Often in the world of scientific research – and our reporting on it – coffee and caffeine are used interchangeably. Which makes sense; Many of the beneficial properties of coffee can be attributed to its caffeine content. (There are quite a few studies on the health of caffeinated coffee, the results of which cannot be replicated with decaffeinated coffee.)
However, despite their overlap, coffee and caffeine are not synonymous. Therefore, a recent study sought to better understand the biological mechanisms of both coffee and caffeine as they relate to human health. They found that the benefits of coffee are much more complicated than its caffeine content.
Posted earlier this week in Scientists from Germany’s Technical University of Munich examined the effects of coffee and caffeine on circulating cytokines. Many of the benefits of coffee/caffeine come from its anti-inflammatory properties. Cytokines are signaling proteins that regulate, among other things, inflammation. Therefore, quantifying their activity caused by coffee versus caffeine will greatly facilitate the assessment of the unique health benefits of both.
For this purpose, 10 participants were examined – five men and five women, all aged between 20 and 40, in good health and regularly drinking coffee. Over the course of four months, each participant underwent three different sets of tests, one after drinking coffee (100 ml containing 130 mg of caffeine), one after drinking a caffeine solution (100 ml containing 130 mg of caffeine), and one after drinking water (100 ml with 0 mg of caffeine). the order of drinks in the series was random.
Participants were asked to refrain from consuming caffeine for the week prior to the study and were provided with a standardized meal the night before the study to minimize contamination of the results. Blood and urine samples were collected before the study and then collected again at regular intervals in the following hours.
They found that the caffeine solution had a more pronounced effect on inhibiting both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines than either coffee or water. They also found that caffeine stayed in the bloodstream longer and in greater amounts when the source was brewed coffee rather than a caffeine solution.
Together, these two results support the idea that coffee’s benefits are much more sophisticated than just its caffeine content. The researchers suggest that other compounds found in coffee, such as chlorogenic acid, may provide additional anti-inflammatory effects by counteracting the “immunoactive effects observed after ingestion of isolated caffeine.”
So coffee is more than just a way to consume caffeine, although it is that too. It has its own unique matrix of compounds that promote a wide range of health effects whose effects cannot be fully broken down into their component parts. This is another reason to continue drinking coffee instead of some caffeine solution. Also the taste. The taste is better.
