11/9/2019 Decaffeinated
Caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world. And because coffee is a major source in the supply line, people advised to avoid caffeine because of certain medical conditions like hypertension should be aware that even decaffeinated brew can come with a kick, UF researchers report in this month's Journal of Analytical Toxicology. 'If someone drinks five to 10 cups of decaffeinated coffee, the dose of caffeine could easily reach the level present in a cup or two of caffeinated coffee,' said co-author Bruce Goldberger, Ph.D., a professor and director of UF's William R. Maples Center for Forensic Medicine. 'This could be a concern for people who are advised to cut their caffeine intake, such as those with kidney disease or anxiety disorders.'
Despite caffeine's widespread use, most medical texts have no guidelines for intake, Goldberger said, but even low doses might adversely affect some people. So UF researchers set out to conduct a two-phase study designed to gauge just how much caffeine is likely to turn up in decaffeinated coffees.
First they purchased 10 16-ounce decaffeinated drip-brewed coffee beverages from nine national chains or local coffee houses and tested them for caffeine content. Caffeine was isolated from the coffee samples and measured by gas chromatography. Every serving but one - instant decaffeinated Folgers Coffee Crystals - contained caffeine, ranging from 8.6 milligrams to 13.9 milligrams. In comparison, an 8-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee typically contains 85 milligrams of caffeine. In the study's second phase, scientists analyzed 12 samples of Starbucks decaffeinated espresso and brewed decaffeinated coffee taken from a single store. The espresso drinks contained 3 milligrams to 15.8 milligrams of caffeine per shot, while the brewed coffees had caffeine concentrations ranging from 12 milligrams to 13.4 milligrams per 16-ounce serving.
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Even though the amount of caffeine in these coffees is considered low, some people could conceivably develop a physical dependence on the beverages, said co-author Mark S. Gold, M.D., a distinguished professor of psychiatry, neuroscience and community health and family medicine at UF's College of Medicine.
'One has to wonder if decaf coffee has enough, just enough, caffeine to stimulate its own taking,' Gold said. 'Certainly, large cups and frequent cups of decaf would be expected to promote dependence and should be contraindicated in those whose doctors suggested caffeine-free diets.' And even moderate caffeine levels can increase agitation, anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure in some susceptible individuals, Goldberger said. 'Carefully controlled studies show that caffeine doses as low as about 10 milligrams can produce reliable subjective and behavioral effects in sensitive individuals,' said Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., a professor of behavioral biology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
'More than 30 percent can discriminate the subjective effects of 18 milligrams or less. The present study shows that many decaffeinated coffee drinks deliver caffeine at doses above these levels. 'The important point is that decaffeinated is not the same as caffeine-free,' Griffiths added. 'People who are trying to eliminate caffeine from their diet should be aware that popular espresso drinks such as lattes (which contain two shots of espresso) can deliver as much caffeine as a can of Coca-Cola - about 31 milligrams.'
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We now know that when inhaled, even in small amounts, benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation. Over the long term and in high doses, benzene has been linked to cancer, blood disorders, and fetal development issues in pregnant women. It’s no wonder the new type of brew—which later relied on other similarly toxic solvents—got a bad rap. Today, coffee manufacturers have switched to safer decaffeination methods, though many still use potent chemicals to strip away caffeine. Meanwhile, researchers have wondered whether any of are lost along with the caffeine.
So is decaf healthy? We talked to experts including William D.
Ristenpart, Ph.D., a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis, and director of the UC Davis Coffee Center, to figure out what we really know. There are three key methods for from regular coffee beans: The most common uses a chemical solvent, another uses liquid carbon dioxide (CO 2), and the last simply uses water. All take green, unroasted coffee beans, soak or steam them until the caffeine is dissolved or their pores are opened, and then extract the caffeine. While the CO 2 and water methods are considered chemical-free, the solvent method relies on synthetic chemicals such as ethyl acetate (naturally found in some fruits) and methylene chloride (commonly used in industrial applications such as in adhesives, paints, and pharmaceuticals). The Swiss Water Process tends to produce the most flavorful coffee, Ristenpart says, because it’s good at removing caffeine and without stripping other flavorful compounds from the beans. But it’s also more expensive and difficult to produce at scale. For this reason, Ristenpart says, you’ll typically find it used on higher-end coffees, such as Blue Bottle.
(See our for the best beans.) None of these methods scrubs the bean of caffeine completely. While the Food and Drug Administration requires that at least 97 percent of caffeine be removed, some decaffeinated coffees can still contain between 3 and 12 mg of caffeine per cup. While experts agree that the Swiss Water Process and liquid carbon dioxide don’t introduce any health risks, methylene chloride is controversial in some coffee circles. When inhaled in small doses it can cause coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. At higher doses, it can cause headache, confusion, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fatigue, and has been found to cause liver and lung cancer in animals. In 1999, however, the FDA concluded that the trace amounts you get in decaf coffee are too minuscule to affect your health.
The agency strictly limits its presence to no more than 10 parts per million, or 0.001 percent, of the final product. Will sometimes say that beans decaffeinated with ethyl acetate are “naturally decaffeinated” because the compound is naturally found in some produce. But as with methylene chloride, the ethyl acetate is typically produced and carries some risks at high doses.
The bottom line, Ristenpart says, is that the solvents used in the decaffeination process today are much safer than they used to be, and they are generally found on beans only in trace amounts. Experts say you shouldn’t be concerned about the chemicals used in the decaffeination process. But if you are looking to minimize your exposure, you might want to know which decaffeination method was used on a particular bag. This may be more challenging to find out than you think, Ristenpart says, because there are no specific that require disclosing exactly how coffee was decaffeinated.
“If consumers want to be sure that synthetic solvents weren’t used to decaffeinate, they should look for the,” says Charlotte Vallaeys, Consumer Reports’ senior policy analyst and food-label expert. That seal prohibits not only pesticides, but chemical solvents during processing, too.
If your beans are not organic, ask your supplier which method was used, either in person if you’re buying local or over the phone. If it used the solvent process, there are probably trace amounts of chemical residue on the beans.
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Because decaffeination itself is generally considered safe, the bigger question is whether decaf has the same health benefits as regular coffee. This is a tough question to answer, says Angela M. Zivkovic, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and we don’t yet have a firm answer. A 2014 meta-analysis published in the journal Diabetes Care and led by researchers from Harvard found that those who drank six cups of coffee per day had a 33 percent lower risk of developing than those who drank no coffee. The reduced risk was seen for both decaf and regular coffee.
Another study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2008 found that coffee-drinking in general was not associated with a from any cause, and even further, those who drank decaf were slightly less likely than those who drank regular to die from any cause. Zivkovic says, however, that we should interpret such results with caution because “it is very possible and likely that people who choose decaf are also making other ‘healthy’ lifestyle choices.” In short, though some studies suggest that decaffeinated coffee is linked to health benefits, more research is needed. We still don’t know whether it’s the caffeine, or one of the thousands of other biologically active compounds and antioxidants (which decaf seems to have, too, albeit at slightly lower levels), that may be responsible for coffee’s many health perks.
What’s really clear, however, is that for people who experience insomnia, irritability, headaches, nausea, anxiety, jitters, and increased blood pressure after, switching to decaf may be a healthy option, says Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher and professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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