The truth about caffeine  

Caffeine myths are challenged

Paracelsus, a Swiss renaissance doctor, said, “Nothing is a poison and a cure in itself.”  And that is the best statement that can be used when talking about caffeine. The following is a summary of an investigation that was prepared for Yaucono’s Agenda, an annual publication. The agenda for 2004 was dedicated to breaking all the myths related to caffeine. Each statement is accompanied with a reference.

 Scientific consensus about coffee

           The United States National Library of Medicine has more than 19,000 studies that have been conducted on coffee or caffeine. Coffee has been one of the substances that has been studied the most around the world and none of the studies has been able to prove that coffee can cause any reasonable damage.  The United States Food and Drug Administration classifies caffeine among the substances “generally recognized as safe”.  The prudent consumption of coffee is not harmful to healthy people.  In fact, the consumption of two, three and up to four cups of coffee a day is a tolerable dose and can be positive for the body because of its natural stimulus effect.  It is an injection of energy with beneficial effects to the neuromuscular functions.

 “Evaluation of Caffeine Safety," A Scientific Status Summary by the Institute of Food Technologists' Expert Panel on Food Safety & Nutrition; U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Additive Chemistry Evaluation Branch; "Caffeine, Coffee and Health", Silvio Garatini, M.D.: http://www.coffeescience.org

A natural stimulant

Caffeine is a substance that stimulates the central nervous system and has been used in the medical field as a heart stimulant. In healthy people, a moderate dose of caffeine increases general well being, increases both endurance and energy and has little or no effect on exercise tolerance. Recent studies have found that caffeine can be responsible for cutting fat storage by increasing energy expenditure and it may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. In fact, recent scientific research conducted at the Mayo Clinic, Harvard School of Public Health, U.S. Veterans Administration and other medical centers show that coffee is not only safe but beneficial—drinking from 2 to 4 cups of coffee a day may lower the risk of colon cancer (25%), gallstones (45%), cirrhosis of the liver (80%), and Parkinson’s Disease (50% - 80%), among other diseases. It can even reduce the incidence of asthma (25%) because of the presence of the chemical theophylline in coffee.

 “Caffeine, Coffee and Health", Silvio Garatini, MD; Other Questions about Coffee and Health, reviewed by Alan Levinton, M.D., Boston, Mass.; Coffee Science Source http://www.coffeescience.org

Why is coffee associated with caffeine?

It is because of the name. The truth is that caffeine is found in plants, medicines, caffeinated soft drinks, chocolate, cocoa, mate and tea. Caffeine is a natural substance that is present in the leaves, seeds or fruits of more than sixty plant species worldwide in addition to the coffee plant. It is considered normal consumption to drink 2 or 3 cups of coffee daily and in many cases even up to 4. Why? It takes coffee 15 minutes to produce any effect on the body, and the caffeine is eliminated a few hours after consumption which is approximately 3 to 5 hours.

 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, IFIC Review Caffeine and Health; http://www.coffeefaq.com

 Caffeine content in some products

          Ninety percent of North Americans consume caffeine daily. Analyze the following table that shows that amount of caffeine in products that are consumed daily.

Cup of coffee                         90-150mg

Cup of tea                              30-70mg

Coca Cola Classic               34.5mg

Pepsi Cola                             37.5mg

Chocolate Bar                       30mg

Coffee Yogurt                        45mg

Stay awake pill                      100mg

Excedrin (2 tablets)               130 mg

Vivarin                                    200mg 

Anacin                                    64mg

Cold Relief tablet                  30mg

Caffeine Contents of Foods and Drugs, CSpinet

Least likely to overdose on coffee

Dying of a coffee overdose is not likely, unless it is consumed intravenously. The lethal dosage of caffeine is 10 grams. Each cup of coffee has 100 milligrams of caffeine, thus one would need 100 cups of coffee to reach a lethal dose.

Bunker and McWilliams in J. Am. Diet. 74:28-32, 1979;  Variability in caffeine consumption from coffee and tea: Possible significance for epidemiological studies by B. Stavric, R. Klassen, B. Watkinson, K. Karpinski, R. Stapley, and P. Fried in "Foundations of Chemical Toxicology", Volume 26, number 2, pp. 111-118, 1988; http://www.coffeefaq.com/caffaq.html

Less suicide victims among coffee drinkers

A study that was recently added to the Epidemiology Annals indicates that there are less suicide victims among coffee drinkers than among non-coffee drinkers. The study was conducted for Kaiser Permanente in North California using a sample of 130,000 Northern California residents and the records of 4,500 who have died. The study was conducted by Arthur Klatsky, a cardiologist, who states that the study covered a wide multiracial sample and examined various mortality factors including alcohol consumption and cigarettes.

