Caffeine Nation BBC Scotland Investigates

This is a programme about the science of a psychoactive drug.

In high enough doses, it's poisonous.

It can also lead to anxiety and dependence.

But almost all of us use it - including me.

All in the interests of science, you understand.

Tonight, we investigate the rise and rise of caffeine.

We've become a caffeine nation. We've almost become addicted to caffeine.

Is there a corner of our lives caffeine hasn't penetrated?

And could caffeine potentially be putting young people at risk,

even of dying?

Unprotected sex, or even a sexual assault.

He walked into his bedroom or something with the gun

and the gun went off.

I have coined the phrase "crack in a can".

Join me on a journey through our caffeinated nation.

Aaah, caffeine. No morning is complete without it - for me, at least.

I don't know about you, but I certainly

can't live without my morning coffee.

A shot of this stuff is, well, the dividing line between night-time and daytime,

and it's the world's most widely-used drug, caffeine -

80% of people have it in their daily lives -

but what do we really know about it?

What do we get out of it and how much do we need it?

Well, it's a stimulant, isn't it? And it goes very well with tobacco.

Sometimes, it's just for the taste,

but usually it's just for medicinal purposes.

I drink black coffee and I prefer it to be brewed...strong.

It seems like whichever way you turn,

someone's opened a coffee shop.

But do the facts bear that out?

Back in the '90s, coffee wasn't such a big thing in this country,

a lot of people drunk instant coffee, now everyone's drunk coffee.

It's become incredibly mainstream.

There's a coffee shop or five on every single corner.

And in terms of the numbers, what do they tell us?

Well, the in-home industry's just been, or just risen to,

over a billion pounds.

So it's been pretty recession-resistant, the coffee shop market is doing incredibly, as well,

it's still seeing steady growth despite the fact that people haven't

got as much money in their pockets.

Basically, people, in recessionary times, don't want to sacrifice their small treat,

the kind of daily indulgence.

And people have got really used to coffee.

And it's not just about the treat or the taste,

it's about people really wanting more energy, and loving

the energy properties they're getting from coffee.

What does it tell us? Are we becoming a more caffeinated society?

Yeah, we've become a caffeine nation.

You know, we have almost become addicted to caffeine.

It's become such an integral part of our everyday life that I think

we would really struggle without it now.

So we're living in a caffeinated society.

But what is caffeine - and what's it doing to us?

So, woke up this morning, no coffee.

I haven't had any chocolate, I haven't had any diet coke,

which is pretty unusual for me, actually.

And it's been really strange because you realise how much

caffeinated drinks and caffeinated food fit into your life.

The big reason is that this morning, here in Cardiff, I'm going to get

my brain scanned to find out exactly what effect caffeine has on me.

I'm going to be tested - first in my caffeine-free state,

then with added caffeine - to see what it does to my brain.

Ken has just gone into a 3-tesla MRI system so that we can measure the blood flow to his brain

before he has a drink of coffee.

All right, time for the science -

what is it that caffeine does to my brain?

It turns out, it's all to do with something called adenosine.

Adenosine is a substance that's produced naturally in the body.

What it tends to do is inhibit neural activity

and what caffeine does is block that inhibition, it sort of

takes the brake off adenosine's natural inhibiting function.

In other words, caffeine acts as something of a stimulant.

Having just been paid to lie down for a while, now I'm having a free coffee.

This is three shots with a splash of milk.

So according to the Food Standards Agency,

something around 150mg of caffeine.

And, oh, how I've missed you.

Ahh, thank you very much.

All in the interests of science, you understand.

Time to scan me again -

this time returned to my normal caffeinated state.

Would there be a visible change in my brain?

This is the image before you had your cup of coffee,

and this is the image taken about half an hour after your cup of coffee.

The blood flow here, shown by darker colours, is reduced

with respect to before your coffee.

Your brain will be used to a certain amount of blood flow,

and it's got used to having caffeine in your system, so this

blood flow here represents a more normal situation for your brain

than your caffeine-starved state

in which blood flow is abnormally elevated.

