「カフェインの影響」にまつわる5つのウソ

カフェインは、「世界で最も摂取されているドラッグ」とこともある。毎日のコーヒーは欠かせないという人がいる一方で、健康のために飲料はカフェインレスにすることを心がける人もいる。
so this morning i was thinking about givers and the methods and ways in which they figure out how to give.givers are from many origins. some give because they want friends. some give because they have too much and feel bad. some give because someone else gave to them and changed their life in a positive way. some give because others didn't. some give because they don't want the planet to crash. some give because they are getting rid of something and want to be perceived as generous.and this last part made me stop.literally, a wildly unabashed naked madonna ran across the living room in my mind. i could hear her high heels and then her whole entourage from 1992 -- all the lavish characters from her book called SEX -- pursued her, laughing quite joyously.but here's why...i had a friend that i met my second year in college. she was a fascinating character with long flowing curly red hair and the personality to match it. but even though she appeared boisterous and wild on the outside, inside she was actually painfully shy and had an extremely difficult time trying to get what she wanted or express herself to others.our friendship had a 12 year lifetime. during its life, we both moved away to different parts of the world and she became overwhelmed with alcohol and despair. but we were united once again in the last two years of our friendship. sadly, we had made so many adventures together at the beginning that in the end, just sitting around and drinking and talking/reliving all those fantastic journeys became irrelevant. i gave up and mostly because i don't like over-drinking. i didn't want alcoholic friends who couldn't move forward. and even after the drinking stopped and the recovery took effect, we didn't have any memories that didn't involve the history of her drinking heavily. so, in all fairness, i would forever be a spiritual reminder of those younger, faster, more dangerous/less consequential days. i would be a gateway memory to the volatile past.anyway, in one of our last moments, several of her close friends helped her cart a bunch of stuff to the good will. she was moving back up to the city to take a job in her father's business -- her ultimate self-proclaimed defeat. it shamed her because it made her feel like she was making the exact same sacrifice that her mother had made. and she was making that same sacrifice and it was killing her, so those last days were clouded by her own disappointment and self absorption.in one of the boxes, as i was unloading at the thrift store, i found the book SEX. i was flabbergasted. it was only 1999 at the time, but i looked through the rest of the boxes and they were filled with treasures of the same ilk. highly personal things, but real rarities of sentimental value.anyway, the other folks/friends who were helping with her move and the clean up process got wind of the boxes and started going through them as well. in general, it was a sad moment because all these people were generously helping this person with her move and she could easily have gifted any and all of them with a seriously cool memento or treasure for their help and friendship and love. instead, cold heartedly, she boxed it up and gave it away to strangers.this made me mad and i'm bad with anger. i grabbed the book SEX from the box and thanked her for her strange lack of generosity which had left her throwaways in my vehicle and legally mine. i gave the others a shot at anything they might have wanted to. then i told her how the book would've made the most lovely of all gifts if it had come from her heart. it would have been something i never would forget and always value and treasure. today the book is worth 400$to me, that book is worth the friend i lost.but it's not the money, it was the lesson of giving and the power of withholding.however, the book did come out during the zenith of our best years together when we weren't mainstream. we were freer than madonna and the top 100.we had access to the top 1000 and went our own way.we dug into a different topsoil of music and dance and party.for us, madonna was tamed down for the public eye and campy with bubblegum relish. her brazen sexuality was glamorous but stylized into personal irrelevance. she was a floozy, not a great artist. she was a sexual shapeshifter, not an icon. she donned guises instead of tearing the meat off the bone with her bare teeth.but in the book SEX, things got spicy. madonna told a story that was much closer to a life path that we were curious about. and the photos were/are excellent. she worked with really great artists to create the book.and i guess i'll probably always keep this book if i can. it was/is utter genius and pure fantasy.i am already doing a version of it that i can present here without copyright infringement since so few people have seen/read it. SEX is based a lot on artistically sharing shame without fear.it's so outrageous as to be startling and shocking.it's also so spiritually shocking and revealing as to be great literature.either way, only one million books written by madonna were made that year :-)and that's not a lot of books for the world's biggest living star