 Kaiser Permanente is one of the biggest health care organizations in the United States with 8 million members; founded more than 50 years ago. Annals of Epidemiology is an international publication of the American College of Epidemiology.

 Millionaire Budget has been assigned to break all coffee myths

           The International Coffee Organization announced in September 2003 in Cartagena that it was assigning $15 million to support studies that could demonstrate the benefits of the coffee grain and could prove that it is not harmful to health. “In a society that is every day more conscientious and alert to the influence of food and drinks to health, coffee has been one of the substances of daily consumption that has been studied, analyzed and also been slandered the most”, commented Nestor Osorio, executive director of ICO.

 The International Coffee Organization is an intergovernmental body established more than 89 years ago whose members are countries that import and export coffee.

 Coffee and the Olympics

 After two years of investigation, analysis and debate, the World Anti-Drug Agency took coffee out of the list of prohibited substances for Olympic athletes.

Wilson, Stephen. Sports Writer, Associated Press, Sept 18, 2003

Reduces the possibility of drug addiction

The young people that consume caffeine are less likely to consume hallucinogens and psychotropic substances, according to the Colombian scientist Manuel Elkin. “There are studies that show that the people who drink coffee do not use cocaine, psychoactive substances or any dependency substance. “Coffee is a type of stimulant that does not allow people to consume any other stimulants”, Patarroyo, who invented the synthetic vaccine against malaria, said in an interview for the Reuters News Agency.

Reuters, September 15, 2003

International Scientists defend the grain

Peter Martin (American) affirmed in an International Coffee Organization conference in Cartagena in 2003 that moderate consumption of coffee is beneficial for human health, creating anti-depressive effects that serve to control degenerating sicknesses such as Parkinson’s disease.

Astrid Nehlig (French) posed that two of the cerebral activities that are “the most sensitive for coffee are motor skills and sleep. During the day, moderate consumption of coffee improves attention, energy and well being. This also improves the individual’s self confidence, concentration and efficiency in intellectual work”.

Kazumi Yagasaki (Japanese) mentioned that the consumption of aromatic coffee is not a generator of cancer; on the contrary, “It protects the person that consumes it because the product has several diverse components.”

Cristina Scaccini (Italian) stressed the importance of coffee as an antioxidant and added that, “The antioxidants are substances that protect against destructive stress.”

Notimex, Agencia de Noticias, September 15, 2003

As the quality of the coffee increases, less is the caffeine content

When the coffee’s quality is very high, the quantity of caffeine is less. The content of caffeine in a cup of coffee depends on many factors that are uncountable. The Arabica grain has less caffeine that Robusta grain. In the Arabica grain the content of caffeine is 1.2% and in Robusta it is 2.2%.

The amount of caffeine in any single serving of coffee depends on a number of factors, including:  the variety of coffee bean, where the bean was grown , the particular coffee "grind" , the method of preparation,  and the size of the cup, mug, etc. in which the coffee is served.  View the following table:

Product                                               Caffeine Content                               Average content

Coffee in general (8oz)                     65-120 milligrams                             85 mgs

Brewed                                               60-85 milligrams                               75 mgs

Espresso (1oz)                                  30-50 milligrams                               40 mgs

Decaffeinated (Instant)                     1-4 milligrams                                      3 mgs

Decaffeinated (brewed)                   2-4 milligrams                                      3 mgs

Cappuccino                                       30-50 milligrams                               40 mgs

Other Questions about Coffee and Health, reviewed by Alan Levinton, M.D., Boston, Mass.; Coffee Science Source http:/www.coffeescience.org

A referendum in Seattle

           Seattle, Washington, known as the Caffeine Capital due to the number of coffee houses it has, had a coffee referendum. Last year the government tried to impose a coffee tax of 10 cents per cup of espresso, stating that it was a luxury article. The voters denied the measure by saying, “Coffee is a part of our daily lives, it is not a luxury item; it is part of our culture.”

 Associated Press, November 2003

Researched and edited for Jiménez &Fernandez by Rodríguez & Rodríguez Com. Corp.