There is some suggestion that that may be associated with some of

the headaches that people get with caffeine withdrawal.

'So, if my boost in mood is really down to getting rid

'of my withdrawal symptoms, does that make me a caffeine addict?'

I would say not an addict. You like caffeine

and you're clearly dependant on it.

Actually, caffeine is a good example of the difference

between dependence and addiction.

You're dependent, in the sense that you don't function normally

without caffeine,

but addiction is when you have a real compulsion.

That was a fascinating experience - I saw my brain for the first time,

but beyond that, it showed there were physiological changes

sparked off by drinking a not-enormous amount of caffeine

in some rather delicious coffee.

Given that I'd laid off the caffeine for 24 hours before that,

it does raise the question of whether, if I'm not addicted, am I dependent?

And also, whether that is necessarily a bad thing,

because in moderation, caffeine can be your friend.

But what is moderation, and how much are we dosing ourselves with?

Back in Glasgow's West End, I met a man who's made some worrying discoveries.

Alan Crozier tested 20 espressos from different cafes in the city.

Lo and behold, we got these interesting results

where there was six-fold variations in the level of seemingly

similar espresso coffees, going from 50mg per cup

to in excess of 300mg from three or four of the coffees.

And that's for a single shot?

That's from a single shot of espresso like that.

And some types of coffee have a double shot.

And your latte will have a double shot in it.

That's a worry, because coffee drinkers can't be sure what they're taking in.

More seriously, it means that pregnant women -

who shouldn't consume more than 200mg of caffeine a day -

could drink three times that safe limit with just one latte.

Back at the university, I asked Alan what that means.

There's guidelines from the Food Standards Agency.

"There's this much caffeine for an instant cup,

"there's this for an espresso,"

and because of the variations, these guidelines are of very, very

limited value for you to estimate how much you're taking in per day.

Even if you don't drink coffee,

there are plenty of other ways for caffeine to get into your system.

I wanted to see what people knew about other drinks,

and that brought me here, to a somewhat damp Dundee.

Coca-Cola. That's classic Coca-Cola there.

'We gave people a wee puzzle - match the caffeine content to the drink.

'No-one got it right.

'For those of you playing along at home, here are the answers.'

The least caffeinated is ordinary Coke.

The most in our selection is a Grande Starbucks latte.

But was that what the people of Dundee expected?

Were you surprised by these levels?

In the cup of tea, yeah - and the Diet Coke and the Coke.

That's actually kind of a shock, that's mental.

I always thought a normal Coke would be a lot hingier than Diet.

That surprises you? Do you pay attention to how much caffeine you drink?

No.

Do you think you get enough information about how much caffeine there is in these drinks?

No.

Caffeine is water soluble - just as well that I'm not, really.

But what I think we've found from the good people of Dundee

is that they really don't have much of a clue as to how much

caffeine is in what beverage - but then again, who does?

Looking at the soft drinks that contain caffeine, it's not

straightforward to tell how much is actually in there.

The ingredients do state they include caffeine, but not how much.

And oddly, many of the biggest-selling drinks list it as a flavouring.

But is that the whole story?

We asked a leading nutrition expert to recreate - on a smaller scale -

an experiment done by researchers in the US and Australia.

It meant I got a chance to taste caffeine in its concentrated form.

Mike is making up two lemonades - one caffeinated at the same

concentration as some major brand drinks, the other without caffeine.

Will I be able to taste the difference?

I can't tell the difference between those.

And as you know, we tasted some caffeine earlier, I know exactly where I should be feeling it.

I'm not sensing anything there at all.

I tasted a slight difference, and I thought B tasted slightly more bitter.

So I'm going for B as being the one with more caffeine in it.

And you'd be completely wrong.

Now, that was a guess, and I'm glad you guessed wrong.

As a guess, you're telling me

it's really 50-50, more or less.

In point of fact, the caffeine all went into A.

