Coffee and other caffeine-containing foods and beverages are the most widely used drugs in the United States. One study showed that 64% of all Americans over age 10 drink coffee daily! It adds up to something like 16 pounds per year per person, and double that if you’re in the Navy! Is coffee drinking a health hazard, or are warnings against it exaggerated?
HISTORY OF COFFEE
Coffee drinking originated with European explorers discovering mind-altering drugs which they took back to their countries. Coffee was found in Arabia and Turkey, tea in China, the kola nut in West Africa and the cocoa tree in Mexico, Central and South America. Medical warnings against coffee are nothing new — they were abundant in the 1500-1600’s, such as the Women’s Petition Against Coffee which called it a: “base, black, thick, nasty, bitter stinking nauseous puddle water”
COFFEE vs. CAFFEINE
Is coffee the issue, or is it the caffeine it contains that presents the health problem? Actually both coffee and caffeine are health problems. Coffee is acid-forming, depositing an insoluble cellulose, a “brown mud” on the walls of the liver. These liver deposits can cause the liver to swell to twice its normal size.
Coffee actually contains 29 different acids and, after roasting, a couple of tars. These tars may also end up as liver deposits that the body is unable to neutralize. At least one of these tars has been found to produce cancer in laboratory animals. Thus, we can safely say that coffee, not just caffeine, has significant health hazards.
WHAT ABOUT DECAFFEINATED?
As noted above, coffee itself has problems, even without the caffeine. But what about the decaffeination process? As people over the years have thought they were being healthy by drinking decaf, they were probably jumping from the frying pan into the fire. The issue — chemical solvents used to remove caffeine from coffee.
One chemical used in decaffeination is methylene chloride. According to the FDA back in the mid-1980’s, “methylene chloride is an animal carcinogen by inhalation and may be carcinogenic to humans.” At that time the FDA banned the use of methylene chloride in hair sprays, citing its carcinogenic risk, but left it in coffee saying that its residue in decaf coffee was “acceptable.” Go figure!
In more recent years a “water process” decaffeination has been introduced that doesn’t use harmful chemical solvents. Nevertheless, given the potentially harmful acids and tars in the coffee itself, a safer method of decaffeination is of little value.
CAFFEINE HAZARDS
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant of the Xanthine family. One to two cups of coffee (100-200 mg. of caffeine) constitutes a pharmacologic dose. The lethal dose of caffeine is 10 grams (50 – 80 cups of coffee). That’s right, I said that coffee has a lethal dose! The question is, do you want to take a little bit of something that has a lethal dose. Now I don’t think there is a lethal dose of carrots or green beans or lettuce or apples or other real food items. But coffee, like any drug, does have a lethal dose.
Excess caffeine symptoms may start with as little as 250 mg. of caffeine — that’s two or three cups of coffee. They include:
Restlessness
Nervousness
Excitement
Insomnia
Flushed face
Gastrointestinal disturbance
Muscle twitching
Rambling thought or speech
Tachycardia or arrhythmia
Animals fed the equivalent of 11 cups of coffee per day had offspring with cleft palates, missing digits and malformed skulls. Particularly during the first three months of pregnancy it is very wise to avoid caffeine consumption via coffee, tea, cola beverages and caffeine-containing drugs.
The late nutritionist, Dr. Jean Mayer of Harvard University, linked coffee consumption with heart disease, diabetes, ulcers, and bladder/urinary tract cancers. A 1985 study by Dr. Thomas Pearson, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, showed that people who drink five or more cups of coffee per day nearly tripled their risk of heart disease. There are studies of course that disagree with coffee being such a health hazard, but nevertheless, added to the other things we definitely know about coffee and caffeine, we should be concerned.
NUTRIENT INTERFERENCE
Both coffee and tea destroy vitamin B-1 and other B vitamins. Two Swiss researchers found that after drinking a quart of coffee during a three hour period, much of the body’s vitamin B-1 (thiamine) was gone. Interestingly, it was not the caffeine in the coffee that caused the problem, but the chlorogenic acid (International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, Vol. 46, 1976). Thus, the more coffee you drink, the more B vitamin deficient you become, and therefore, the more fatigued you become. With more fatigue, you’ll probably want more coffee for stimulation, and so the vicious circle goes.
