By: Lilian Owusu-Mensah
A registered Clinical Dietician at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Frank Ayimadu says caffeine can be described as a drug, based on the influence it has on the body.
“Most of the stuff that we ingest don’t necessarily cross what we call the blood brain barrier, whatever we take has to go into the blood and then be channeled out through circulation, but then caffeine happen to cross the barrier that is between where the blood flows and where our brain cells are, so it is a drug, it is similar to alcohol” he explained.
Speaking on GTV’s Breakfast Show, the dietician said people who often take caffeine do so because of the positive effects associated with it.
“But the point about caffeine is that when people resort to intake of caffeine they go for it because of its alertness and then how it can help increase reaction time and then how it can make you stay active”, he stated.
He however noted that, active users of caffeine usually forget to take into consideration the fact that it can be harmful to other organs of the body.
“And then they forget that caffeine has other effects on other body organs not necessarily the brain cells, but it has influence on your liver, it has influence on your kidneys, it has influence on your lungs, it even has influence on minute cellular components, so it’s not just the brain effects, but it can also have issues with other body organs. So, if your heart doesn’t sit well with intake of caffeine, then of course you are going to get a reaction that you experience along the line”, he said.
The registered dietician further said that caffeine is not entirely bad but does some good to the body through the intake of pain killers and some other ways depending on how and when you take it.
Frequent caffeine users seem more alert – Clinical Dietitian #GTVBreakfast pic.twitter.com/AhYAaYIHbc
— Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (@thegbcghana) August 24, 2022
“Caffeine is not entirely negative, it’s not bad to the body because I would say that most of the pain medications that we ingest or we take, are in synergy with the action that caffeine plays in our body, so if you have issues with pain and then you want to calm your pain down research has been shown that if you have medicines that have caffeine in it or even if you ingest your pain killers with caffeine, it helps in synergy, it helps intensify the rate at which your pain will calm down so caffeine is not entirely bad’, he disclosed.
“Other surveys have even come out to say that individuals who have neurological problems, Parkinson’s disease is an example, when they ingest caffeine, when they take in caffeine, it is able to reduce the motor tremors, the shaking. They also did a survey in individuals who go on their daily activities already stressed, so you wake up at dawn foe segments, you go home….it has been shown that such individuals if they take caffeine, its able to keep them alert and make them stay active. Another daily life intake of caffeine or practical ways that we take caffeine is those who operate aircraft or those who go on long distance, may be driving. Such individuals are always tired, and the influence of caffeine has come out to show that individuals who take caffeine are able to keep themselves alert throughout their activity. So it depends on how you take it, it depends on when you take it, it depends on how long you take it. That’s where the point is”, he stated.