'The original research also found

'most people couldn't taste caffeine in this concentration.

'So why is it there?'

It claims to be a flavouring.

When you see that on a food label, what do you think?

Now that caffeine is being added to so many other foods,

it makes them a little bit addictive too.

So if you drink a fizzy drink with caffeine in it,

you're drawn to drinking more of that more frequently

and the companies who sell it think that's a good idea cos they sell more of it.

That sounds a bit dodgy.

What does the organisation that represents most soft drink

manufacturers have to say about that allegation?

Well, I don't accept that it is there to create a dependency.

You're using terms which suggest that

it's designed to persuade people

to alter their mind in some way, which it clearly isn't, in my view.

What I do accept is that many soft drinks across various categories

actually contain caffeine as an ingredient, and that's fine.

It seems to me a very clear distinction between products

that contain a small amount of caffeine,

which will be labelled in the ingredients on the back

of the packet or the can, and a product that contains

a high level of caffeine, for which it's wholly right that we,

as a responsible industry, provide guidance to consumers.

These are the sorts of products Gavin Partington is referring to

when he talks about drinks with a high caffeine content.

Whether or not they give the consumer an energy boost,

they've certainly given the soft drinks industry a shot in the arm.

In terms of success story, it puts coffee in the shade.

You know, the growth of energy drinks is phenomenal,

-way above coffee.

-In what way? What sorts of numbers are we talking about?

Again, just like coffee, it's just broken the billion-pound mark,

but whereas coffee's been around for a lot longer,

energy drinks have only been around for, you know, not much more than a decade.

-So who's drinking them?

-Certainly 16-to-24s are drinking them the most

but I think a lot of teenagers are drinking them without doubt, as well.

-And children?

-I suspect some children are drinking them, yeah, definitely.

That's a worry, because the industry says they shouldn't be.

Well, our guidelines are very clear.

The guidelines relate to products that contain high caffeine

content, that is over 150mg per litre of product,

and they stipulate that they should not be sold to or consumed by

children. It's a very clear form of guidance, and we hope as many

people as possible will bear that in mind when looking at these products.

So the organisation that represents Britain's drinks industry says

that children shouldn't be drinking energy drinks at all, but are they?

This is the Mountain Bike World Cup near Fort William,

about as extreme as sport gets,

and it looks like exactly the sort of thing

that energy drinks want to associate themselves with.

There are plenty of children here, and some of them are drinking the product

made by headline sponsor Monster,

which has around 160mg of caffeine per can.

Where did they get it?

I see you've just come from the Monster pavilion there...

-Yeah.

-..and you've got a drink.

Yeah, they're handing out free Monster, to kind of attract people.

And how old are you?

-11.

-How many of those have you had this weekend?

Three.

What sort of effect does it have on you?

Hyper. I think it's the sugar or something.

And what do you know about caffeine?

It's... Not much - I know you get it in coffee.

You get it in coffee, but...

I don't know too much about it.

Do you know how much caffeine is in that?

Ehhh... No.

Would you take my word if I said quite a lot?

Probably.

At an event like this, they are giving them away free -

there's a very strong association with the brand,

you see all the riders riding about.

There's no doubt they are going for the cool factor.

And all you need to do is see the kids queuing up inside

and there's fridges full of free drink.

And I think it would be incredibly naive of the brands to

suggest that under-16s aren't drinking them, because when you

come to an event like this, it's plainly ludicrous. You know, I think

they're going for the youth market because that's where you hook them.

In a statement, Monster said:

So according to the industry, children drinking energy drinks is

a no-no, but marketing them to young people is a different matter.

Here, the dividing line between those two things is so thin

as to be invisible.

And it seems it's not just a weekend treat.

This is Cannock Chase High School near Stafford.

I've been summoned to meet the heidie at the school gates.

Even today, with our energy drinks ban

I picked these up at the gate from children walking into school

this morning, two 13-year-olds who were having them for breakfast.

Why do you have a ban?

