
How a Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola Convinced Americans to Love Caffeine - laurex
http://time.com/5405132/coca-cola-trial-caffeine-history/
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TACIXAT
I gave up caffeine and sugar. Being outside of the craze it is pretty amazing
how people talk about caffeine. People seem to believe that humans were
completely unproductive blobs until caffeine came along. You hear things like
"you don't want to talk to me before I get my coffee in the morning" and
"developers are machines that turn caffeine into code".

I was the same way. I cut it out and for about a month it was the least
productive I had ever been. Since then it has been great though, no more slump
when I don't drink it, no more withdrawal headaches, no more cravings for it.
I would go so far to say it is liberating to not rely on these foods.

~~~
squidbot
Agreed. Due to a health issue, I stopped my intake of caffeine at the
beginning of the year. I was actually recuperating in the hospital or bed for
most of the "giving it up" period so I didn't have a chance to experience the
productivity issue, but now that I'm back to work, I don't find I'm any less
productive than before even when tired.

The few times I've inadvertently had caffeine since then it's astounding how
potent it is. I didn't realize this when I was still ingesting large
quantities daily in the past. Now it makes my heart race, my blood pressure go
up and actually makes me feel dizzy and frankly, not good. But, the "high" is
still there and it definitely makes me antsy and hyper.

~~~
emmanuel_1234
If I may ask, and you don't have to answer, what medical condition calls for
stopping caffeine? I've read a few people (a lot here) who wrote the same
thing.

~~~
TACIXAT
I have an auto immune disorder (my brother is diagnosed celiac, so it is
probably celiac). I had sinus headaches my whole life. Like I remember waking
up one day in high school with a clear nose and it was remarkable. (I had
digestive issues too but to be honest I didn't mind too much compared to the
headaches.)

Girlfriend told me there was something wrong with me and to do an elimination
diet. It was the best I ever felt. I stopped eating gluten and felt a lot
better but I would still get headaches sometimes. It took about 5 years of
narrowing down foods to get the complete list. I don't eat gluten, caffeine,
sugar, sodium nitrites (deli meats, celery), and msg (flavored chips). Sugar
was the hardest to give up but it's worth feeling good.

There is this woman online, Mikhaila Peterson, who had horrible arthritis and
found that eating only meat fixed it. [1] It's a little extreme IMO but it is
cool to hear a relatable story. Auto immune issues are wild.

1\.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7fncJdVjy5U#](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7fncJdVjy5U#)

~~~
emmanuel_1234
Thanks! Very interesting.

~~~
squidbot
Sorry, I didn't see this until just today, so you may miss this, but in my
case I had a stroke due to an up to then unknown hole between the atria of my
heart. I needed to keep my heart rate and blood pressure down prior to a
repair procedure, so I had to give up caffeine (among many other things, like
walking up hills!)

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rm_-rf_slash
Headline is misleading. Not only does the article provide no contextualizarion
about the “coffee-swilling journalists” covering the trial, it also abruptly
ends at the trial settlement and says very little about how Americans’
perspective on caffeine changed as a result, only that the test results made
caffeine look good.

A good read, for sure, but does little to describe _how_ Americans - who were
apparently drinking twice as much caffeine in Coca Cola then as now - came to
love caffeine.

If this had been an Atlas Obscura piece, I expect I would have come away with
a feeling of fullness and satisfaction, like eating a well balanced meal.
Instead I feel empty and unfulfilled...like drinking a can of soda.

~~~
laurex
OP here: I debated posting this for reasons you mentioned, but there were
interesting tidbits unknown to me in there, (such as Sprite containing
lithium), and just the general idea about how 'drugs' or addictive substances
become more acceptable or in some cases, less, is worth some discussion. You
might enjoy this book:
<[https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/caffeinated-a-
hist...](https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/caffeinated-a-history-of-
our-favorite-stimulant>) for a deeper dive.

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peterwwillis
Caffeine, and coffee directly, has been popular in America since the
revolutionary war. The title is clickbait because all the article talks about
is a weird lawsuit relating to Coca-Cola.

~~~
protomyth
Coffee and Coffee Houses were part of the US Revolution. Americans switched
from tea to coffee as the tension grew with England.

[http://ushistoryscene.com/article/american-
drinking/](http://ushistoryscene.com/article/american-drinking/)

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empath75
If caffeine were invented in the 60s or 70s, it almost certainly would have
been banned along with amphetamines and everything else. Same with alcohol and
nicotine.

~~~
wahern
Amphetamines predate the 1960s: See
[https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/fast-t...](https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/fast-
times-the-life-death-and-rebirth-of-amphetamine) and
[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/...](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html)

One takeaway from the article, IMO, is that American hypocrisy and flip-
flopping wrt drug use has a long history. Something that is acceptable today
becomes unacceptable tomorrow and then later acceptable again.

