h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't like coke or any other drinks like it - do you reckon chocolate would have the same effect? Just wondering

Well -- it does have some caffeine -- but not so much. It soes have the requisite sugar content though -- might be worth a try..

There is also Sweet tea -- Coffee -- Ive even seen caffeinated bottled water . . .

~Beeblefish (Wide Awake)

I don't particularly like Coke either. I drink it as a substitute for coffee because it has less of a diuretic effect. Dehydration will also mke you feel flat, and coffee only speeds up the need to pee thus dehydrating you.

Milk Chocolate (the kind most people know and love) does not really have a great amount of caffeine compared to coffee. It all depends on the actual cocoa content, and milk chocolate doesn't have much. The little squares you sometimes get with a cappucino that have something like "75% Cocoa" on it and taste bitter as hell will give you a boost. A hot chocolate drink will more likely send you to sleep if it isn't too sweet.

Cafeine is an alkaloid, and alkaloids are highly poisonous. Fortunately coffee and chocolate do not have caffeine in suficient quantities to do much. It does however have a stimulating effect. I have heard that caffeine is not really a stimulant - that it just reduces the neeed for sleep, and that some 'energy drinks' do actually have a stimulant in them.

Alkaloids are produced in many things that we eat. The most well known is potatoes. Remember the folklore rule that forbids eating green potatoes? It is true. When potatoes turn green, they are producing chlorophyll, which also indicates the presence of poisonous alkaloids (eating green potatoes will not wake you up - just make you ill). Cutting out the green parts deeply enough will render the potato harmless.

For more information about all things to do with food, I recommend a copy of "On Food and Cooking" (I forget the author's name - sorry). Loads of interesting stuff (some might put you of food for life if you're the queezy type - it should put everyone off rare meat!). It also explains why there is nothing you can do about ridding your body of alcohol.

The full title of the book is "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" and the authors name is Harold McGee.