cosic – the coffee science information centre: who we are and what we provide
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© 2001 British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin, 26, 313–315
Correspondence: Roger Cook, Director, CoSIC, 12 Market Street,
Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 5NQ, UK.
Tel.: + 44 1608 645566; fax: + 44 1608 645300;
e-mail: cosic@btinternet.com
1For the British Coffee Association Information Service, contact:
The British Coffee Association, PO Box 5, Chipping Norton D O,
Oxon OX7 5UD, UK. Tel.: + 01608 644995; fax: + 1608 644996;
e-mail: bcainformation@btopenworld.com; website:
www.britishcoffeeassociation.org
NEWS AND VIEWS: INDUSTRY
CoSIC – the Coffee ScienceInformation Centre: who we areand what we provide
Roger CookCoSIC, Chipping Norton, Oxon
CoSIC, the pan-European Coffee Science Information
Centre, was established in the UK in 1990 by The Insti-
tute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC), which
is based in Switzerland.
During the last decade, there has been an increase in
consumer awareness of diet-related health issues and
as a result of this trend, many popular foods and drinks,
including coffee, have come under scrutiny. CoSIC was
set up to work with independent scientists to develop
factual overviews of the large, and often conflicting,
volume of data concerning coffee and its effects on
health.
Through the collection of experimental data and
contact with researchers, CoSIC assesses all the past and
ongoing medical research on coffee and caffeine being
undertaken around the world. It maintains and regu-
larly updates a scientific database that now comprises
thousands of published research studies.
The aim of CoSIC is to provide accurate, balanced
and consistent information to all the audiences across
Europe who have an interest in coffee, caffeine and
health. The primary objective is to bring balance to the
coffee and health debate. CoSIC provides information
only on those conditions for which there are published
scientific data available. It operates through a network
of offices, known as National Operators, in 19 coun-
tries across Europe. National Operators are responsible
for providing information on coffee and health within
their own country. This information is based on ma-
terials provided by CoSIC and any such information is
checked for scientific accuracy before being distributed.
The National Operator in the UK is the British Coffee
Association Information Service.1
Coffee: part of a healthy balanced diet
The history of coffee
The coffee tree probably originated in the province of
Kaffa, in the area known today as Ethiopia. There is no
real evidence to show exactly when, or how, it was first
discovered that a rich stimulating brew could be made
from the bean (or seed) within the fruit of the coffee
bush, but it is thought that before coffee was ever appre-
ciated as a beverage, native people may have chewed the
ripe cherries and beans as food. There is evidence to
suggest that coffee trees were cultivated in monastery
gardens 1000 years ago, and commercial cultivation
followed, although the first reports of this, from the
Yemen, were not recorded until the fifteenth century.
The first coffee houses were opened in Mecca, where
coffee drinking was initially encouraged, and quickly
spread throughout the Arab world. The coffee houses,
which developed into luxuriously decorated places
where music, dancing, chess and gossip could be
enjoyed and business conducted, were subsequently
suppressed when they became centres of political activ-
ity, although they were soon re-established.
Trade in coffee, a much-prized commodity, was jeal-
ously guarded by the Arabs who would not allow for-
eigners to visit their coffee plantations, nor allow fertile
313
coffee beans to be taken out of the country. However,
seed-beans or plant cuttings were eventually taken out
of Arabia and cultivated in the Dutch colonies of India
and Java. The Dutch became the main suppliers of
coffee to Europe, with Amsterdam the trading centre.
Venetian traders first brought coffee to Europe in
1615, and 30 years later a coffee house or ‘café’ was
opened in Venice. The growth of popular coffee houses,
which became favourite meeting places for both social
and business purposes, spread from the mid-17th
century to other European countries, including Austria,
France, Holland, Germany and England. Lloyd’s of
London, the largest insurance providers in the world,
began life as a coffee house in 1688. From Europe coffee
was taken to Virginia, USA, and the last three hundred
years have seen coffee make its way around the world,
establishing itself in the economies and lifestyle of the
main trading nations.
Coffee is now one of the most valuable primary com-
modities in the world, often second in value only to oil
as a source of foreign exchange to developing countries.
Millions of people around the world earn their living
from it.
