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Are these drinks ok in the church?

Shaunboulton

By Shaunboulton,
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NeuroTypical

NeuroTypical

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It's not an "allowed" thing - it's a "should you" thing. The church, in an act of what seems to me to be common sense, urges us to stay away from harmful or addictive substances. Some people may find caffiene addictive or harmful. If you can't function without your coke, or if drinking one gives you a headache, or if you can't stop drinking them because you'll get a headache, you'd be wise to consider staying away.

Other people find nothing at all addictive or harmful about caffeine.

My bishop tells me that the question most asked of him is "Can you drink coke and go to the temple?" And his answer is "yes".

LM

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PastorBob

PastorBob

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A friend of mine who is a stake president drinks Pepsi.

The word of wisdom counsels against "Hot drinks" and I believe modern scientific research is showing that heated liquids, are heads and shoulders above anything else, destructive to the teeth as they turn the calcium compounds to lime in every increasing amounts.

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Faded

Faded

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It's known as a gray area, and it's a gray area because the General Authorities have never officially defined "no hot drinks" as "no caffeine." Common sense would say that caffeine is bad for you and that you shouldn't consume it, but I think it is extremely important to remember that the choice is personal. If you make the decision to eliminate caffeine from your life, then good for you. Just don't start imposing your personal choice upon others.

The Word of Wisdom HAS been defined and expanded. Basically, all your typical illegal drugs, though not mentioned in the original revelation, are against the Word of Wisdom. So the "thou shalt not" of the Word of Wisdom list would include:

Alcohol

Coffee

Tea

Tobacco

Marajuana

Cocaine

Angel Dust

L.S.D.

Crystal Meth

Heroine

Opium

Ect, etc, etc

My point is that the prophets of God (the General Authorities) have not been sitting idle for the past 170-odd years. They didn't leave it for the members of the LDS Church to figure it out by themselves whether illegal drugs are against the Word of Wisdom. They are. So even if you live in a place where cocaine use is not illegal, you can know that cocaine is still against the Word of Wisdom.

In that same period of time, the General Authorities have been asked and pestered and solicited and plead with and begged to define caffeine as "officially against the Word of Wisdom." No such declaration has occurred yet, in spite of numerous requests.

As such, drinking a Dr Pepper is not breaking the Word of Wisdom. It's still bad for you, and you ought to consider that fact, but it's not going to keep you from getting a temple recommend.

Does hot drinks include hot cocoa?

Nope, hot cocoa is not included. Personally, I love the stuff. The prophets have explained that the "hot drinks" was referring to coffee and tea. So iced coffee and iced tea would be prohibited as well. Edited by Faded
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ninjormon

ninjormon

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My interpretation of the Word of Wisdom is that it prohibits the consumption of anything upon which you could develop a dependency...coke, coffee, nicotine, water, air........

I agree, caffeine messes with the nervous system in any form, it is scientifically proven that caffeine causes dependence, sleepless nights and restless days. It forms dependency and my biggest issue is that it weakens bones. Im sure that there are more reasons not to drink anything with caffeine.

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Mahone

Mahone

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Most harmful effects from caffeine are when it's taken to excess, like anything else really. Everything that we need to live has to be taken in moderation, otherwise it's bad for us.

I drink a small bottle of coke about two times a week when I sometimes arrive at work feeling tired. It wakes me up and I'm able to work and focus properly then. I've been drinking it like this for years and have never felt withdrawal symptoms when I sometimes go for weeks or even months at a time without it and I've never had sleepless nights/restless days which could even potentially be blamed on caffeine consumption.

Missionaries are generally banned from drinking coke / pepsi / dr pepper (at least in the missions around here), buts that is simply to please those members who disagree with drinking it, not because it is church doctrine.

Edited by Mahone
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ruthiechan

ruthiechan

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Caffeine is now listed as a teratogen.

"People often consume caffeine by drinking coffee, tea or colas, or by eating chocolate (Bech & others, 2007). A review of studies on caffeine consumption during pregnancy concluded that a small increase in the risks for spontaneous abortion and low birth weight occurs for pregnant women consuming more than 150 milligrams of caffeine (approximately two cups of brewed coffee or two to three 12-counce cans of cola) per day (Fernandez& others, 1998). A recent study revealed that when pregnant women consumed 300 or more milligrams of caffeine a day the risk of fetal death increased (Matijasevich & others, 2006). Taking into account such results, the Food and Drug Administration recommends that pregnant women avoid caffeine or consume it sparingly (Santrock, Essentials of Life-Span Development, 2008)."

Caffeine also reduces brain function. Cerebral blood flow is essential to good brain function.

