Regulatory status of caffeine in the United States.

This article summarizes the history of the regulation of caffeine, a key component of caffeine-containing energy drinks and other caffeine-containing energy products, in the United States. Caffeine as an ingredient in food has been regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1958, when the Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was enacted. It is listed as a substance that is generally recognized as safe by experts for its intended use in cola-type beverages at levels not to exceed 200 parts per million. Here, the history of FDA evaluations of the safe use of, as well as consumer exposure to, caffeine in food in the United States is outlined. Finally, the FDA's current concerns about caffeine and caffeine-containing energy products are reported, along with the current activities to address those concerns.

Notes on the history of caffeine use.

As behooves something so deeply entrenched in culture, the historical origins of the use of methylxanthines are unknown and dressed in myth. This is true for coffee as well as tea, and for both it is interesting to note that their common use is really very recent. For coffee we know that its use became more widespread in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and in Europe this occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The use of tea became more common during the Ming Dynasty in China and during the eighteenth century in Britain. Coffee was mostly an upper-class drink in Arabia, and remained a relative luxury in Europe until quite recently. The use of other methylxanthine-containing beverages, such as maté, is even less well known. It is interesting to note that before these drinks were commonly used on a daily basis they were used for medicinal purposes, indicating that their pharmacological actions had long been noted.

Aproximación histórica al café / Historic approach to coffee

Se revisan algunos aspectos históricos de esta bebida tan popular, no siempre bien aceptada por la medicina y actualmente muy reivindicada, por su poder antioxidante y posiblemente anticancerígeno y antiinfeccioso (AU)

Gastric analysis with fractional test meals (ethanol, caffeine, and peptone meal), augmented histamine or pentagastrin tests, and gastric pH recording.

For centuries it was recognized that the stomach produces a juice, which has acidic properties, however, it was not until 1824 when Prout demonstrated the presence of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice. At the same time experiments on a patient with gastric fistula began by W. Beaumont showing alterations of acid secretion after meals and under various psychological conditions. After the discovery by L. Popielski in 1920 that histamine is a direct stimulant of oxyntic glands, histamine started to be used in the 1930s in gastric secretory tests. Then in 1949 the dose of histamine was established by K. Kowalewski to induce in humans maximal gastric secretion and in 1953 Kay from UK, using a similar dose of histamine (0.04 mg/kg), introduced augmented histamine test to determine maximal acid output. The digestive period of gastric secretion can be divided into 3 phases: cephalic phase, gastric phase, and intestinal phase. When an acidified meal reaches the antrum or proximal part of the small intestine, the inhibitory autoregulatory mechanisms are triggered. Using a peptone meal as a physiological stimulant of gastric secretion, Fordtran and Walsh designed in 1973 the intragastric titration method. Histamine stimulates H1 and H2 receptors, producing some side effects so Betazole (Histalog), an analogue of histamine was introduced, because of smaller side effects than with histamine. In 1967, pentagastrin, which contains a C-terminal amino-acid sequence of gastrin and does not exert serious side effects, was applied first in Poland as a stimulant of gastric acid secretion instead of histamine. At the present time, a 12 or 24 h pH-metry with a magnetic recording of gastric acidity using the Digitrapper was found to have a greater diagnostic value in assessment of gastric acid secretion under natural conditions including meal than classic gastric secretory tests. This technique has been widely used in detecting the duodeno-gastric or gastro-esophageal reflux (GERD) and testing various drugs affecting gastric acid secretion and healing acid-pepsin disorders.

Caffeine and health

Today, huge numbers of people everywhere consume caffeine to change or enhance the way they feel and act. Given its universal appeal consumers ought to become more familiar with its history and health consequences. What are the origins of caffeine? Are there any health benefits from its ingestion? Is there a down side? This issue of Nyam News provides information on the roots of this stimulating ingredient and its relationship to health.

Coca-Cola, caffeine, and mental deficiency: Harry Hollingworth and the Chattanooga trial of 1911.

Harry Hollingworth's 1911 investigation of the behavioral effects of caffeine is one of the earliest examples of psychological research contracted by a large corporation. The research was necessitated by a federal government suit against the Coca-Cola Company for marketing a beverage with a deleterious ingredient, namely, caffeine. Although Hollingworth's research played little role in the outcome of the Coca-Cola trials, it was important as a model of sophistication in experimental design. As such, it set a standard for psychopharmacological research. It also was particularly important in directing Hollingworth toward a life-long career in applied psychology.