A couple of years a couple of my key staff - a science teacher

and a pastoral leader - came to me,

and they said they were concerned about the number

of energy drinks the children were consuming and the effect

it was having both on their health and their concentration in lessons.

The ban came from concerns about caffeine,

raised by science teacher Kate Boot.

When I see children as young as year 11 coming,

walking to school in the morning drinking certain energy drinks,

and I'm thinking, "Hang on a minute, we've got to teach these today,"

and I know the effects that the caffeine can

have on their little bodies in terms of their hyperactivity,

when it wears off, what they're like.

Their addictiveness, they need another drink, they get irritated,

agitative, and I thought, "I've had enough of this".

And the ban has been popular with pupils, too.

I think it was done for the right reasons - I don't know

if the makers of this drink said under-16-year-olds didn't drink it,

but I don't know where they did their research

because certainly people under 16 did drink it in this school.

What lessons do you think other parts of the country should draw from this school?

I think they should ban them, too,

because children are more likely to concentrate in lessons

without these drinks, so they should definitely ban them.

What age were you when you were drinking these?

It was only a year or two ago so 14, 15, 16.

Did you know the industry says you're not meant to?

No, it's not well advertised at all.

Cans do carry warnings

that energy drinks shouldn't be drunk by children.

But is that message drowned out by marketing that affects young consumers?

Inevitably, in the world of marketing, frankly, there is always

going to be a question mark about whether, on the margins, does it

actually influence perhaps a section of a younger age group?

It may happen occasionally.

So who should be stopping young people consuming these drinks?

This is primarily an issue for parents.

I mean, that would have to be our starting point here.

Yes, we can produce our own guidance and that's designed to be

available for young adults, but also for parents.

But parents need to make an informed choice.

If we're serious about recognising the potential hazard of

high-caffeine drinks for children, then we should certainly be putting

obstacles in the way of children getting them, and for example,

children going into a shop to buy alcohol is forbidden, because

it's bad for them and they're not permitted to drink it.

Perhaps the same sort of approach should be used for

highly caffeinated drinks.

There is another worrying aspect of caffeine -

to find out about it, I had to travel to the United States.

The caffeine trail can lead you to some unexpected places. I certainly never expected

to be visiting the city of Winter Park, Florida. But that's where I am, because here,

they're not just concerned about high levels of caffeine

causing disturbed sleep or reducing blood flow to your brain -

they are worried that it may have

deadly consequences when you mix it with the wrong thing.

'In a suburban attorney's office,

'I met a lawyer and a family with a sad story to tell.

'It's about a young man called Jason Keiran,

'and a drink called Four Loko.

'Jason's parents and their lawyer explained that one can of the drink

'contains the equivalent of five or six beers' worth of alcohol.

'But it also had caffeine in it.

'Four Loko's manufacturers refuse to disclose the exact level,

'but independent analysis suggests as much as in two cans of Red Bull.'

I have coined the phrase "crack in a can".

And, uh, that's what I think of it as, as crack in a can.

It was a simple way to deliver a type of drug,

which are all those stimulants and alcohol, they are drugs,

and sell them to the masses in a very cheap way.

'In 2010, Joe and Vicki say Jason drank three cans of Four Loko,

'and after being awake for 30 hours,

'he got involved in a game with a friend's gun.'

At some point in time, he walked into his bedroom

or something with the gun and the gun went off.

No-one was there to see exactly what happened,

but the aftermath was Jason lying on the floor, with...

with the gun beside him, with a head wound.

That's in Central Park, me and him in the doorway...

'Jason died the next day in what's been recorded as a suicide.

'Friends told police he had threatened to kill himself

'when drunk before.

'But his parents say they don't recognise Jason's actions as those of the son they knew.'

My son, the glass was always half full.

There was no ups and downs.

There was no highs and lows before this drink and that day.

So that's why, to say that my son

killed himself is, is a very...

not...a true thing, as far as what I'm concerned,

because he was more or less poisoned.

