Caffeine has been consumed around the world for more than 1,000 years. It is the most widely used stimulant in the world. It is the world’s #1 drug.

Caffeine has been shown clinically to induce alertness and enhance physical performance. Caffeine has physiological effects on numerous body systems, including cardiovascular (speeds up the heart rate), respiratory (opens your airways a little), renal (that means kidney, caffeine is a diuretic, which means it makes you pee), and smooth muscle (improved endurance). It also affects mood (induces mild euphoria, which means it makes you feel good), memory (improves it a little), and cognitive performance (faster reaction times).

Caffeine comes from plants. It is a natural substance. In it’s pure form, it is an alkaloid white powder with a bitter taste. The mean half-life of caffeine in plasma of healthy individuals is about 5 hours. That means you feel the effects for about 5 hours, though it varies from person to person.

Caffeine consumed in beverages is absorbed rapidly from the gastrointestinal tract and then distributed throughout the body. More rapid absorption can be achieved by absorption through oral mucosa (the inside of your mouth), such as with VE₂ Energy Gum.

Recent advances in science have shed light on how caffeine makes you feel energized. It turns out it has to do with a chemical in the brain called adenosine. Adenosine builds up gradually in the front part of your brain as you stay awake and then adenosine levels decline slowly during recovery sleep. Caffeine is an antagonist to adenosine. That means it prevents your neurons (brain cells) from building up adenosine. In other words, caffeine gets in your brain and prevents the sleepiness-inducing adenosine from doing it’s thing.