When the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine came out with its recent report associating coffee with cancer of the pancreas, it merely added to the chorus of scientific voices currently questioning the use of coffee and other caffeine-containing products.
Although the estimated 100 million Americans who drink coffee daily have not taken these reports seriously enough to lower significantly the amount they are using, undoubtedly hands holding the nation's coffee cups have been shaking a little more than usual as the result of this bombardment of bad news. In fact, some users are feeling that their daily "pick-me up" is now letting them down.
It has been common knowledge for many years that the caffeine in coffee causes a wide range of health problems, from insomnia and nervousness to cardio vascular problems. During World War II experimenters in Germany learned that "although caffeine was a strong mental stimulant, it resulted in a very undesirable impairment of motor coordination (in target shooting, writing, and simulated auto driving). There was also a 'hangover' effect, in which mental efficiency, after having been improved, fell off below normal values—from one to three hours after taking the stimulant." 1
Then came a report, later questioned, from Dr. Philip Cole, of the Harvard School of Public Health, that for women who drank one or more cups of coffee a day, the risk of developing bladder cancer was two and one-half times greater than for those who did not use coffee. 2
In 1972, the British journal Lancet added to the attack on the drink that gradually replaced tea in America in the years that followed the Boston Tea Party. It reported on findings from the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program that those who drink coffee have up to two and one-half times greater risk of heart attack than do noncoffee drinkers.3
Then Vanderbilt Medical School weighed in with a study that indicated a measurable increase in blood pressure from the use of caffeine. Next, in April of 1980, The Nation's Health reported a Food and Drug Administration (PDA) study with laboratory rats that indicated that caffeine-containing food and beverages might be responsible for fetal deformities. Reportedly, the PDA is considering requiring that products such as coffee and tea have labels on the containers warning that pregnant women should limit their consumption of these beverages. 4
Currently, pregnant women are being advised to avoid caffeine-containing products, because additional studies have indicated that the drug can pass from the woman's bloodstream through the placenta to the fetus. Caffeine also shows up in mother's milk.
Concern also exists for children less than 8 years old who drink caffeine-containing soft drinks that could impair the development of their brains and/or central nervous systems.
The evidence of such possible harm is so strong that Dr. Sanford Miller, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Bureau of Foods, cautions: "My recommendation would be that if you are in a susceptible group—a pregnant woman or a young child still undergoing brain development—you should limit your intake of caffeine. It is the prudent thing to do. Why take a chance?" 5
Pancreatic cancer linked with coffee drinking
As if this growing evidence of health risk were not enough to fill the coffee lover's cup to the rim with grim, there's the latest report that associates drinking coffee with pancreatic cancer—a disease that causes more than 20,000 deaths each year in the United States.
As a result of questioning 369 patients with cancer of the pancreas, along with 644 control patients, about their use of tobacco, alcohol, tea, and coffee, a group of researchers from Harvard University concluded that there is "a strong association between coffee consumption and pancreatic cancer." This was "evident in both sexes." 6 The relative risk for consumers of one to two cups of coffee per day compared with those who drank no coffee was 2.1 times; for those who drank three to four cups a day it was 2.8 times; and for those who drank five or more cups per day it was 3.2 times. 7
A finding that there is an "association" does not establish a causal relationship. But the Harvard scientists observed that "it is worth noting that some of the descriptive features of the epidemiology of cancer of the pancreas seems to be consistent with such a relation. The apparent increase in frequency of cancer of the pancreas in recent decades and the low rates observed in Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists would be compatible with a causative role for either coffee consumption or cigarette smoking. However, the relatively small excess of men with the disease in proportion to women would seem to be more suggestive of a role for coffee rather than for cigarettes." 8
Cancer of the pancreas is the fourth most common fatal malignant disease in the United States. The Harvard scientists estimate "the proportion of pancreatic cancer that is potentially attributable to coffee consumption to be slightly more than 50 percent." 9
So the evidence is piling up that coffee is potentially harmful to health. This should come as no surprise to those who realize that there are 75 to 155 milligrams of caffeine in one five-ounce cup of coffee (more in brewed coffee, less in instant). This potent substance acts on the central nervous system, causing irregularity of the heartbeat, constricting blood vessels, making the brain keep on working when it should relax, and causing insomnia. It also elevates blood pressure. But its effects are followed several hours later by fatigue and decreased alertness. Taking caffeine in large amounts sometimes leads to tremors, agitation, and ringing in the ears. Ingesting a potent chemical like this daily cannot help being harmful.
