Coffee has never given me a boost in my day like it does to everyone else I know that drinks coffee. I've had coffee with multiple expresso shots, energy drinks, and even a couple a day and I have yet to feel the rush caffeine gives to so many people. An article titled "Why Caffeine Affects People More Than Others" explains that after a person drinks coffee, the caffeine enters their blood stream and connects to an adenosine receptor in their brain and depending on their genetics the receptor may or may not be sticky enough to hold on to the caffeine. Based on that idea my receptors are not sticky what so ever. NorthWestern Feinberg School of Medicine assistant professor, Marilyn Cornelis, adds to this research with the finding that those with low caffeine metabolites cause faster caffeine metabolism which is another way that caffeine may not be affecting a person's body as much as the next. I thought both of these articles were super helpful since I've always wondered why coffee or any kind of energy drink just never gave me that extra pop like everyone else no matter the amount of consumption.
Michelle, I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I completely feel the same way you do when you drink caffeine... pretty much unaffected, but I never knew that this was because of brain receptors inability to stick to and hold caffeine. It is also interesting that our caffeine metabolism is affected by our genes and differs from person to person. Your picture made me laugh too!
ReplyDeleteThis is actually crazy to think about because coffee does give me some energy, but other energy drinks do not. Maybe my receptors are different for caffeine and other energy drinks. I do not drink coffee that much, but when I do it does help me stay awke to study or do assignments!
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting. I am not a big fan of coffee, but this explains why I'm awake until
ReplyDelete5 a.m. when I do consume some. So my receptors are sticky to hold onto the caffeine. The second article was interesting as well as I did not know that caffeine metabolism is affected by our genes.