Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor (related to CCSVI and diet)?

Dave_NC · Post by **Dave_NC** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:33 am

So in doing some limited research caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, It constrictors the blood vessels and makes the heart work harder to pump the blood into already narrowed blood vessels.

With the current findings of CCSVI, constricted veins and arteries in people with MS shouldn't we all stay away from anything with caffeine?

Thoughts as I continue to look at this?

Cece · Post by **Cece** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:39 am

I agree...I gave up a heavy Diet coke habit just over a month ago on the thought that a) caffeine is a vasoconstrictor and b) nutrasweet in the brain probably isn't good.

On the other hand it's been mentioned here that either caffeine or another of the many ingredients in coffee is an iron chelator.

kc · Post by kc » Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:11 am

Well I can tell you that I am 40 and I have NEVER been able to tolerate coffee. I tried when I was 15 when I was a shampoo girl at a hair salon, I drank two styrofoam cups and had quite a reaction. So much of a reaction that I never drank it again.

People think I am strange because I do not drink coffee, although I secretly wish I could. I love the smell of it.

When the ccsvi info came out I looked up a few things that I have always had problems with and lo and behold they were all vasocontrictors. Also I think it is interesting that I had a "love affair" with fresh parsley. I mean I just cannot get enough of the stuff. Guess what? vasodilator.

kc
Now I have stopped eating chocolate as well. I didn't feel so great after eating it anyhow.

It is all making sense now.

thisisalex · Post by **thisisalex** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:51 pm

ahhahah kc,
the same here: i have drunken 5 coffees alltogether in my life... always makes me exploding like a bomb
and parsley is my new favorite also

funny

kc wrote:Well I can tell you that I am 40 and I have NEVER been able to tolerate coffee. I tried when I was 15 when I was a shampoo girl at a hair salon, I drank two styrofoam cups and had quite a reaction. So much of a reaction that I never drank it again.

People think I am strange because I do not drink coffee, although I secretly wish I could. I love the smell of it.

When the ccsvi info came out I looked up a few things that I have always had problems with and lo and behold they were all vasocontrictors. Also I think it is interesting that I had a "love affair" with fresh parsley. I mean I just cannot get enough of the stuff. Guess what? vasodilator.

kc
Now I have stopped eating chocolate as well. I didn't feel so great after eating it anyhow.

It is all making sense now.

Asia · Post by **Asia** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:13 am

Dang! I'm a coffee addict since the age of 9, and I do love chocolate, too. What do I do now? ;)

katie45 · Post by **katie45** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:35 am

COFFEE BLOCKS the uptake of iron...I have always been a coffee nut..now I
know why it made me feel better.

Vonna · Post by **Vonna** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:51 am

katie45 wrote:COFFEE BLOCKS the uptake of iron...I have always been a coffee nut..now I
know why it made me feel better.

Please tell me more! I have never liked coffee, but drink caffeinated coke. Am assuming it would work the same. My neuro actually recommended caffeine for my headaches, but then again it does seem unhealthy. My symptoms did magnify about the time I started drinking lots of caffeine, however, now the caffeine makes me feel better!

Am interested in hearing more on this subject both ways.

ikulo · Post by **ikulo** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:10 am

More on coffee and Iron..

Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee

TA Morck, SR Lynch and JD Cook

Dual isotope studies were performed in iron replete human subjects to evaluate the effect of coffee on nonheme iron absorption. A cup of coffee reduced iron absorption from a hamburger meal by 39% as compared to a 64% decrease with tea, which is known to be a potent inhibitor of iron absorption. When a cup of drip coffee or instant coffee was ingested with a meal composed of semipurified ingredients, absorption was reduced from 5.88% to 1.64 and 0.97%, respectively, and when the strength of the instant coffee was doubled, percentage iron absorption fell to 0.53%. No decrease in iron absorption occurred when coffee was consumed 1 h before a meal, but the same degree of inhibition as with simultaneous ingestion was seen when coffee was taken 1 h later. In tests containing no food items, iron absorption from NaFeEDTA was diminished to the same extent as that from ferric chloride when each was added to a cup of coffee. These studies demonstrate that coffee inhibits iron absorption in a concentration-dependent fashion.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/3/416

So what happens to the iron if a person doesn't absorb it?

shye · Post by **shye** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:52 am

Vonna
better to drink coffee for the caffeine than caffeinated coke--soda is a killer-too much sugar, (or if diet, excitotoxic sweeteners that kill you brain cells), and phosphorus, which will affect you bones adversely.
All coffee will do is stop the headaches, and if take with iron containing food, stop the absorption of most of the iron.

Cece · Post by **Cece** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:08 pm

This is good to know, especially the 64% figure for tea blocking absorption of iron from food. For me it keeps coming back to: more green tea!

I think if the body doesn't absorb iron, it would excreted along with other waste....

CureIous · Post by **CureIous** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:30 pm

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-7272-caffeine.html