Coffee Addiction: Fact or Fiction?

Coffee Addiction: Fact or Fiction?

"Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee."

It’s a common trope. The friend or coworker who can’t function without their daily dose of caffeine. Were ‘coffee’ the prompt in a word association game, ‘addiction’ might not be most people’s first choice, but it wouldn’t feel out of place. But how addictive is coffee, really? And where did this association come from?Coffee does create dependency in its users, that is true. But ‘coffee addiction’ differs from other substance addictions in a few key ways.

A Bit of History

Discourse around coffee addiction is rooted in a moral panic that spanned from the late 19th century through the early 20th. Prior to this period, while the negative health effects of overconsumption were acknowledged, moderate consumption was held in high regard. Thought to stimulate the intellectual centres of the brain and, for a time, to actually alleviate alcohol addiction. People back then referred to coffee addiction as ‘caffeism’, later 'caffeinism'. Worry over addiction led to an influx of research into coffee’s components and their effects on the body. But debate over what constitutes healthy coffee intake continues to this day (Fischer et al. 2019). Recent research indicates that low caffeine intake actually leads to better outcomes for the positive metrics previously associated with moderate intake: namely mental acuity, learning capacity, and mood (Machado et al. 2023).

Caffeine Dependency & You

In a 2017 study, coffee drinkers were surveyed on multiple sets of indicators used in assessing cigarette addiction. Researchers aimed to compare dependence on coffee, cigarettes, and pure tobacco. The survey showed that coffee was about as addictive as cigarettes, but only with regard to the day’s first dose. Unlike other addictive substances, coffee — really caffeine in general — doesn’t demand increasing consumption throughout the day. Rather, it demands regularity (Fagerstrom et al. 2018).Though coffee drinkers may feel euphoric after their morning drink, that isn’t a high they’re chasing; it’s relief. Caffeine is a stimulant that blocks adenosine receptors A1 and A2A, inhibiting exhaustion and prolonging production of certain neurotransmitters, namely dopamine (Machado et al. 2023). So rather than directly provoke a pleasure response, you could say that coffee interferes with displeasure.

What do the Liberal Arts have to Say About this?

Works Cited

1. Fagerstrom, Karl. "A Comparison of Dependence across Different Types of Nicotine Containing Products and Coffee." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 8 (July 2018), 1609. doi:10.3390/ijerph15081609.
2. Fischer, Edward F., Bart Victor, Daniel Robinson, Adriana Farah, and Peter R. Martin. "CHAPTER 1: Coffee Consumption and Health Impacts: A Brief History of Changing Conceptions." In Coffee: Consumption and Health Implications, edited by Adriana Farah, 1-19. London : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019. https://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/814/chapter/557358/Coffee-Consumption-and-Health-Impacts-A-Brief.
3. Machado, Fernanda, Manuel A. Coimbra, Maria D. Castillo, and Filipe Coreta-Gomes. "Mechanisms of action of coffee bioactive compounds – a key to unveil the coffee paradox." Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 64, no. 28 (November 2023), 10164-10186. doi:10.1080/10408398.2023.2221734.