but a tipple or two (one to seven units a week) may improve memory. One Japanese study found that those who drank one small alcoholic drink a day functioned better mentally when they got older than those who did not drink at all. Italian scientists have claimed that wine can dramatically improve the effectiveness of the enzyme MAP kinase which regenerates brain cells.

15. Make sure you drink enough water. Dehydration can cause problems with concentration and alertness because if you don’t drink enough water your blood volume decreases. Blood transports nutrients to the brain and when the blood volume decreases there is less oxygen as well as other nutrients to nourish, replenish and grow new cells. Drink six to eight glasses a day.

16. Have a cup of green tea daily. It is full of antioxidants and is said to prevent a build up of amyloid plaques which reduce brain function.

17. Replace normal milk with soya. Plant oestrogens in it act on receptors in the brain, particularly in the area associated with memory.

Supplements and essential oils
18. A deficiency of zinc (found in oysters, red meat and peanuts) can interfere with memory. Take a supplement of 7-9mg daily.

19. Introduce an iron supplement if you dont get enough in your diet. A lack of it causes low haemoglobin levels which affect the supply of oxygen to the brain. An iron-rich drink like Spatone can also help. 20. Ginko has been used for memory enhancement in Eastern cultures for thousands of years. Available in capsule and liquid extract form it is thought to improve blood circulation to the brain by dilating vessels and increasing the oxygen supply. It also mops up free radicals.

21. Take B vitamins which sharpen senses and boost memory. B3 is good for brain enhancement, B6
is essential for the manufacture of neuro transmitters while B12 is important for brain cell health.

22. Make sure you get enough omega-3 fatty acids. The brain is 60 per cent fat and one of the best ways of making it function better is to consume omega-3 which helps build connections between nerve cells. Available in supplements, other sources include flax seed oil and pumpkin seeds.

23. Massage with essential oils is thought to relax the tissues of the brain and boost alkaloids that help it function. Most beneficial are rosemary oil (a memory enhancer), peppermint oil, lavender oil, sweet orange oil and cardamom oil.

Mental exercise
24. The memory is like any other organ – you need to keep it in shape. Any demand on the brain brings benign, moderate stress that increases levels of the chemical messenger noradrenaline which boosts the rate at which connections form between brain cells, making you sharper and quicker. Do puzzles such as sudoku or crosswords. You’ll find both in the Daily Express every day.

25. Play games such as memorising lists of words or people’s names by positioning them at different points on an imaginary map of a familiar journey – your route from home to the shops, for instance.

26. Train your brain with problem-solving tasks such as counting the syllables in a sentence or completing 20 simple sums as quickly as possible.

27. Take up studying again. Learning another language is one of the most mentally demanding things you can do because it forces the brain to switch tracks constantly. The more educated you are, the more densely connected the cells in the left half of the brain which handles language and communication. It doesn’t matter how old you are when you acquire your education, the brain makes new connections.

28. Challenge your mind by breaking a couple of habits daily, such as using the “wrong” hand to work a computer mouse or just changing your route to work.

29. Computer games are not just for teenagers. Try on-screen brain training. Some even come with a brain diary so you canmonitor your mental speed and agility.

Physical exercise
30. Try to be active for 30 minutes five times a week.

Exercise improves blood flow to the brain and reduces the risk of certain types of dementia by a quarter, according to an Italian study.

One American experiment found that it may protect against memory lapses by improving blood sugar levels.

A study this year also revealed that people who are obese in middle age are at almost four times greater risk of developing dementia in later life than people of normal weight.

31. Walk to the shops rather than driving and do your own housework. Exercise doesn’t have to mean going down to the gym and anything that raises your heartbeat counts.

32. Get out in the garden. A bit of weeding and pruning can constitute a work-out and has the added beneficial effect of allowing all that fresh air to clear out the mind of stressful thoughts.

33. Give dancing a go. The tango in particular has been identified as reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 75 per cent because of the mental as well as physical effort required.

34. Have sex. A bit of nookie can not only provide exercise but could also improve brain power. Sex increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, which aids the ability to solve problems, and increases levels of serotonin which helps creativity and logic.

Lifestyle
35. Be sociable. Age-related cognitive decline is worse if you withdraw from contact with family and friends. Walking is good but going for a walk with someone is even better. Ditto doing crosswords together. Some parts of the brain need company to become activated.

