Get ready to give up that morning latte and kiss cola goodbye. Here comes Caffeine Blues, by Stephen Cherniske, M.S., the first book to expose the dark side of America's No. 1 drug: caffeine. If you are one of the nearly 80 percent of Americans hooked on caffeine--a natural component of coffee, tea, and chocolate and a common ingredient in drugs, soda, candy, and other products--this book will be a wake-up call.

In Caffeine Blues, Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist with more than 25 years of academic research and clinical experience and author of the bestseller The DHEA Breakthrough, reveals the truth about caffeine and explains how to kick the habit forever. Cherniske discusses how caffeine affects the body and brain and why it can increase your risk of dozens of health disorders ranging from osteoporosis, diabetes, and PMS to hypertension and heartburn. After spending 300 pages documenting all of caffeine's evils, Cherniske finally offers a decaffeinated life line: "Off the Bean and on to Vitality," a step-by-step, clinically proven program to help readers kick the habit and boost energy levels naturally. --Ellen Albertson


From Library Journal
Nutritional biochemist Cherniske claims that people who consume more than 300 milligrams of caffeine per day are victims of caffeinism: a state of chronic toxicity resulting from excess caffeine consumption and a major contributing factor to heart disease, hypertension, stomach ailments, diabetes, and sleep disorders. Cherniske also warns that most coffee beans are contaminated by pesticides, which harm not only drinkers but also exposed agricultural workers. For conservationists, he highlights the effects of the pesticides on the land and water surrounding the plantations as well as the destruction of the rain forest to make room for coffee plantations. The presence of caffeine in over-the-counter medicines, candy, and soft drinks is stressed, especially in the addiction of children. Cherniske also suggests alternatives to caffeine and ways of quitting the habit. While his book is thought-provoking, its rhetoric is somewhat extreme. Not a necessary purchase.?Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans Hosp., Tampa, FLCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In a real eye-opener, Cherniske gathers a substantial amount of material from scientific journals and puts it all together logically and readably. Caffeine, he points out, doesn't give you energy: it borrows from the adrenals and the liver on a short-term basis and creates metabolic and neurologic stress. Doctors seldom ask patients about caffeine intake because they assume everyone drinks it and, therefore, it can't do any harm. Cumulative effects of caffeine consumption can damage the body and mind, however, and coffee is hardly the only drink containing it. Cherniske emphasizes the dangers of many soft drinks to which caffeine is increasingly added as part of the "cola wars," which should be thought of as waged not between Coke and Pepsi but against people from childhood on. Indeed, soft drink producers make deals with schools to place vending machines so that students can be hooked on caffeine and sugar early. This is not another do-gooder tirade; it is a solidly based work that deserves a broad readership. William Beatty

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An accomplished nutritional biochemist and medical writer exposes the harmful side effects of caffeine and gives readers a step-by-step program to reduce intake, boost energy, create a new vibrant life and recognize the dangers.

SYNOPSIS