Comparison of Caffeine Carriers

Rough difference between caffeine carriers: Kola nut and coffee

The kola nut is dried raw and ground, which keeps the caffeine in its natural complex (bound to so-called polyphenols). This compound is only split in the intestine and makes the caffeine more tolerable for our body, as it is released more slowly, but continuously and over a longer period of time. However, the effect also sets in later.

The coffee is dried, roasted and ground before preparation. The heating during roasting separates the caffeine from its natural binding (the chlorogenic acid-potassium complex) and thus makes it available more quickly and in a more concentrated form. This, of course, strongly depends on the quality of the roast and the bean!

The caffeine is present in the plants in similar concentrations, but it has quite different effect patterns and is also tolerated very differently. It is recommended to experiment, as an intolerance to coffee, for example, does not necessarily exclude other caffeine sources.

Coffee Intolerance or Caffeine Allergy?

A caffeine allergy is rare, but it does occur. Once an allergy is diagnosed, all caffeine-containing products should be avoided. This lifestyle change is challenging and requires careful checking of food ingredients. A nutritionist can help design an appropriate diet plan. However, caution is still advised, as caffeine is also frequently used in cosmetics and medicine.

Symptoms such as anxiety states, for which some people are particularly sensitive, heart palpitations, restlessness, nausea, trembling, and short-term or even medium-term increased blood pressure can occur, especially with excessive consumption of caffeine. Sensitive people react more quickly to poor-quality coffee than to high-quality, gently roasted coffee.

Those who only react sensitively to coffee can try other natural caffeine sources. Other well-known sources are cola nut, guarana, mate, matcha, and green or black teas. Try each caffeine source separately, as they can have different effects. Be especially careful with guarana due to its very high caffeine concentration. Remember that there can be significant quality differences that depend on soil quality, cultivation methods, harvest, processing, and interactions in ready-made mixes. So there is plenty of room for experimentation to find a tolerable caffeine alternative.

Caffeine has no effect on me, how can that be?

1. If you feel little or no effect, you are unusually resistant to caffeine. Since caffeine is nothing more than a plant's own poison, which it uses to protect young shoots from predators such as insects, this could be seen as a great advantage from an evolutionary perspective. However, if you would like to combat your fatigue with caffeine, it is, of course, very hindering.

2. A lack of water affects the effect of caffeine in the body and without enough fluid the effect can be greatly reduced. Therefore, and also because caffeine has a dehydrating effect, it is recommended to drink a glass of water whenever you consume caffeine.

3. Similarly, lack of sleep can have an effect on the absorption of caffeine. What may sound paradoxical, since this is normally a situation in which one would reach for caffeine, but a body that is too exhausted no longer has any energy reserves available that the caffeine could activate. In addition, the messenger substance adenosine, which is released by the body to indicate exhaustion and to indicate the necessity to sleep, competes with caffeine. This goes so far that the body forms more receptors for adenosine when the natural state of exhaustion is suppressed for too long with repeated intake of caffeine and all available receptors are occupied. Then the caffeine cannot work because the body enforces tiredness.