Neutralizing Caffeine in the Human Body: Tips and Tricks

[shimun]

hello folks
what can neutralize caffeine in human body ?

thank you very much

 

[jim mcnamara]

Do you mean taking some kind of "anti-caffeine" drug? Not really. The effects of caffeine are usually gone in 4 hours time, as caffeine is excreted by the kidneys.
Look over on the right side for summary information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine
Try this as a more readable article for general information:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/caffeine-myths-and-facts#1

LD50 (Stands for lethal dose 50th percentile) If you give 100 people this amount, on average 50 will die (about 80 cups of coffee in a short period of time):
Most people would vomit long before this. Overdose usually comes from abuse of medications or NoDoze pills, etc.

The LD50 of caffeine in humans is dependent on individual sensitivity, but is estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body mass or roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult.

A supralethal overdose can be treated by hemodialysis and a prescription hormone but with only partial success. And only in a medical facility.
Example clinical study:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/caffeine-myths-and-facts#1 (dialysis )

We do not do folk remedies here. End of story.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

By drinking lots of water.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Thread moved from Chemistry form to Medical.

 

[jim mcnamara]

@Fervent Freyja

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearance_(pharmacology)
There is sort of 'kidney maximum" removal rate called clearance. If a patient is dehydrated, then your solution will help to increase that rate because the urine volume will increase. Otherwise procedures like dialysis which "bypass" kidneys are used to artificially increase clearance. Sometimes lipids and or proteins (do not know which ones) are given as an IV because lipoproteins are the "taxis" that carry xanthines like caffeine to the kidneys. More taxis == more increased clearance. I think the link explains that. Also note that free caffeine can exist in the plasma.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

I suppose that the rate of clearance varies by person. Birth control and other medications can significantly alter the rate that caffeine is absorbed, hence rate of clearance. I would love to have a lower tolerance myself. I have not heard of any medications that can reverse an overdose. I suppose that in the event symptoms are treated on a case-by-case basis; though, I imagine that since caffeine is a natural diuretic, that an overdose would cause severe dehydration. Lots of fluids would be a first line to "neutralize" the caffeine as quickly as possible.

By-the-way, congratulations on the staff award!

 

[shimun]

actualy remedy is orange juice.

 

[jim mcnamara]

@shimun - do you have reference for that? Statements like that require a verifying reference.

 

[velocity_boy]

hello folks
what can neutralize caffeine in human body ?

thank you very much

Do you mean to ask what substances can neutralize the "effects" of caffeine in the human body? This would depend upon what specific effect to which you are referring. If it was say, elevated HR than a beta-blocker drug or CNS depressant should do the trick. Those would also likely be effective on other undesired affectations from caffeine such as micro-tremors of the hands, nervousness, and insomnia. For the latter, of course, there are additional options, up to and including good old ETOH. LOL. This all depends upon factors such as the level of caffeine hypersensitivity the individual person has, as well as the magnitude of the undesirable effects from the caffeine.

I noticed a couple misleading posts above, as well. For one, even though the half-life of the ingested caffeine molecules is only around ninety minutes, it is not quite accurate to say that caffeine is out of your system within a few hours. Because the mental effects and the ramifications upon the CNS may last longer. Again this depends upon the individual's particular caffeine-sensitivity level. This is why some folks cannot drink coffee or energy drinks even, say, a good six hours before bedtime.

Also, the "drink water" suggestion is basically worthless. As it is too slow a method for somebody in the throes of troublesome caffeine hypersensitivity. The water is not going to fo much more than expedite the process in your IT of flushing the liquid portion of the caffeine from your system. Meanwhile, the actual active molecules that went to your brain would be un-effected.

Hope this helps!

VB

 

[jim mcnamara]

@velocity_boy - do you have any citations to back up your statements? Please do not make up stuff that sounds good.

Most of what you said is wrong. Dialysis is the accepted means of dealing with supralethal caffeine dose.

 

[Laroxe]

I think you are being unfair Jim, treatment in most cases of poisoning involve preventing absorption, increasing elimination and managing life threatening symptoms. They can use activated carbon, laxatives etc to reduce absorption, as its a diuretic water can help simply by increasing dilution and dialysis is used. However people with serious poisoning usually die because of the poisons physiological effects and caffeine has quite a few, the biggest danger is cardiac arrhythmia's, which are treated with beta blockers, they may have convulsions, they develop hyper-pyrexia, hypertension etc all of which are managed symptomatically. Its a rare type of poisoning and as such doesn't lend itself to controlled trials. However here are some examples of clinical management
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8053204
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3604494/