torbakhopper/Flickr
so this morning i was thinking about givers and the methods and ways in which they figure out how to give.givers are from many origins. some give because they want friends. some give because they have too much and feel bad. some give because someone else gave to them and changed their life in a positive way. some give because others didn't. some give because they don't want the planet to crash. some give because they are getting rid of something and want to be perceived as generous.and this last part made me stop.literally, a wildly unabashed naked madonna ran across the living room in my mind. i could hear her high heels and then her whole entourage from 1992 -- all the lavish characters from her book called SEX -- pursued her, laughing quite joyously.but here's why...i had a friend that i met my second year in college. she was a fascinating character with long flowing curly red hair and the personality to match it. but even though she appeared boisterous and wild on the outside, inside she was actually painfully shy and had an extremely difficult time trying to get what she wanted or express herself to others.our friendship had a 12 year lifetime. during its life, we both moved away to different parts of the world and she became overwhelmed with alcohol and despair. but we were united once again in the last two years of our friendship. sadly, we had made so many adventures together at the beginning that in the end, just sitting around and drinking and talking/reliving all those fantastic journeys became irrelevant. i gave up and mostly because i don't like over-drinking. i didn't want alcoholic friends who couldn't move forward. and even after the drinking stopped and the recovery took effect, we didn't have any memories that didn't involve the history of her drinking heavily. so, in all fairness, i would forever be a spiritual reminder of those younger, faster, more dangerous/less consequential days. i would be a gateway memory to the volatile past.anyway, in one of our last moments, several of her close friends helped her cart a bunch of stuff to the good will. she was moving back up to the city to take a job in her father's business -- her ultimate self-proclaimed defeat. it shamed her because it made her feel like she was making the exact same sacrifice that her mother had made. and she was making that same sacrifice and it was killing her, so those last days were clouded by her own disappointment and self absorption.in one of the boxes, as i was unloading at the thrift store, i found the book SEX. i was flabbergasted. it was only 1999 at the time, but i looked through the rest of the boxes and they were filled with treasures of the same ilk. highly personal things, but real rarities of sentimental value.anyway, the other folks/friends who were helping with her move and the clean up process got wind of the boxes and started going through them as well. in general, it was a sad moment because all these people were generously helping this person with her move and she could easily have gifted any and all of them with a seriously cool memento or treasure for their help and friendship and love. instead, cold heartedly, she boxed it up and gave it away to strangers.this made me mad and i'm bad with anger. i grabbed the book SEX from the box and thanked her for her strange lack of generosity which had left her throwaways in my vehicle and legally mine. i gave the others a shot at anything they might have wanted to. then i told her how the book would've made the most lovely of all gifts if it had come from her heart. it would have been something i never would forget and always value and treasure. today the book is worth 400$to me, that book is worth the friend i lost.but it's not the money, it was the lesson of giving and the power of withholding.however, the book did come out during the zenith of our best years together when we weren't mainstream. we were freer than madonna and the top 100.we had access to the top 1000 and went our own way.we dug into a different topsoil of music and dance and party.for us, madonna was tamed down for the public eye and campy with bubblegum relish. her brazen sexuality was glamorous but stylized into personal irrelevance. she was a floozy, not a great artist. she was a sexual shapeshifter, not an icon. she donned guises instead of tearing the meat off the bone with her bare teeth.but in the book SEX, things got spicy. madonna told a story that was much closer to a life path that we were curious about. and the photos were/are excellent. she worked with really great artists to create the book.and i guess i'll probably always keep this book if i can. it was/is utter genius and pure fantasy.i am already doing a version of it that i can present here without copyright infringement since so few people have seen/read it. SEX is based a lot on artistically sharing shame without fear.it's so outrageous as to be startling and shocking.it's also so spiritually shocking and revealing as to be great literature.either way, only one million books written by madonna were made that year :-)and that's not a lot of books for the world's biggest living star

