A few months ago, while looking through one of the popular Protestant magazines, I came across an article entitled "Christ and the Coffee Cup." The author brought out the idea that much of Christ's work was done at the dinner table with rather small groups, and that if He were on earth today a great deal of His work would be done over the coffee cup!
Before we get into a discussion of coffee, however, let us take a look at beverages in general. Some have practically no food value, unless cream and sugar or honey are added. These would include coffee, coffee substitutes, regular tea, herb teas, and water. There are beverages that are moderate in calories—fruit and vegetable juices, milk, buttermilk, soy milk, cola drinks, and soda pop. Then there are the very high-calorie ones, which would include milk shakes, malts, and eggnogs.
Beverages may be classified in another way also; those that furnish something in the way of nutrients that are needed in the body, and those that are harmful because they carry ingredients that are damaging to the body.
Very hot or extremely cold beverages may be irritating to the lining of the stomach, and large quantities of liquid at mealtime dilute the gastric juices to the extent that digestion is often delayed.
Which beverages are best used at mealtime? Only those which contain calories and are a part of the nutritional program. Milk—cow's, soy, or nut—and drinks made from any kind of milk are digested just as any food is digested. Therefore, these beverages should not be taken between meals.
Water, herb tea, and drinks without food value may be taken between meals. No beverage quenches thirst quite like water. Many people get along better by not drinking water closer than half an hour before meals, or an hour or more after meals. At least six to eight glasses of water should be taken during the day.
Many have benefited by drinking a pint of water just after rising in the morning. More than two thousand patients were studied in this connection, and it was found that this custom was effective in stimulating sluggish bowel action.
Let us take a quick look at the various beverages that carry harmful ingredients. Coffee and tea are the most popular in this group. Caffeine is the harmful ingredient that vies with nicotine for the dubious distinction of being the most popular and most extensively used habit-forming drug in the United States.
Coffee is the greatest single import in America and amounts to 21/4 billion pounds per year. This would average more than two cups per day for every person above fifteen years of age. In 1954, Americans drank more than 41/2 billion gallons of coffee.
The cola beverages, of which there are many brands on the market, depend on caffeine for their stimulating effect.
Just what is the harm in the use of caffeine-carrying beverages? Many who use these drinks deny that they are stimulated by them, but this does not alter the fact that such beverages are true stimulants of the nervous system, and it is mainly for this effect that they are used.
Many brain workers and students think that the caffeine-carrying beverages are beneficial because they produce a more rapid flow of thought, but one impression may follow another in such rapid succession as to produce confusion.
These drinks are often resorted to as "pick-me-ups" throughout the day. This method of overcoming fatigue when the system is calling for rest may be convenient, but it is a costly way to borrow from tomorrow's health reserve to meet today's needs.
Persons who habitually use coffee state frequently that they take it in order to avoid a morning headache. Evidently they do not recognize that this symptom is really a caffeine-withdrawal headache, produced whenever the caffeine habit has been established (the tissues having become accustomed to a certain concentration of the drug). When the amount of the drug in the tissues falls below a certain level, the abstinence illness, or drug-withdrawal symptoms begin. With the headache there also occurs some degree of mental depression, drowsiness, or disinclination to work. . . . The headache was temporarily relieved by again giving caffeine. The abstinence illness clears up after a few days off the drug.—L. H. LONERGAN, M.D., "Caffeine Beverages and Soft Drinks" in The Review and Herald, May 9, 1957.
Reaction from the use of caffeine-containing beverages will vary with the individual sensitivity and with the tolerance that has been developed for the drug. Very briefly, here is what happens in the body when we drink one or two of such beverages. Within a few minutes the temperature of the stomach rises, there is an increase in the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, the salivary glands increase their output, the heart beats faster, the lungs work harder, the metabolism rate rises, and the kidneys manufacture and excrete more urine.
A very accurate description of what takes place in the body when coffee is used is given in Counsels on Diet and Foods, pages 421, 422.
Coffee is a hurtful indulgence. It temporarily excites the mind to unwonted action, but the aftereffect is exhaustion, prostration, paralysis of the mental, moral, and physical powers. The mind becomes enervated, and unless through determined effort the habit is overcome, the activity of the brain is permanently lessened. All these nerve irritants are wearing away the life forces, and the restlessness caused by shattered nerves, the impatience, the mental feebleness, become a warring element, antagonizing to spiritual progress.
