Marina Kushner is on a mission, a mission to alert people to the dangers of caffeine addiction. In a world that is hooked on trips to Starbucks, she has her work cut out for her. The Truth About Caffeine documents the dangers of over-consumption of coffee and other caffeinated products we have come to accept as part of our everyday nutritional intake. According to Kushner, some 21 million Americans consume over six cups of coffee every day, and many are not aware of the connection between their caffeine intake, and their irritability, depression, illnesses, irregular heartbeats and a host of other symptoms that are often not associated with the real cause: caffeine.
Kushner, founder of a non-profit organization called the Caffeine Awareness Alliance, puts her heart into her quest to make readers understand how caffeine affects the body, the mind and well-being in general, and how the makers of caffeinated products will deceive the public into thinking they are in no danger at all as they chug down eight grande lattes and two cans of Red Bull…in one sitting.
The author makes it clear that she is not condemning people who drink one cup of coffee a day, or drink one diet cola, but she does want people to understand the typical addictive symptoms of caffeine over-consumption, many of which can be fatal when products are consumed in higher than normal doses.
If you like your morning cup of joe, take heart, you can still have it, but for those of you who find you cannot live without a constant boost of caffeine into your system, you have more problems than you think, many of which affect your heart, central nervous system, and just about every other body organ you have, even your skin. And it only takes a little education and awareness to turn that addiction around, as Kushner hopes you will after reading her book. She calls it a “caffeine crisis,” but one that can be reversed once the truth about caffeine - what it is, what it does and how we can unhook ourselves from it - is made more public.