There is some debate right now about whether caffeine is a significant diuretic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/nutrition/04real.html
The Claim: Caffeine Causes Dehydration:
Medical experts have been saying for years that caffeine acts as a potent diuretic. Consume too many caffeinated beverages, and you end up drinking yourself into dehydration.
But research has not confirmed that notion. Most studies have found that in moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects — much like water.
One report, by a scientist at the University of Connecticut who reviewed 10 previous studies, appeared in June 2002 in The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.
Investigations comparing caffeine with water or placebo seldom found a statistical difference in urine volume, the author wrote. “In the 10 studies reviewed, consumption of a caffeinated beverage resulted in 0 to 84 percent retention of the initial volume ingested, whereas consumption of water resulted in 0 to 81 percent retention.”
Another study, in the same journal in 2005, involved scientists following 59 active adults over 11 days while controlling their caffeine intake. They were given caffeine in capsule form on some days and on other days were given a placebo. Researchers found no significant differences in levels of excreted electrolytes or urine volume.
Other recent studies have found similar results.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Caffeine may not be as powerful a diuretic as it’s often said to be.
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As it relates to electrolysis treatments, any dehydrative effects of caffeine are secondary to its action on the central nervous system and its actions on the immune system. One would want to avoid use of caffeine for these reasons alone without any regard to dehydration.
Of course, I noticed that the wording of the opinion above is very narrow. It only measured liquid elimination not the body’s absorption and usage of water. I would not be surprised to find out that this study was paid for by a grant from the Folger Family Trust.
THere’s been tons of research on this by the Journal of Nephrology. I don’t know, I just feel like my physiology & biochemistry metabolism classes don’t support this. Still I suppose it can’t hurt.
Here is something more relevant to electrolysis… Notice the error about blondes bleaching their hair. It is those who are NOT blonde that bleach their hair.
Why we turn gray
Published: Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009
A team of European scientists have finally solved a mystery that has perplexed humans throughout the ages: why we turn gray.
Despite the notion that gray hair is a sign of wisdom, these researchers show in a research report published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) that wisdom has nothing to do with it. Going gray is caused by a massive build up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of our hair follicles. The peroxide winds up blocking the normal synthesis of melanin, our hair’s natural pigment.
“Not only blondes change their hair color with hydrogen peroxide,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal . “All of our hair cells make a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we get older, this little bit becomes a lot. We bleach our hair pigment from within, and our hair turns gray and then white. This research, however, is an important first step to get at the root of the problem, so to speak.”
The researchers made this discovery by examining cell cultures of human hair follicles. They found that the build up of hydrogen peroxide was caused by a reduction of an enzyme that breaks up hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen (catalase). They also discovered that hair follicles could not repair the damage caused by the hydrogen peroxide because of low levels of enzymes that normally serve this function (MSR A and B). Further complicating matters, the high levels of hydrogen peroxide and low levels of MSR A and B, disrupt the formation of an enzyme (tyrosinase) that leads to the production of melanin in hair follicles. Melanin is the pigment responsible for hair color, skin color, and eye color. The researchers speculate that a similar breakdown in the skin could be the root cause of vitiligo.
“As any blue-haired lady will attest, sometimes hair dyes don’t quite work as anticipated,” Weissmann added. “This study is a prime example of how basic research in biology can benefit us in ways never imagined.”
I discussed this with the Chief of the dermatology department at a famous hospital. He is not ready to accept this reasoning for the gray hair. He believes this is what they reported because that is what they thought they saw but there are additional explanations for this observation. New young vigorous cells are growing and are expelled from the papilla. As they develop they have to pass a layer of melanocytes. These are the cells that actually manufacture melanin. As the new cells develop they have NO MELANIN. They are plump and moist as they are pushed up and away from the papilla. They then pass through the layer of melanocytes… the melanin is injected into these new cells that will ultimately become hair. They die and dehydrate as they get pushed upward into and out through the follicle because they are no longer connected to a source of food and water in the papilla.
Melanin was injected into the cell as it passed through the layer of melanocytes on their way to the follicle on the way out of the skin.
All cells have a life span that is unique and different than the life span of unrelated cells, therefore, when a cell that will become hair dies (the dermis has a turnover rate of about 28 days) it dehydrates, shrinks and finally becomes compacted as the outer layer of stratified squamous epithelium that we call skin or it becomes compacted in the follicle and becomes hair…
We know hair grows in cycles. If the melanocytes died due to a short life span, there would be no melanin to inject into the new hair cell. IF there was no melanin to inject into the cell it will come out with no color. ERGO it will be white. The fact that hair shows up as white in a random manner (salt and pepper color) this is exactly the same way hair goes through its cycles. Rats cycle from the nose to the rear but most animals cycle hair (anagen, catagen, and telogen) in a random manner.
Hydrogen peroxide may be a bleach, however, my contact did not believe it was so effective as to leave a hair snow white. He believed it was more likely that the melanocytes life span was shorter than a strand of hair and could be made shorter by the bleach and until one or the other explanation was proven he could not give any credence to either explanation until it was proven.
THAT IS AN EXPLANATION OF A WORLD CLASS SCIENTIST. NOT UNTIL IT IS PROVEN AND REPEATED BY SOMEONE ELSE WILL HE ACCEPT THEIR EXPLANATION. HE DOES NOT BELIEVE IT WILL BE PROVEN FOR A LONG TIME BECAUSE IT IS NOT VERY IMPORTANT. IF IT WAS SHOWN TO BE THE EXPLANATION FOR VITILIGO… ONLY THEN WILL IT BECOME AN ACCEPTED FACT.
Actually, abstaining from caffeine is helpful in allowing the client to be more relaxed than on edge from the caffeine high. The more relaxed a client is, the less discomfort they will experience. Regarding fluid intake…if the electrologist is using galvanic electrolysis, then the skin should be as hydrated as possible because galvanic works best with hydrated skin. The drawback is that it takes much longer to remove hair with just galvanic electrolysis. But, sometimes it is necessary to use it on certain types of hair growth.
In galvanic and blend one is using the electrolytic process to re-arrange the natural salt water content inside the follicle into a caustic soda, or lye, in order to effect treatment. The more moisture the more lye can be produced, and the faster it can be made. In thermolysis, the liquid in the follicle is being moved from liquid to vapor state in an instant, causing the gases to escape out the top of the follicle opening, thus flash solidifying the protiens of the follicle structure on the way out. The more moisture in the follicle, the easier it is to make this happen, and the less power needed to effect a perfect treatment of the target treatment area.
The moisture content of the skin, a function of total body hydration is essential to all of these.