In the writings of Ellen G. White, tea and coffee are often spoken of together. "Diseases of every stripe and type have been brought upon human beings by the use of tea and coffee and narcotics, opium and tobacco."—Ibid., p. 421. "Tea and coffee are fostering the appetite which is developing for stronger stimulants, as tobacco and liquor."—Ibid., p. 430. Concerning the users of tea and coffee, she states: "Their sensibilities are blunted, and sin does not appear very sinful, and truth is not regarded of greater value than earthly treasure."—Ibid., p. 425.
What about coffee with the caffeine removed? Lloyd Rosenvold, M.D., has this to say:
In addition to caffeine, coffee contains the aroma-giving oil called caffeol. This oil produces definite irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract. So-called "decaffeinated- coffees, which some people drink, thinking that because 90 to 97 percent of the caffeine is said to have been removed they are wholesome, are actually not wholesome, for the irritating caffeol is still present. These coffees also contain 1/8 to 1/4 grain caffeine per cup. Regular coffee contains 11/2 to 2 grains per cup.—Science and Modern Manna, p. 160.
Many individuals who would not think of touching coffee use chocolate and cocoa freely, little realizing that cocoa is not an altogether harmless beverage. Depending upon the brand, the caffeine content ranges between 0.09 to 0.48 grains per cup and in all cases the tannin content is quite high, sometimes exceeding that of tea. Cocoa and chocolate also contain theobronaine which is a potent drug, but it is not regarded to be as deleterious as caffeine. The high fat content tends to disturb digestion in some individuals. With these recently discovered facts before us, the use of cocoa and chocolate will need reconsideration by many Adventist families—Ibid., p. 162.
In the August, 1950, issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, a fine report on cocoa and protein utilization was presented. It was stated that cocoa had been fed to rats in the form of devil's food cake and the results compared with those given plain cake. It was conclusively shown that protein utilization and growth were less efficient in all animals tested on the 4 per cent cocoa diet.
In recent years carob powder has become commercially available. It tastes just like chocolate but does not have the harmful effects. Its use is similar to chocolate in the dietary. It is rich in protein and fats. Carob is made from the locust bean pods such as John the Baptistate. To this day this wholesome food is called St.-John's-bread in the Mediterranean regions.
Oliver T. Osborn, .M.D., says:
The coffee, tea, Coca Cola, or other caffeine habit, may be readily acquired by anyone, and may do as much harm, in some cases, as alcohol and tobacco. —Principles of Therapeutics, p. 603.
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 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.
Civilized man in this age is overstimulated, and needs something to soothe and quiet him. He (and also she) is beginning to get that quieting from more tobacco than he (or she) ever before used. But if this does not satisfy him, he, also, as well as those who do not smoke, will drink more tea and coffee. The result is greater nervous tension, greater nervous irritability, less sleep, more indigestion and finally a loss of mental balance and physical strength. We are now menaced with the probable overuse of tea and coffee; hence this warning is issued.—Ibid., p. 216.
In a talk on "The Spurious Basis for Happiness," David Starr Jordan, president of Leland Stanford University from 1891 to 1916, made the following comment:
As a drop of water is of the nature of the sea, so in its degree is the effect of alcohol, opium, tobacco, cocaine, cola, tea, or coffee of the nature of mania. They give a feeling of pleasure or rest, when rest or pleasure does not exist. This feeling arises from injury to the nerves which the brain does not truthfully interpret.... Coffee and tea, like alcohol, enable one to borrow from his future store of force for present purposes, and none of these make any provision for paying back the loan. One and all, these various drugs tend to give the impression of a power or a pleasure or an activity, which we do not possess. One and all, their function is to force the nervous system to lie. One and all, the result of their habitual use is to render the nervous system incapable of ever telling the truth. One and all, their supposed pleasures are followed by a reaction of subjective pains as spurious and as unreal as the pleasures which they follow. . . . With each of them the first use makes the second easier. To yield to temptation makes it easier to y ield again. The weakening effect on the will is greater than the injury to the body.
Caffeine may have its medical uses as a stimulant in cases of emergency, but it certainly has no place in the beverages of those who look upon their body as a "temple of God."
Can one break the caffeine habit? Yes, indeed, but it will take much will power, determined effort, and prayer to endure the four-day withdrawal headache and other reactions while the body is adjusting to a caffeine-free program. However, it will be worth the effort to be free from the drug habit that is bringing "paralysis of the mental, moral, and physical power" of man.