At certain times in history coffee has been hailed as
a medical cure-all, while at other times condemned as
the devil’s brew; in the latter case usually for political
or religious reasons, when coffee houses were at their
height of popularity as meeting places. However, in the
last half-century, scientific research has established the
facts about coffee, caffeine (responsible for coffee’s mild
stimulant effect) and health; in moderation, coffee con-
sumption is not a health risk, and as well as being a
most pleasurable experience, drinking coffee may in fact
confer some health benefits.
Coffee and health
Coffee’s enormous popularity and worldwide use has
made it the subject of considerable health research over
the past decades. Thousands of scientific papers have
been written about the relationship between coffee
drinking and health covering a wide range of subjects,
some of which are summarised below.
Debunking the myths
Pregnancy outcomes
There is no sound scientific evidence that moderate con-
sumption of coffee has any effect on the outcomes of
pregnancy or on the wellbeing of the child. The Food
Standards Agency, here in the UK, issued guidelines
314 Roger Cook
© 2001 British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin, 26, 313–315
advising pregnant women to keep their caffeine intake
to around 300 mg/day, equivalent to four cups or three
mugs of coffee. This advice is in line with that given by
the Royal College of Midwives and the Centre for Preg-
nancy Nutrition.
Osteoporosis
Bone health is not affected by coffee drinking. Adverse
effects in some published studies have been attributed
to aspects of lifestyle that are often shared by coffee
drinkers, such as smoking and inactivity. The National
Osteoporosis Society State that ‘we have yet to see
any conclusive evidence that moderate coffee consump-
tion is a significant risk factor in the development of
osteoporosis.’
Cancer
There is no evidence that coffee drinking is a risk for
the development of cancer. For several types of cancer,
there is a disagreement between studies, but again, other
aspects of lifestyle may be implicated. The World
Cancer Research fund published an extensive review
of diet and cancer in 1997. With regard to coffee it
stated,
‘Most evidence suggests that regular consumption
of coffee and/or tea has no significant relationship
with the risk of cancer at any site’.
Cardiovascular disease
The debate about any effect of coffee drinking on the
development of coronary heart disease (CHD), heart
attacks or ventricular arrhythmias has yielded an excep-
tional number of research papers over the last few
decades. A consensus of published literature provides
little evidence for a strong association between coffee
drinking and CHD and none at all that coffee or caf-
feine are causal factors. The British Heart Foundation
state that,
‘There is little evidence to support the notion that
coffee contributes to coronary heart disease’.
Health benefits
Coffee can help you recover from a cold
The after-effects of a cold can affect your mood, reac-
tion time and hand–eye co-ordination, but a cup of
coffee can produce a ‘feel-good’ factor and help to lift
some of the sluggish symptoms (Smith, 1998).
CoSIC – the Coffee Science Information Centre 315
© 2001 British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin, 26, 313–315
Coffee can cut road accidents
A coffee break might make the difference between life
and death for many drivers. A large proportion of road
accidents is caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel
(Regner, 2000).
Coffee’s antioxidants may help fight cancer and CHD
A freshly brewed cup of coffee may do more than just
wake you up in the morning – it might be helping your
body fight cancer and heart disease. Antioxidants, in
coffee, may have beneficial effects and protect against
the development of diseases (Richelle, 2001).
Coffee can protect against Parkinson’s disease
Coffee and caffeine intake is associated with a lower
incidence of Parkinson’s disease. This effect appears to
be independent of smoking (Webster-Ross, 2000).
These are just a few of the published scientific studies
that have shown coffee to be beneficial. For more infor-
mation on coffee, caffeine and health visit the CoSIC
website http://www.cosic.org. Copies of the studies
reported above are also available from CoSIC.
References
Reyner LA & Horne J (2000) Early morning driver sleepiness:
Effectiveness of 200 mg Caffeine. Psychophysiology 73: 251.
Richelle M et al. (2001) Comparison of antioxidant activity in com-
monly consumed beverages (coffee, cocoa and tea) prepared per
cup serving. Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry 49:
3438–42.
Smith AP et al. (1998) Caffeine and the common cold. Journal ofPsychopharmacology 11(4): 319–24.
Webster-Ross G et al. (2000) Association of coffee and caffeine
intake with the risk of Parkinson’s Disease. Journal of the Ameri-can Medical Association 283(20): 2674–9.
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