"That chemical of course is caffeine, which is now the world’s most popular psychoactive drug, used daily by 80 percent of humanity. (It is the only such drug we routinely give to our children, in the form of soda.)"
Or, as it's also known, "1 gram".
Caffeine is a stimulant drug that you cannot give pregnant women more than a cup a day and it gives you physical withdrawals if you try to quit.
edit: edited due to nitpicking.
Lots of things that are addictive or considered a drug can be safe in moderation.
>Caffeine is a stimulant drug that you cannot give pregnant women at all and it gives you physical withdrawals if you try to quit.
Well that's just not true and I'd caution you to not speak in absolutes. Pregnant women can have finite amounts of caffeine. We just had our first child and my wife's doctor cleared her to have a cup a day during her pregnancy. A cup a day is, as far as I can tell, commonly considered OK[0].
"Current guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and other experts say that it's safe for pregnant women to consume up to 200 milligrams of caffeine a day, or around one daily 12-ounce cup of coffee."[1]
[0]https://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/caffeine-inta...
[1]https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/eating-well/week-4/ca...
> Avoiding caffeine as much as possible is your safest course of action. If you must get your fix, it is best to discuss this with your healthcare provider to make the healthiest choice for you and your baby.
If caffeine isn't so addictive then it should be no problem to give it up for pregnancy :)
Caffeine crosses the placenta to your baby which cannot metabolize it. There are numerous studies of how caffeine causes birth defects. I'll change my absolute but it doesn't really deter from my point that caffeine can be harmful drug in some scenarios (pregnancy) even when drinking it moderately (2-3 cups a day).
And I've definitely experienced sugar withdrawals that felt physical when I reduced my refined sugar intake. Could those have been psychological, but just felt physical? Psychosomatic - is that the right word?
Depends on a lot of things, what type of sugar, the amount, your metabolism, your age, etc.
Caffeine and cocaine are also natural plant products but they are habit-forming stimulant drugs found in much smaller concentrations of the "medicinal" crop compared to the plant sugars found in the commercial sweetener food crops like beets, sugar cane, and maple.
Pure chemicals have concentrated properties that can be much more extreme than their low-concentration behavior.
Drugs or not.
Crystals are among the big three physical forms for pure chemicals; solid, liquid, and gas.
It has been well recognized that habitual consumption of these example substances beyond a certain concentration will lead to negative outcomes according to the individual, the substance, and the habit.
Those migraines you mentioned are one of many terrible withdraw symptoms.
It is the only drug I truly have been unable to quit. Despite weeks of being off of it, I always relapse after the cravings get too much.
It was easier to quit cigs for me than it is to stop drinking coffee. If it's a stimulant it's going to be very hard to quit.
The only reason it's not considered an addiction by experts is because you don't destroy your life when you run out, BECAUSE IT'S EVERYWHERE and super accepted (you can do it at work), also because I assume $$$.
So it's sort of like mobile/social media addiction but worse because it's more acceptable and it has physical withdrawal/cravings.
Now I'm going to go have a coffee because I have a headache and I'm irritated.
The fact that it isn't bad for you doesn't make addiction a bad thing. It's when addiction consumes your life and you forgo the good things in life that it becomes bad.
I didn't say it would consume your life and make you forgo the good things.
Don't talk to me until I've eaten this mug.
The only reason it's not characterized by these "modern addiction specialists", whatever that is, is because of both $$$ and how socially acceptable it is.
Since you can get your caffeine fix in anyway for really cheap (or not so cheap if you want) and you can drink it at work without any weird looks it doesn't destroy your social life.
Just because it doesn't destroy your social life doesn't mean it's not addictive, but I guess that's just the layman in me.
As a sort of meta point, every time I use the phrase "modern addiction specialist" in a thread somebody responds expressing skepticism that such a thing exists or that the definition of addiction I've provided reflects consensus opinion. This is...weird. The American Psychiatric Association leads their "What is Addiction?" page with the following text:
"Addiction is a complex condition, a brain disease that is manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequence."
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/what-...
Otherwise, why does it matter if the category of "drugs" includes coffee?