Caffeine, pick-me up or slow you down?

       Wake up, have a cup of coffee; that's the routine for many people including myself. As a young college student caffeine is vital in giving me the energy throughout the day to accomplish the long 'to do' list I always have. Caffeine is known, and widely consumed, for its characteristic of being a chemical stimulant and its ability to help resist sleep, keeping the consumer awake.
       Over the past thirty years the number of children and young adults drinking caffeinated beverages daily has increased by 70 percent (SNSF, 2013). This rise in the average is not forecasted to decrease any time soon because the market for energy drinks and caffeine-laden beverages keeps climbing and climbing every day (SNSF, 2013). There hasn't been much information on caffeine nor the effects it may or may not have on your body or brain. The average person doesn't know much about the way things work in their own body, and brain in particular, but researchers are working hard trying to crack the mystery of caffeine for everyone. The Swiss National Science Foundation recently supported a study on the effects of caffeine consumption on the brain development in children and young adults that was published in PLOS ONE.

        The brain is the most mysterious organ in the human body and it has taken years of research to know what we do know about the brain. Even with all that we do know, there are many vital defecits in the information known to us about the way the brain works in everyday life tasks. The brain controls everything that we do, think, feel, see, remember, say, hear, etc. The brain is shaped from our individual unique genes, but is largely influenced by individual environments and experiences of each individual person (Philips, 2006). No two brains are alike, they may have similar functions and connections but, they are completely unique from person to person. New brain cells are made by neurogenesis from stem cells (Medicine Net, 2012). Stem cells differentiate into brain cells or neurons, this process normally occurs in large bursts of growth reaching a macximum just before puberty, and again peaking during young adulthood. (Olini, Kurth & Huber, 2013) After the burst of growth comes a period of consolidation; where all the cells that aren't required are pruned, leaving only those needed (Olini, Kurth & Huber, 2013). This process of optimism of the brain cells is presumed to happen during deep sleep (SNSF, 2013). But, what if caffeine introduced to the young, still developing, brain affects that overall development process? That is the question the researchers wanted to test, although not with the human brain, they tested rats that were in the same developmental stage as children and young adults.
         The article The Effects of Caffeine on Sleep and Maturational Markers in the Rat, published in the journal PLOS ONE lays out the entire experimental procedure and complete results analysis. The rats in this study underwent surgery before the experiment to insert devices for longitudinal electrocortical readings after the caffeine was administered (Olini, Kurth & Huber, 2013). The rats were 28 male rats that were 22 days old, which is the pubescent age of these rats. In addition to the brain scan, the rats behaviors and anatomical development were also observed. The researchers took a base line development readings and observed control rats of the same age during the experimentation drinking only pure water.
       The results of the researchers study showed that those rats administered caffeine daily had far more neural connections in their brains than the control rats (Olini, Kurth & Huber, 2013). This indicated a slower maturation process of the rats' brain after caffeine, the behavior of these rats were also vastly different than those drinking water (SNSF, 2013). Rats generally become more curious as they age, but the caffeinated rats showed no curiosity, they remained timid and cautious compared to the control rats (SNSF, 2013). The brains of rats aren't an exact anatomical copy to the human brain, but there are similarities in how the connections are made in the brain during the maturation process of both rats and humans. These results cast a shadow over caffeine consumption in children and young adults; and if the average caffeine consumption in this age group doesn't show signs of reducing, there has to be something done about this problem or there could be severe developmental consequences. The brain is a mystery but science is getting pretty close to unveiling it.

References

 

Medicine Net. (2012, June 14). Definition of neurogenesis. Retrieved from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18200

 

Philips, H. (2006, September 04). Introduction: the human brain. Retrieved from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9969-introduction-the-human-brain.html?page=1

Swiss National Science Foundation. (2013, September 24). Caffeine consumption slows brain development, rat study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130924091323.htm#.UkbwFs34ItE.email

Olini, N., Kurth, S., & Huber, R. (2013). The effects of caffeine on sleep and maturational markers in the rat. PLoS ONE, 8(9), doi: 10.1371 Retrieced from http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0072539