Coffee is not the only beverage that contains caffeine. An average-size cup of brewed tea includes 28 to 44 mg, and a cup of instant tea has as much as 131 mg. A can of cola or "pepper" soft drink contains from 32 to 65 mg of caffeine. Most stay-awake pills, diuretics, and some headache tablets also contain as much as 40 mg of caffeine. The PDA estimates that in the United States approximately 2 million pounds of this chemical is added to foods and beverages each year. In fact, cola drinks must include caffeine in order to carry that label.
As you might expect, manufacturers that produce caffeine-containing products insist that the studies to date do not prove the potential dangers of caffeine. Neither is it certain that it is the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the association between coffee drinking and pancreatic cancer. Actually, a recent case-control study found that more cases of pancreatic cancer existed among those now drinking decaffeinated coffee. The researchers point out, however, that the use of decaffeinated coffee is a recent phenomenon that reflects generally high consumption of regular coffee in the past, and that the time factor involved in developing this kind of cancer would suggest that it was not decaffeinated coffee that caused the cancer cases observed. 10
How to break the coffee habit
If you are among those considering giving up coffee because of the health questions now being raised, how do you go about breaking the coffee habit? Here are some workable suggestions:
1. Eat a good breakfast to keep energy levels high during the morning.
2. Because your nerves will react to caffeine deprivation, you will need all the vitamin B you can get from natural sources. Cut out desserts and sweets, and eat plenty of fruits, grains, and vegetables.
3. Substitute cereal beverages and herb teas for a while, if necessary. Even better, drink a glass of water one-half hour before eating, then do not drink anything with your meal. Be sure to drink at least six glasses of water a day.
4. Stop smoking—drinking coffee and smoking are so closely associated for most people that one automatically goes with the other.
5. Instead of the usual coffee break, take a short, brisk walk, breathing deeply. This is one of the most beneficial habits you can form.
6. Relax frequently, get adequate sleep, and take a hot bath daily.
7. If you have a religious faith, this is the time to draw on spiritual resources. Especially when the craving is strong you should pause for a few minutes in prayer for divine help.
If you follow these seven suggestions, you'll soon find that you're feeling a lot better and peppier than you ever did while using coffee or other caffeinated beverages or foods. These health habits will give you a "pick-me-up" that will never let you down.
Notes:
1 H. A. de Vries, Physiology of Exercise (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, Publishers, 1966), p. 395.
2 "What—Coffee, Too!" Newsweek, July 12, 1971. p. 82.
3 "Coffee Drinking and Acute Myocardial Infarction," report from the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Lancet, Dec. 16, 1972. pp. 1278-1281.
4 American Public Health Association, "Possible Hazards Found in Caffeine," The Nation's Health, April, 1980, p. 11.
5 Molly Sinclair, "Americans' Favorite Caffeine 'Pick-me-up' Comes Under Fire," Washington Post, March 23, 1981, p. A-10.
6 Brian MacMahon, M.D., et al., "Coffee and Cancer of the Pancreas," New England Journal of Medicine, March 12, 1981, p. 630.
7 Ibid., p. 631.
8 lbid., p. 632.
9 Ibid., p. 633.
10 R. S. Lin and H. Kessler, "A Multifactorial Model for Pancreatic Cancer in Man: Epidemiologic Evidence," JAMA, vol. 245 (1981), pp. 147-152.
This article is reprinted by permission, from the July, 1981, issue of Life & Health. Copyrighted © 1981 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association.