FoundationalConceptsNeuroscience

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Caffeine Theophylline Theobromine
Closely related to caffeine are two other molecules with similar psy-
choactive effects: theophylline (1,3-dimethylxanthine), found in tea,
and theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine), found in cacao—a dynamic
trio.
Caffeine-containing plants are for the most part consumed by
making hot water extracts of the seeds (coffee, guarana) or leaves (tea,
yerba mate). Kola nuts are often eaten intact. Cacao seeds are dried
and then ground into a paste and combined with sugar to make vari-
ous forms of chocolate.
In contemporary times, another primary source of caffeine
consumption is the large variety of commercially manufactured
caffeinated beverages. These began more than a century ago with Coca
Cola, introduced in 1886 as a nonalcoholic beverage to stimulate men-
tal function. The caffeine in Coca Cola originally came only from the
kola nut, but caffeine content has since been increased beyond what
would be obtained from the nut alone by adding additional quantities
of the pure chemical. Pepsi Cola appeared a few years later, in 1898.
Its caffeine also originally came from the kola nut. A variety of these
so-called soft (nonalcoholic) drinks containing caffeine were intro-
duced during the twentieth century. By the beginning of the twenty-
first century, caffeine-fortified beverages collectively called “energy
drinks” had proliferated via hundreds of brands worldwide. These