It's just so out of character for him that it's just difficult to...

to believe that...

Believe me, before this happened,

I would be one of those mums saying "Well, what did that kid do?"

But being on this side of it, I can assure you that

you're looking through a different set of lenses,

and it's a much truer lens.

'The family is suing the company

'that made Four Loko over the drink's claimed effects.

'After Jason's death, Don lobbied the Food and Drug Administration

'who wrote to Four Loko expressing serious concerns about the safety

'of the drink and mixing caffeine and alcohol generally.

'The makers withdrew the caffeinated version.'

The good news is, is that the FDA did react rather quickly,

60 days to the day,

from the day that Jason Keiran tragically died, which, uh, is very,

very rare to get a governmental agency to move so quickly.

In a statement, the manufacturers of Four Loko said:

It would be hard to blame Jason's death on caffeine alone -

he had consumed a lot of alcohol, and obviously, if there hadn't been

a gun there, things would have been very different.

But regulators in the US clearly believed that mixing alcohol

and caffeine was something they needed to examine.

And here in Florida there's evidence that even at doses many of us

would consider normal, the mix can affect behaviour.

I visited a college bar in Gainesville, to see

what people who were mixing alcohol and caffeine thought about it.

The Red Bull keeps me going and keeps me drinking...

and does it all through the night.

I usually drink Diet Coke and whisky, Bourbon.

And what sort of effect does it have on you?

I mean, it's fighting fire with fire, you have a depressant

and a stimulant, so you're just even at the end of the night.

Does it work for you?

No, it doesn't - the alcohol usually wins.

Do you think there's any down side to it?

Absolutely not...because tomorrow when I'm hungover

you just keep taking more caffeine,

you go to Starbucks, you get an Adderall and you keep going

with the Red Bull and the vodka come five o'clock tomorrow.

So what I think we're getting here from the customers of this bar

is that there is a bit of resistance to the idea that

mixing caffeine and alcohol can lead to a new set of behaviours.

But what's the empirical evidence?

The reason we're on the Florida University campus is that

researchers here looked at the effect on students of alcohol alone,

compared to mixing it with caffeine.

Mixing alcohol with high doses of caffeine results in

a wide-awake drunk.

These individuals are wide awake as a result of the caffeine

and buzzed as a result of the alcohol.

The downside of a wide-awake drunk is the lack of perception

of one's impairment, which results in risky behaviours -

driving while impaired with alcohol,

unprotected sex, or even a sexual assault.

You're not alone in carrying out research into this area, are you?

The cool part about our work is when we were

conducting our research here in Gainesville with young people, there

were several other groups around the country that were conducting

very similar projects, and in the end we came up with the same conclusion.

That is, impaired judgement, impaired behaviour,

much greater than one would see when alcohol is consumed alone.

Not all scientists in this field agree with Dr Goldberger.

A review of the evidence for UK regulators last year

concluded that the balance of evidence didn't support

a harmful interaction between caffeine and alcohol,

although it admitted "substantial uncertainty" over that conclusion.

And US regulators are now reviewing the safety of caffeine in all

food and drink - including alcoholic beverages.

They've been ruminating about regulation for decades.

Now just recently, the head of the FDA has decided to,

and directed his people to look at caffeine

and to establish better rules and regulations.

We're still months or years away from any sort of control over

caffeine in food and beverage.

Back in the UK, we asked the Food Standards Agency what they thought.

They pointed to the recent review of evidence on caffeine

and alcohol, but said they'd also closely consider emerging evidence

on the safety of caffeine in energy drinks

and alcoholic products.

They also said they would consider the results of a European review

of caffeine in food and drink, due later this year.

'It's been a surprising, even shocking, experience for me,

'looking at this drug. Caffeine plays a big part in our lives,

'and it seems it's set to get even bigger.'

Caffeine and caffeinated products have got a lot more potential,

so, you know, caffeinated food is now a new area of growth.

It could be anything, from cheese to bread, you know, you name it,

it could be anything.

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