Coffee also inhibits calcium and iron absorption. Thus coffee drinking could adversely affect conditions related to those deficiencies such as osteoporosis, PMS, menopausal symptoms, depression, headaches, anemia and more. Keep in mind that caffeine is a drug, not a food, and all drugs have side-effects. Nutrient deficiencies are just one of those side-effects.
WHERE’S THE CAFFEINE?
Caffeine is found not only in coffee, but other foods, beverages and medications. For example:
Drip coffee 115-175 mg..
Brewed coffee 80-135 mg.
Espresso 100 mg.
Brewed tea (imported) 60 mg.
Brewed tea (U. S.) 40 mg.
Iced Tea (12 oz.) 70 mg.
Jolt cola 100 mg.
Coca-Cola 46 mg.
Pepsi Cola 38 mg.
Chocolate bar 30 mg.
Stay Awake Pills 100 mg.
Vivarin 200 mg.
Cold relief tablet 30 mg.
Guarana 500 mg. capsule 25 mg.
Since many people consume coffee, iced tea, cola drinks, chocolate, and cold tablets, a pretty high total amount of caffeine intake is likely . . . and thus more problems from caffeine-related health concerns. Drinking only a minimal amount of coffee may still leave you with a very high caffeine intake, if you take it in from these other sources.
INSULT TO INJURY — THE “NEW” COFFEES
Coffee is no longer just coffee. Today, especially here is the Seattle area, a whole lot of trendy, “yuppie” coffees have come of age and now swept the country. We even have churches with Espresso bars on Sunday morning! God help us! From a financial point-of-view, I must take my hat off to whoever thought this up. Figuring out how to market a cup of coffee for two or three dollars takes some smarts (or maybe just a very gullible public).
We now have espresso, cappucino, lattes, and mocha. As if coffee by itself wasn’t bad enough, you now can have it with sugary syrups, milk, or chocolate added. Somehow I don’t think this is progress. With many “international” coffees really all you have is coffee-flavored sugar. Some products being marketed are actually less than half coffee.
Sugar is your number one hazardous food. It causes or complicates virtually every health problem you can name. Whether you add it to regular coffee, or get it via sugary syrups at the local espresso stand, it’s bad stuff.
Then there’s the milk in those lattes. Almost everyone is sensitive to straight cow’s milk. Whether in your coffee or anyplace else, it will tend to react producing congestion, digestive problems, cardiovascular problems and more. Adults that otherwise wouldn’t drink straight cow’s milk now consume it via lattes.
Chocolate via mochas, further increases the caffeine content of the beverage. Chocolate, of course, brings sugar and milk along with it and tends to aggravate hormonal problems, fibrocystic disease, and other health concerns.
GETTING UNHOOKED
If I’ve convinced you that coffee and other caffeine beverages are not good for you, you’re probably wondering how to change. I suggest:
- Gradual withdrawal — Most people find it helpful to first cut back on the quantity of coffee they presently drink without eliminating it totally. Half-cups, or less frequent usage is good.
- Herbal coffee substitutes — There are several products using herbs or roasted cereal grains that taste and look like coffee. Pero or Cafix are recommended. You can get them at health food stores, or even the health food aisle at most major supermarket chains.
- Herbal teas — Though some herb teas have caffeine, most do not. There is a wide variety of types and tastes, now sold in regular supermarkets.
Beware of caffeine withdrawal symptoms, particularly headaches. These generally last only a day or two and then your free!
Better Health Update is published by Pacific Health Center, PO Box 1066, Sisters, Oregon 97759, Phone (800) 255–4246 with branch clinics in Boise, Idaho, Post Falls, Idaho and Portland, Oregon. E-Mail: drkline@pacifichealthcenter.com. Monte Kline, Clinical Nutritionist, Author. Reproduction Prohibited.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this publication is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose illness nor prescribe treatment. Rather, this material is designed to be used in cooperation with your nutritionally-oriented health professional to deal with your personal health problems. Should you use this information on your own, you are prescribing for yourself, which is your constitutional right, but neither the author nor publisher assume responsibility.