カフェインは、「世界で最も摂取されているドラッグ」と呼ばれることもある。毎日のコーヒーは欠かせないという人がいる一方で、健康のために飲料はカフェインレスにすることを心がける人もいる。

ただ、カフェインの効果や悪影響と一般に信じられているものの中には、真実ではないものもある。以下に挙げてみよう。

ウソその1:カフェインには脱水作用がある

確かに、カフェインには若干の利尿効果がある。とはいえカフェインは、コーヒーや紅茶という飲み物のかたちで摂取することが多いはずだ。つまり、カフェイン自体が身体から奪う量を補えるだけの水分を、カフェイン入り飲み物から摂取できると考えられる(ただし、利尿作用のせいで、水分補給としての効果は薄いと指摘されている)。

また、2014年1月に発表された研究では、習慣的にコーヒーを飲んでいる人は、カフェインの持つ利尿作用に対する耐性が高くなる可能性が指摘されていると、ナショナル・パブリック・ラジオ(NPR)が伝えている

ウソその2:デカフェ(カフェインレス)コーヒーはカフェインが含まれていない

コンシューマー・レポート」誌は2007年、36種類のデカフェコーヒー製品のテストを行なった。そして、「デカフェ」と表示されているにもかかわらず、20ミリグラムほどのカフェインを含むものがあったという。

有名な総合病院メイヨー・クリニックサイトによると、普通のコーヒー1杯には95ミリグラムから200ミリグラムほどのカフェインが含まれている。通常のコーヒーに比べればかなり少ないものの、カフェイン量がまったくゼロというわけではないようだ。

2006年にフロリダ大学が実施した研究でも、デカフェのカフェイン含有量がゼロではないことが示された(英文PDF)。同研究の論文共著者ブルース・ゴールドバーガー博士は、当時こう述べている。「デカフェコーヒーを5杯から10杯飲めば、普通のコーヒー1、2杯分に含まれるカフェイン量を容易に摂取できるだろう」。

ウソその3:カフェインは酔いを醒ます

2009年、アルコールを大量に摂取したネズミにカフェインを与えると、「酔いを醒ます」ことができるかを調べる実験が行われた。その結果、カフェインを与えられたネズミは、カフェインを摂取しなかったネズミと比べて機敏な動きを見せた。しかし、迷路を通り抜ける課題では、アルコールを摂取していないネズミに比べ、より困難さを見せたという。

「カフェインには酔い醒ましの効果があるとの俗説は改める必要がある。カフェインとアルコールを同時に摂取すれば、判断を誤り、悲惨な結果を招きかねない」。同研究を共同執筆したトーマス・グールド博士はそう警告している(なお、アメリカで2005年に発売されたカフェイン入りアルコール飲料「フォー・ロコ」は、カフェインが酔いを助長させ、多数の急性アルコール中毒患者を出したことから、後にカフェインなどを取り除く見直しが行われた)。

ウソその4:カフェインは身体に悪い影響しか与えない

言うまでもなく、カフェイン摂取には悪影響が伴う。大量摂取した場合は特にそうだ。とはいえ、悪いことばかりではない。例えば、カフェインには、運動能力を引き上げ、パーキンソン病の発症や症状を抑える効果があると見られているほか、アルツハイマー病の発症を防ぐ効果もあるとされている。

ウソその5:カフェインはダイエットに効果的だ

市販されているダイエット食品の多くには、カフェインが有効成分として含まれている。実際、わずかながら代謝を活性化させる効果があるとの報告が、2010年の学術誌「International Journal of Obesity」に掲載された。

とはいえ、カフェインの効果が「大幅もしくは持続的な減量」につながるわけではない、と、登録栄養士のキャサリン・ゼラツキー氏は、メイヨー・クリニックのサイトに掲載された記事で述べている。カフェイン入りの飲み物を数杯飲んだだけで、慢性的な肥満が解決するわけではないのだ。そして、多くの人が、コーヒーや紅茶に山盛りのミルクや砂糖を入れていることをお忘れなく。

[Sarah Klein(English) 日本語版:遠藤康子/ガリレオ]

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