Coffee is not just a beverage, it's a drug. Hundreds of thousands of law abiding citizens are physically addicted to coffee. But relax. This article is not out to persuade you to give up coffee. It is intended to help you become aware of how coffee affects you, how it can damage your health. After reading this, some of you may continue your coffee drinking habits. Others, however, may decide to make changes and move from addiction to conscious choice in determining your coffee consumption.

If you're a coffee addict, I understand how you feel. It smells so good, it tastes so good and it gives you such a boost, at least for a while. I know that it is hard to give up, and that you may not want to. But maybe you will. Or maybe you'll prefer to moderate your use and at least not drink it habitually.

It is the caffeine in coffee which makes it addictive, and which accounts for most of the known adverse effects of coffee. However, there are hundreds of other chemicals in coffee. Caffeine is a carcinogen, but coffee contains numerous other ones, created by the high heat of roasting, such as creosote, pymdine, tars and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The darker the roast, the greater the potential hazard. Studies linking coffee consumption with cancer are conflicting and inconclusive at this point, but there is a suggestion of a higher incidence of cancers of the pancreas, ovaries, bladder, and kidneys in coffee drinkers.

Caffeine raises adrenaline levels and heavy coffee consumption can lead to a state of adrenal gland exhaustion, where the adrenal glands are no longer able to adequately respond to stress by releasing enough adrenaline. Adrenal insufficiency can then lead to a host of other problems, including a weakened immune response, anxiety and panic attacks. Caffeine also interferes with adenosine, a brain chemical that normally has a calming effect, and raises the level of lactate, an biochemical known to produce panic attacks.

Caffeine also raises the production of the adrenal hormone cortisol, another stress hormone. Cortisol causes the blood vessels to constrict and the heart to pump harder, which leads to high blood pressure. Studies have shown that coffee seems to worsen the symptoms of persons with high blood pressure, and can nullify the effect of high blood pressure medications, making expensive drugs useless.

Some cold and sinus medicines contain phenylpropanolamine and ephedrine, which can increase blood pressure, to the point of causing strokes in research animals. Drinking coffee after using these medications can increase blood pressure even more, and significantly increase the risk of stroke.

Coffee should absolutely be avoided during pregnancy and breast feeding. Fetuses and newborns cannot metabolize caffeine in their livers, so it remains in their bodies for up to four days, stimulating their nervous system the entire time, causing irritability and sleeping difficulty. Animal studies have linked high blood levels of caffeine to premature birth, delivery complications, low birth weight and birth defects. Human studies have found an increase in the rate of miscarriages, stillbirths, breech births and low birth weight. Pregnant women are also three times slower to metabolize caffeine than nonpregnant women.