36. Take up bridge. It is a sociable pastime as well as being a challenging game.

37. Join a choir. Singing makes you take deep breaths whichpushes more oxygen into the brain. Memorising words, melodies and rhythms is a great neural workout.

38. Be a giver. Research shows displaying affection or helping others gives us a buzz which stimulates brain power.

39. Don’t stint on sleep. Staying awake for 21 hours straight makes the mind behave as if you were drunk. Sleep is when the brain processes information and stores new memories.

Things to avoid

40. Don’t smoke. It damages the blood vessels that take oxygen to the brain. One study found that heavy smokers risked developing Alzheimer’s six to seven years earlier than non-smokers.

41. Don’t get square eyes. One study of 30,000 Australians found that people who watch less than one hour of TV a day have a better memory than those who watch more.

42. Don’t suffer in silence. Deal with pain as soon as you can. Attempting to cope with discomfort actually takes brain power and evidence from one American study showed that people who suffered from severe back pain for more than 12 months had up to 11 per cent fewer cells in the areas of their brain that control learning.

43. Avoid trauma to the head.
Don’t take dangerous risks such as cycling without a helmet or playing rough sports with no protection. Doctors believe that head injuries can lead to deposits forming in the brain which can cause dementia.

44. Avoid harmful, chronic
stress. It has been shown to be linked with short-term memory loss as well as Alzheimer’s.

45. Resist reaching for the salt cellar every time you eat. Too much salt is thought to cause high blood pressure which has been linked with memory problems and early dementia.

Seattle drinks a lot of coffee, spending about 2.37 times the national average on their daily caffeine fix. But that’s not quite as much as you’d think, considering what Chicago and New York spend. Thats according to an analysis by Bundle.

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I posted an entry about coffee experiment recently. From the feedback, it seems that I am using too little coffee in the experiment. For me, that was my normal dose of coffee in brewing so I thought that best relevant amount. This got me thinking though, how much coffee does people usually drink/consume here?Or whats the normal dose for a cup of brewed coffee?

In one of the articles Ive read before, it was recommended that a person drink 2-4 cups maximum in a day. Any more than that is probably a little more than moderate and its not too good to the body. It might cause insomnia, jittery, restlessness etc etc if you overconsume. I truly believe that while caffeine is a stimulant that keeps you awake, it probably will never replace the sleep you lost at night. So because of that, I only drink coffee because I enjoy it, not to get caffeinated. And of course, therere also other factors than the caffeine that we should be concerned about to moderate our coffee consumption.

Anyway,  according to the Wikipedia, 1 cup of brewed coffee is about 7oz, which requires about 14g of coffee ground if you’re using 1:15(coffee:water) ratio. While one shot of espresso(double shot in the wiki), will require roughly about 14g coffee too. This means that the maximum recommended coffee weight consumed per day is about 14g x 4 =58g daily. And that could be translated into 4 espressi (~3 if you use high dose), 3 espressi amp; 7oz brewed coffee, 2 espressi amp; 14 oz brewed coffee, 1 espresso amp; 21oz brewed coffee or just 28oz brewed coffee. Doesnt seem like a lot eh? Do keep in mind that these numbers are approximate for this purpose and the caffeine tolerance might be different for different individual.

As for my drinking consumption, I normally start off my morning with 1 single espresso(9g coffee), another 1 shot later morning. Then 1 single-shot cappuccino in the afternoon and finally brewed coffee about 5-7oz in the late evening. But my actual coffee consumption pattern fluctuates a lot throughout the months. There’re also many times when I don’t drink at all in a day or just one single shot espresso a day. The main point is, its the best way for me to brew a small amount and drink throughout the day, rather than finishing up my daily caffeine allocation in 1-2 go.

So I am curious, how much coffee do you guys drink per day?Let’s have it in this format:

I drink:
Coffee weight used for espresso/espresso-based: 9g x 3 =27g
Coffee weight used for brewed coffee: 11g
Total : ~38g/day

Seattle drinks a lot of coffee, spending about 2.37 times the national average on their daily caffeine fix. But that’s not quite as much as you’d think, considering what Chicago and New York spend. Thats according to an analysis by Bundle.