Caffeine (C8H10N4O2) is the natural pesticide of coffee beans, paralyzing and killing insects that try to feed on them
According to Forbes.com:

Caffeine is structurally similar to adenosine. Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.
Recovering alcoholics or drug addicts will tell you caffeine is a “gateway drug”–it increases the chances of their falling back into addiction.
Overuse can develop into “caffeinism,” which may cause muscle twitching, insomnia, headaches and heart palpitations. Even with a mild overdose, about 300 mg or so (3 cups of coffee, 7 cups of chai), you can get “caffeine jitters”. You can actually die from an overdose of coffee.
Comments from Google Buzz:
Vamsi Balakrishnan – Voltaire used to drink ~40 cups of coffee a day…:)
Ves Dimov, M.D. – He had developed tolerance. The same phenomenon is commonly observed in drug addicts.
Vamsi Balakrishnan – Still, I think it’s amazing. I wonder what his withdrawal would have been like. Bennie Franklin also had some sort of deal with caffeine.
I think alcohol tolerance would have been better than drug tolerance for analogy…but I’m not really sure. (is the following correct as an analogy?)
Alcohol tolerance = induction of enzymes –> can literally drink more than once could, though still doing damage along the way. –> I’d think caffeine would be like this…
Drug tolerance = like heroin –> more needed for same effects, but once some critical threshold is reached, person will die of OD. (too hungry at the moment to think clearly)


