Posted by Lucia on January 24, 2000, at 18:00:36
In reply to Coffee Beans relieve my depression, posted by Lucia on January 19, 2000, at 0:45:15
I'll post soon with an update on my coffee bean therapy. In the meantime, just found this article from about a year ago about an institute at Vanderbilt for the study of coffee.
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Coffee’s Medicinal PowersVanderbilt Launches Coffee Institute
Java junkies will soon have a new haven: The Institute for Coffee Studies in Nashville, Tenn.
Scheduled to open within the next six months, this facility on the campus of Vanderbilt University will be devoted to the study of coffee’s many as-yet undocumented healing effects.
“We’ll be looking at coffee on molecular, cellular and physiological levels,” says Peter Martin, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology who will head the new center.
There will be plenty to study besides caffeine, which is about 3 percent of coffee, Martin says.
Of special interest to Vanderbilt researchers are chlorogenic acids — natural compounds in coffee that may have profound effects on the opiate centers in the human brain.
“This reinforces the notion that people drink coffee because they like the way it makes them feel,” says Martin.In the 1980s, a group of Australian researchers determined that certain chlorogenic acids have similar effects as naltrexone, the active ingredient in the only FDA-approved pharmaceutical product for the treatment of alcoholism.
Chlorogenic acids are found in all kinds of coffee, from Folger’s Instant to Starbucks’ French roast. However the quantity and composition of chlorogenic acids can vary in each cup of joe, depending on the way that the coffee is roasted and brewed.
“We know of at least five of these compounds,” says Martin, “but there may be several more.”
An understanding of chlorogenic acid’s effects may be helpful in treating depression, alcoholism and other disorders.
Another researcher, Edward Giovannucci of Harvard Medical School, has determined that the risk of colorectal cancer is 24 percent less among people who drink four or more cups of coffee per day.
“These are just some of the compelling reasons to study the pharmacology of coffee,” says Martin.
Initial funding for the Institute for Coffee Studies — about $6 million — came from trade groups in Brazil, Colombia and other major coffee-growing nations. Martin is adamant that these sources will not influence research.
“We’re working very hard to stay arm’s length of the coffee industry,” he says. “We’re an academic medical center, and autonomy is very important to us.”
Coffee sellers will also benefit from the institute’s autonomous stance.
“We won’t be put in a position where any positive findings are discounted, just because the public perceives us as pawns of the coffee industry,” Martin says.
By creating an independent board of directors, charged with reviewing the quality of all future research, Martin will prevent trouble from brewing and ensure any criticism of the program is without grounds.
poster:Lucia
thread:19188
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000112/msgs/19553.html