I think I drink way too much coffee during any given day. Although it's not keeping me up at night, it can't be good for me. I think if and when I switch to decaffeinated coffee, I'll suffer from some severe caffeine withdrawal headaches for a couple of days.

The Problems with Decaffeinated Coffee

The biggest problem I have with decaffeinated coffee is the taste. I don't know about anyone else, but I can taste the difference between regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee. This is especially true if it's the same brand. I really don't want to sacrifice the flavor of regular coffee when switching.

I'm concerned about whether decaffeinated coffee is as healthy as regular coffee. There are at least six different methods used to turn regular coffee into decaffeinated coffee. I worry that any one of the processes could do more damage than good and I'm not just talking about the coffee. What we consume affects us and I'm more worried about the effect it would have on me than the effect on the coffee itself.

Naturally Decaffeinated Coffee

This is a misnomer because there isn't any such thing. It's just what scientists have labeled it as. The proper term would either be "low-caffeine coffee" or "caffeine-free coffee". Actually, anything that would indicate that caffeine didn't have to be removed would be okay.

Caffeine-free natural coffees were found among wild Madagascan species, but are not sold on the world market. They produce inferior coffee and are difficult to breed from.

In 2004, researchers in Brazil completed a study of around 3,000 coffee plants from Ethiopia and found three that had almost no caffeine. The plants appear to lack an enzyme needed to produce caffeine. Scientists hoped that by crossing the caffeine-free variety with commercial crops they could make natural brands that could be available in five years. This is 2009 and that five-year mark is rapidly approaching. I haven't seen any yet.

Health Concerns about Caffeine

Coffee has been linked to risk factors for heart disease, stillbirths, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and insomnia. I don't know who did the linking and whether it's coffee in general they're talking about or caffeine itself.

Researchers claim that drinking coffee can lower the risk of Parkinson's disease and help protect against bladder cancer. Again, I don't know if they're talking about coffee or caffeine.

I'm 48-years old and I have yet to suffer any ill effects from drinking regular coffee. I drink several cups a day and have been doing so for at least 20 years. What I'm afraid of is the possibility that it may affect me as I head past middle-age.

When I sleep, I sleep like a rock (or like a log, depending on what colloquialism you prefer). My sleep cycle is odd enough as it is because of all the online projects I continuously work on (and dealing with a global audience), so I can't say whether caffeine affects my sleep or not.

I think I'm going to try to hold out for the natural caffeine-free coffee to hit the market. If so, my worries will be over.

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