Time for coffee and tea
Physiology of coffee and tea
Very marked scientific and public interest has been taken into the physiological effects of coffee and tea on the human body.
Much interest has been directed towards establishing whether coffee has any harmful effects, both long and short term upon the human body, not least as a result of the many negative assertions that have been made, primarily in the popular media.
The quantity of coffee physiology scientific work that has been carried out worldwide, using all the relevant disciplines of the life sciences to study every aspect of coffee drinking on the human and animal bodies and to refute unscientific allegations when necessary is truly amazing. One of the main compounds in coffee is of course caffeine, this was isolated by Runge in 1820. Many other compounds have been identified that play roles in taste, and/or have other effects upon the consumer.
The subject of coffee physiology covers many areas; these are listed below.
Physiologically active substances in coffee
Metabolism of coffee constituents
Epidemiological studies on the effects of coffee drinking
Physiological effects of coffee and its components
Nutritional Factors
The physiology of flavour
Feeding studies on coffee
Mutagenicity of coffee
Allergens and mould toxin containments
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contaminants
As with coffee there is much interest into the physiological impacts of tea consumption. Unlike coffee however, most people see tea as being a healthy drink as a consequence of the antioxidants that green tea (catechins) and black tea (theaflavins) contain; there are also many antioxidants present in coffee. In addition to these antioxidants tea also contains plenty of vitamins and minerals that have a physiological impact.