"In one study, the researchers used quantitative perfusion MRI (a type of functional MRI) to evaluate the effects of caffeine consumption and withdrawal on cerebral blood flow in 20 healthy adults. According to the study, the daily per-person caffeine consumption in the United States is approximately 238 milligrams, or a little more than two cups of coffee. Half of the study group was categorized as "low" caffeine consumption (average of 41 mg of caffeine daily), and the other half as "high" caffeine consumption (average of 648 mg of caffeine daily). The patients were scanned with perfusion imaging at approximately the same time of day on two different days. Patients were randomly selected to receive a placebo on one day and a 250 mg dose of caffeine on the other day approximately 90 minutes before the scan. To induce caffeine withdrawal, patients abstained from caffeine for at least 30 hours before the test. The researchers found that caffeine reduced cerebral blood flow in gray matter areas by approximately 23 percent in all patients. The cerebral blood flow was reduced in the gray matter in the front of the brain by 26 percent in heavy caffeine users and 19 percent in the light caffeine users. During withdrawal, cerebral blood flow in heavy caffeine users exceeded that of the light users by more than 30 percent (Dr. Daniel G. Amen, 2009, http://www.amenclinics.com/newsletter/article/?articleID=200)."

There's also this article from the Ensign and you can look it up yourself.

LDS.org - Ensign Article - The Energy Drink Epidemic

Basically, adverse side effects can occur at a mere 100mg of caffeine. Two pills of extra strength excedrin or excedrin migraine have 120mg (65mg each).

I'm not saying caffeine is evil, what I am saying is to keep it under 100mg a day, and for heaven's sake keep it away from your children. Children are far more effected by caffeine than adults and can cause long term effects. If you wanna give your kids soda go for the caffeine free kind. The caffeine in chocolate chip cookies is enough for our little ones.

Edited by ruthiechan
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MarginOfError

MarginOfError

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I agree, caffeine messes with the nervous system in any form, it is scientifically proven that caffeine causes dependence, sleepless nights and restless days. It forms dependency and my biggest issue is that it weakens bones. Im sure that there are more reasons not to drink anything with caffeine.

Like ADD...wait...caffeine alleviates the symptoms of ADD.

I think you took my comment too seriously. I don't care if people consume caffeine or not. It's perfectly reasonable to think that you can drink caffeinated beverages and be a healthy person. As with so many things, it's a matter of frequency and dosage, not a matter of existence.

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ruthiechan

ruthiechan

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Like ADD...wait...caffeine alleviates the symptoms of ADD.

I think you took my comment too seriously. I don't care if people consume caffeine or not. It's perfectly reasonable to think that you can drink caffeinated beverages and be a healthy person. As with so many things, it's a matter of frequency and dosage, not a matter of existence.

Actually caffeine in the long run makes ADD worse. It's because that over time you build up tolerance to the caffeine so you have to consome more and more of it in order for it to have the same effect. It also reduces blood flow to the brain. The problem with ADD is that there is not enough blood flow to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, that's the front part, when the person with ADD tries to concentrate. In a normal person blood flow increases during concentration tasks in that part of the brain, in the ADD person it decreases. So the problem with ADD is that there's not enough blood flow to the brain, but caffeine decreases blood flow to the brain. Therefore caffeine is not beneficial to anyone who has ADD. While yes, in small, infrequent amounts caffeine can be beneficial as Mahone has described, but someone with ADD needs consistent, constant help. That is something caffeine can not help with. Milk chocolate should be the extent of caffeine consumption in a person with ADD.

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Wingnut

Wingnut

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Missionaries are generally banned from drinking coke / pepsi / dr pepper (at least in the missions around here), buts that is simply to please those members who disagree with drinking it, not because it is church doctrine.

Yeah, I'm going with only in your area. I know (served with) plenty of missionaries who drank plenty of Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew. (Although the MTC is about the only place you can find caffeine-free Barq's...nasty!)

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Faded

Faded

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Actually caffeine in the long run makes ADD worse. It's because that over time you build up tolerance to the caffeine so you have to consome more and more of it in order for it to have the same effect. It also reduces blood flow to the brain. The problem with ADD is that there is not enough blood flow to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, that's the front part, when the person with ADD tries to concentrate. In a normal person blood flow increases during concentration tasks in that part of the brain, in the ADD person it decreases. So the problem with ADD is that there's not enough blood flow to the brain, but caffeine decreases blood flow to the brain. Therefore caffeine is not beneficial to anyone who has ADD. While yes, in small, infrequent amounts caffeine can be beneficial as Mahone has described, but someone with ADD needs consistent, constant help. That is something caffeine can not help with. Milk chocolate should be the extent of caffeine consumption in a person with ADD.

In the purest sense, Attention Deficit Disorder is a chemical shortage, not a blood shortage. The person with ADD has a lack of neuradrenaline. This causes some interesting things to happen. The time tested solution has been to add a neural stimulant. Imagine how puzzled people must have thought when incredibly hyperactive kids were given a powerful stimulant (amphetamines) and it calmed them down. I wonder if someone will one day solve the root problem. Current treatments amount to only throwing a band aid on the problem.

Caffeine is a poor choice of stimulants for self-treatment of ADD. It really isn't terribly helpful, in my experience.

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