Caffeine & Dave Grohl: Breakfast Of Champions Or Staving Off Withdrawal?
by Ozona Kidd

If you can't imagine starting your morning without a high-octane, triple espresso shot or at least a hot cup of Joe, you're not alone. Eight in 10 adults claim to consume caffeine in some form or another within an hour of waking up.

But a new study suggests that coffee doesn't really give us caffeine fiends the jolt we think it does - it just returns us to a normal state of alertness after a night of withdrawal symptoms induced by caffeine cold turkey.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, set out to determine the effects that caffeine has on alertness and anxiety in groups of people who consume a lot of it as compared to those who consume little if any.

Not surprisingly, the researchers discovered that caffeine makes people who don't normally touch the stuff jittery and anxious, but oddly enough it doesn't make them measurably more alert (maybe they're too distracted by their chattering teeth to be alert). Conversely (get ready for a shocker), people who consume moderate to high amounts of caffeine are normally blotto before their first dose and after having it they don't get jittery but tests show that caffeine junkies are no more alert after consuming 250 mg of caffeine than non-caffeine users are in their normal state.

If you're thinking the same thing I did after first reading this, you know that a 16oz cup of coffee (250 mg of caffeine) isn't enough to give any male, self-respecting caffeine junky a hard on. I, for one, don't start catching flies out of the air with chop sticks and barking orders like General Patton until after my first pot, but it does give one reason to pause.

So why do some people become drawn to caffeine in the first place, and others never touch the stuff?

"One can speculate, people who may be suffering some symptoms of depression may be more attracted to caffeine because of its mild stimulant," says Dr. Petros Levounis, director of the Addiction Institute of New York in an interview he did with NPR. Family habits and socialization may also play a role in directing certain people to the substance, too, he said.

Levounis, who says he drinks mostly tea, was quick to point out that caffeine dependence isn't technically an addiction, but he followed that comment by saying "But once you get into the habit, it feeds upon itself." Ummm, yeah right Doc, so much for the 12 step program at the Addiction Institute of New York. Can you say "denial" Dr. Levounis?

Obviously, Dr. Levounis and the folks at the esteemed Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology don't get out much, at least in the real world. Dave Grohl, drummer for Them Crooked Vultures drummer and Foo Fighters frontman has revealed that he really did overdose on caffeine and that its teeth-grinding effects necessitated the aid of medical help.

Following a report on Spinner, many fans had assumed that the video produced by his band mates to document the effects of his caffeine consumption and the OD claim had been part of a promotional prank, but speaking with Absolute Radio ahead of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity gig at the Royal Albert Hall on March 22, Grohl admitted his coffee intake became so great so that he was taken to hospital.

So much for the findings in the study… Nice going Dave!