The following timely words of warning and admonition were given the remnant church many years ago, when the members were admonished to lay aside such stimulants as tea, coffee, and flesh foods.
"The use of unnatural stimulants is destructive to health, and has a benumbing influence upon the brain, making it impossible to appreciate eternal things."-- Testimonies, vol. I, p. 549.
"Tea and coffee drinking is a sin, an injurious indulgence, which, like other evils, injures the soul."— Counsels on Diet and Foods, Q. 425,
"We have no right to indulge in anything that will result in a condition of mind that hinders the Spirit of God from impressing us with the sense of our duty, It is a masterpiece of Satanic skill to place men where they can with difficulty be reached with the gospel." —Counsels on Health, p. 432.
Side by side with the foregoing, place the following words on habit-forming stimulants from well-known medical authorities. Note also that they place Coca-Cola beverages in the same class with tea and coffee.
"Coffee is a drug. Those who are addicted to its use are 'drug addicts."—DR. W. A. EVANS, former health commissioner of Chicago, Illinois.
"Tea and coffee as well as most other drugs in common use are habit forming; all such drugs are nerve foolers and often their chief harm consists in misleading the user to think he is well and rested when he is not, and so beguiling him into overwork or under rest. Moreover, experiments at the Pasteur Institute have shown that the long continued use of very minute doses of poison ultimately produces appreciable harm." —FISHER and Fisx, How to Live.
"The very fact that these beverages (coffee and tea) are such nerve stimulants should prohibit their use by children. By the same decision, coca cola, which contains on an average from I-I% grains of caffeine to the glass, should not be a beverage for a child. The coffee, tea, coca cola, or other caffeine habits may be acquired by anyone, and may do as much harm, in some cases, as alcohol and tobacco."—OuvER T. OsBoRNE, M.D., Principles of Therapeutics.
"There is no question but that a caffeine habit can be acquired, whether as such (perhaps in the form of coca cola) or as a tea or coffee habit. Coca cola, tea, and coffee 'fiends' are of common occurrence. . . . It is not necessary here to discuss the end effects of the coca cola habit ; it is serious, and is especially harmful to children and youth. The cause of the habit is the caffeine in the mixture. . . . The coca cola habit is pernicious."—/bid., pp. 215, 216.
Today, even in the light of the current information regarding their harmful effects, we find that the majority of the people of our nation are addicted to the use of these stimulants. But more surprising than this is the fact that some Seventh-day Adventists are still indulging in the use of tea and coffee. We trust, however, that these members are few.
It is to be regretted that so many of our youth and even adults in the church are indulging in the use of Coca-Cola and other Cola drinks, of which there are several. These beverages should be discarded for two reasons: first, because of their caffeine content, and second, because of their sugar content.
The harmful effect of cocoa as a beverage, especially for children, is being stressed in medical literature. Note the following current excerpts; "In considering cocoa as a beverage for children it should be regarded as a stimulant, similar to coffee. Made with 2/3 tsp. per cup of milk, contains Y2 grain theobromine. Two tsp. per cup contains 1.2 to 1.6 grains."—Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 31, 1939, P. 263.
As to caffeine content per cup, Clinton Theines, M.D., gives; coffee, 12-3 grains (I tbsp. ground coffee) ; tea,Y2-2Y2 grains; Coca-Cola, 1/22 grains. (Fundamentals of Pharmacology, University of Southern California, 1945.)
Aside from the harmful effect of these caffeine drinks upon the heart, the kidneys, and the nervous system, physicians today regard caffeine as a factor in the cause of ulcers of the stomach, which is a common ailment and becoming increasingly so.
Apparently the users of Cola beverages do not take into account the effect of the sugar content of these drinks. The same objections obtain in the use of so-called soft drinks, commonly sold over the soda counter or at the grocery store. Although they may not contain caffeine, they are objectionable because of their sugar content if used too freely and irregularly.
The frequent and irregular use of these sugar-laden beverages tends to gratify the already abnormal appetite at the expense of wholesome food, and malnutrition results and becomes a contributing factor in increasing the number of school children in our nation suffering from malnutrition, of which we are told there are already six million. These facts are emphasized in the following excerpts:
"Nutritionally, whisky, candy, carbonated beverages are on the same caloric basis, having the same effect on the vitamin-calory ratio. Coca cola is to per cent sugar. In six ounces there are 18 grams of sugar, 72 calories, the same as in 24 cubic centimeters of whisky. A bottle of coca cola and a little bit more than two-thirds of an ounce of whisky contain the same number of calories. Coca cola contains no vitamins. Pepsi-cola is twice as bad, for it contains twice as much sugar."—NoRmAN JOLLIFFE, M.D., "The Nutritional Aspects of Alcohol," Scientific Temperance Journal, Autumn, 1944.
"It is often assumed that the appetite will insure the intake of a suitable amount of food, and in many instances it will. But appetite is easily perverted ; it is more of a habit than many realize. . . . The one who has access to sweets likewise incurs the risk of a blunted appetite and inadequate food consumption as well as increasing the hazards of dental decay. Appetite may accept foods which do not serve body needs, but the body will accept no substitute."—Health Education, p. 55.
"Faulty diet produces another fundamental defect in the average drinker. He has partaken of high caloric foods from youth up, eating when and as he pleased. He has used sweets until his system has grown dependent upon frequent food-energy renewals. This continual habit of food-stimulation has checked normal nutritional unfolding, and he reaches puberty already a toxic dependent upon soda-counter dopes, hourly confections, ham and fried egg sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, or barbecues. Without their fortification he promptly is restless and has a gnawing emptiness. Already a vitality-deficiency has developed ; it is but a step from this food-crave to the quicker satisfaction of some artificial pick-me-up. So far from being the adult who works and strives in comfort on three square meals a day, he is nutritionally but an overgrown infant, still bottle-fed."—What Price Alcohol? P. 53.
No doubt many of our people who are erring in this matter are doing so unwittingly. We all need to study carefully what God has given on the subject through the Spirit of prophecy, and whrch has been corroborated so clearly by medical science in recent years. In the light of available knowledge on this subject, ignorance is no longer an excuse. We should heed the words of the apostle : "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent." Acts 17:30.
God has spoken; medical science has spoken. Shall we not respond in the words of the psalmist, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints : but let them not turn again to folly." Ps. 85:8.
