CONTROVERSIES ABOUT COFFEE

The first controversy, as recent as 1972, was about the  possible link  between  caffeine  and heart disease.   The  issue  remains undecided  till  today.  But the general view  is  that  caffeine can't  do  much harm to the heart except in very  high  doses  to sufferers of irregular heartbeat.  Here again filtered coffee  is considered much less of a risk than boiled coffee.  Studies as to any  link between caffeine and cancer - cancer of  the  pancreas, bladder,  kidney or urinary tract - are also  inconclusive.   The complicating  factor  in such studies is that many  heavy  coffee drinkers are also smokers.

Again  no  link  between caffeine and breast  cancer  is  proved. However  pregnant  and nursing women are  advised  against  heavy coffee  use  -  drinking  more than six  or  seven  cups  a  day.  Caffeine  passes easily through the placenta to the unborn  child and  through the mother's milk to the breast-fed  baby.   Studies are still on whether caffeine could produce low birth weight  for any birth defects.

In  fact how caffeine actually works in the human system has  yet to  be  completely  understood.  The prevailing  theory  is  that caffeine  stops the depressant effects of adenosine, one  of  the chemicals  the body makes to control neural  activity.   Caffeine blocks the adenosine receptor sites in cells.  The theory is  not perfect,  for  various  reasons one of which is  that  there  are different types of adenosine receptors, but is widely accepted.To  the advocates of coffee, this property of caffeine  gives  it the  ability to increase alertness and enhance performance,  more so when one is tired or bored.  But caffeine can at best increase mental  activity,  not  upgrade its quality -  despite  what  the generations of writers have assumed-that coffee makes them  think more  clearly.   A  part  of  the  coffee  effect  may  well   be psychological.

Yet  the  effects of caffeine are not  imaginary.   Many  studies confirm what most people know - coffee keeps you awake.  It  also increases the number of times you wake up at night, depending  on how much you drink and on how sensitive you are.  Variation among people  is  great.  Caffeine does interfere with some  phases  of sleep,  though  it is not  known to  decrease  rapid-eye-movement (REM)  sleep  the  way alcohol interferes  with  it.   The  sleep disturbance  caused by coffee is said to be more severe in  older people.

Incidentally,  coffee, black or with milk, doesn't sober  you  up from the effects of alcohol.  Caffeine however is of some help in recovering from the effects of tranquillizers like Valium.  Again caffeine is a diuretic and thus dehydrating.  So don't think that drinking coffee will slake your thirst.  Coffee, both regular and decaffeinated, has a laxative effect.

 Does  coffee cause stomach ulcers ?  There is no definite  answer to  this,  though coffee is known to make ulcers  worse.   Coffee does  simulate the secretion of gastric acids but how much of  it is  due  to caffeine and how much is due to other  substances  in coffee is not clear.

How  much caffeine is contained in a five-ounce cup of  coffee  ?  It  could  be between 80 to 100 milligrams for a  preparation  of average  strength.   In  comparison, a similar  cup  of  tea  may contain 20 to 50 milligrams of caffeine, with the tea brewed  for 5  minutes.   A  twelve-ounce bottle of  Coca  Cola  contains  45 milligrams  of  caffeine and Pepsi Cola 38.  Ordinarily  an  oral dose  of 85 milligrams is needed to produce some caffeine  effect but this too depends on individual sensitivity.

Is caffeine addictive ?  Those accustomed to, but deprived of it, report  irritability,  inability to work  well,  nervousness  and restlessness.  But the worst, and most common, complaint  is  the headache that comes with giving up caffeine.  The headache can be dull  or  severe, a short-lived one or even lasting over  a  day.  And  such headaches gets cured with caffeine.  No wonder so  many over-the-counter headache remedies include caffeine.

If  caffeine is so painful to give up, can caffeine tolerance  be compared to addiction to other drugs ?  The answer, whatever  the apologists  of  coffee may say, is yes.  Caffeine  use  does  fit several standards of drug addiction : compulsion to continue use, tolerance for the drug, and the withdrawal syndrome. If caffeine is addictive or harmful, coffee drinkers still have a route open to them, and that is of the decaffeinated coffee.  Now more  than  20  per  cent  of  the  coffee  consumed  in  USA  is decaffeinated.   It is another matter, most of the  decaffeinated coffee  is  so  terrible.  First of  all,  the  inferior  Robusta coffees are decaffeinated, not only because they are cheaper  but also because they yield more caffeine, which can be sold to  soft drink  and medicine companies.  Again these coffees  having  more "body"  can  stand decaffeination better. 

It is  only  now  that Arabica   beans,   which  are  of  higher  quality,   are   being decaffeinated.

 Decaffeination is done by two methods : the water-process and the chemical-process.   The  problem with  the  water-process,  where beans  are  first steamed and then soaked in water,  is  that  it  strips  out most of the body and the flavouring compounds,  along with  caffeine.  A few improvements have been made of  late,  yet the  coffee  decaffeinated  by this process is a  shadow  of  its former self.

In  the chemical method, the most efficient chemical employed  is methylene chloride.  To an extent methylene chloride is toxic but the  quantity left in decaffeinated coffee is too  negligible  to pose  any  risk.  Coffee decaffeinated  with  methylene  chloride certainly tastes better.

 A new process using supercritical carbon dioxide is showing  much promise.   It  claims  to retain all the taste  of  coffee  while removing 97 per cent of caffeine from it.

Yet   there   is  an  unmistakable  trend   away   from   coffee, decaffeinated or otherwise.  In its place the consumption of soft drinks  is  increasing.  It can't be only the fear  of  caffeine, because many soft drinks contain caffeine too.  In fact Pepsi  is test-marketing  a special cola with extra caffeine the young  can drink to wake themselves up instead of the usual morning coffee.

Coffee  companies  are worried.  Coffee, like tea  may  lose  its image  with  young people.  They are fighting  back  by  bringing better  quality blends on the market, even using brand  names  to refer to coffee like soft drinks.  They are trying to give coffee a youthful image in advertisements, rather than relying on a logo to sell the product.  Some feel that the answer lies in promoting iced coffee and sweetened coffee drinks, to compete directly with soda.   Coffee  mixed  with bits of nuts  and  dried  fruits  and stirred with flavouring extracts has evoked good response.

Yet  these are essentially gimmicks.  The major appeal of  coffee still lies in drinking straight coffee because it tastes good and peps you up, whatever be the trouble with caffeine.