Coffee changed the course of history, says researcher – 07/19/2023 – Science

Every day, more than 2 billion cups and glasses of coffee are consumed around the world.

This means that, in the few minutes it takes you to read this text, around 10 million people will have taken one of these drinks, according to data from industry associations.

This makes caffeine, one of the substances present in coffee, the most consumed psychoactive drug in the entire planet.

But how did interest in the fruit of a bush originating in Ethiopia gain the world – and, according to some authors and researchers, even influence the ideas that gave rise to the Enlightenment and capitalism?

And, after all, is drinking alcohol good or bad for health?

THE SHEPHERD AND THE GOATS

Legend has it that a shepherd who lived in the region of present-day Ethiopia, in East Africa, observed that his goats seemed to become more cheerful and active after consuming the fruit of the coffee tree.

From then on, the individuals who inhabited the place began to directly ingest the macerated grains – some reports also point to the ancestral habit of making tea from the leaves of this plant.

According to the Associação Brasileira da Indústria de Café (ABIC), the first written records about these coffee customs come from Yemen, from the 6th century AD

“The Arabs quickly mastered the technique of planting and preparing coffee. The plants were called Kaweh and his drink was named after kahwah or Cahuewhich means ‘strength’ in Arabic,” describes ABIC.

In that period, 15 centuries ago, parts of the plant were used for medicinal purposes, and monks also began to consume it to keep their attention in prayers and night vigils.

But coffee as we know it today – roasted and ground – was only developed from the 14th century onwards.

In the following decades, the habit of drinking the drink as a sociability rite conquered parts of Europe and the Middle East, starting with Turkey, where the first coffee shops in the world appeared.

Poets, philosophers, writers and other intellectuals were early adopters of the practice – which, by the way, brings us to the next subject.

THE CRADLE OF MODERN THOUGHT

The history of the popularization of coffee has led some authors to credit the drink with the development of important ideas that shaped the world for centuries to come.

The German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas, for example, highlights the role of coffeehouses in England and Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries as the places where communication took place, in the form of conversations and publications.

In his view, these establishments became “centres of criticism”, where public opinion was created and recorded, summarizes a text from the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

The American writer Michael Pollan, author of Under the Effect of Plants (Editora Intrínseca) argues that coffee consumption served as fuel for new ideas, such as the Enlightenment – the 18th century movement that defended the use of reason instead of faith to understand and solve the main problems of our society.

“There are strong reasons to believe that caffeine contributed to the enlightenment, the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ and the Industrial Revolution, which required focused and linear thinking”, he says, in a video published by the American magazine Wired.

“Before coffee arrived in Europe, people were drunk or inebriated most of the day. They even had alcoholic beverages for breakfast. And alcoholic individuals are not going to be rational, linear in thought or energetic,” he continues.

With the popularization of coffee from the 17th century, however, things changed.

“In London, there were coffee shops dedicated to literature, where writers and poets congregated. Others were specific to the stock market, or the sciences…”, lists Pollan.

In an interview with BBC News Brasil, professor of anthropology Ted Fischer, from Vanderbilt University, in the United States, agrees with this historical relationship between the drink and Enlightenment ideas.

“Coffee altered the course of History and fostered ideas of the Enlightenment and capitalism”, says the researcher, who directs the Institute for Studies on Coffee at the American university.

“It doesn’t seem like a mere accident to me that ideas about democracy, rationality, empiricism, science and capitalism came at a time when its consumption became popular. This drug, which broadens perception and concentration, was definitely part of the context that led to the capitalism,” he adds.

Speaking of capitalism, Fischer draws attention to how the demand for coffee altered the course of history in several countries, including Brazil itself.

“On the one hand, we have the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the expansion of coffee production in Brazil. On the other hand, some industrialists in Europe began to offer coffee to employees, in addition to selling the product at a lower price”, he highlights.

“And this was not something altruistic on the part of the factory owners. They wanted to increase the productivity of their employees. In other words, we have coffee consumption linked to capitalist production, which led to an increase in cultivation in places like Brazil and Guatemala”, he adds. the researcher.

EFFECTS OF COFFEE ON THE BODY

In general terms, experts and health agencies point out that the habit of drinking coffee in moderation is safe and can even bring benefits.

But how does the drink act on the body? In summary, it takes around 45 minutes to “travel” through the digestive system, be absorbed, fall into the bloodstream and act on the nervous system.

Caffeine, one of the main substances in coffee and other products, has a chemical structure similar to adenosine, a compound produced by the body itself that leads to feelings of relaxation and numbness (among other functions).

This causes the coffee molecule to fit into receptors located on the surface of nerve cells, preventing the action of such adenosine.

“Caffeine has the ability to block these receptors and, with that, generate a psychostimulant effect. That is, it has an action contrary to adenosine and gives the feeling of being awake and focused”, explains nutritionist Marilyn Cornelis, professor at the School of Medicine at Northwestern University in the United States.

Pharmacology studies estimate that this sense of focus and attention gained from caffeine lasts between 15 minutes and two hours.

And, as mentioned above, this psychoactive substance is present not only in coffee, but also in dozens of other plant species, such as guarana, cocoa, yerba mate and green tea. Caffeine also appears in industrialized products, such as soft drinks, energy drinks and medicines.

What changes here is the concentration: according to a table from the Mayo Clinic, in the United States, a cup of espresso carries 64 milligrams of caffeine, while green tea brings 28 milligrams, for example.

WHAT ABOUT HEALTH?

But do these changes in the body not have negative repercussions on health? It all depends on the amount consumed, guarantee experts.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), healthy adults can safely drink up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day – the equivalent of about five cups of espresso.

Coffee is not recommended for children or adolescents due to the lack of specific studies on the effect of the substance in these age groups. As for pregnant women, the recommendation is to talk to the doctor before consumption, as some women are sensitive to caffeine during this period.

For healthy adults, exceeding the 400 mg limit can lead to some unpleasant symptoms, such as insomnia, nervousness, anxiety, rapid heartbeat, stomach upset, nausea and headache.

Episodes of caffeine overdose are rarer and are related to drug abuse or energy drinks. Still according to the FDA, they occur when intake exceeds 1,200 mg per day – the equivalent of drinking more than 18 cups of espresso in a few hours.

In addition to safety issues, epidemiological and experimental studies published over the past ten years have begun to observe positive effects from regular (and moderate) coffee consumption.

“Drinking between two and five cups a day is related to a reduction in the risk of mortality, but also of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even some types of cancer”, lists pharmacist Mathias Henn, who does research at Harvard University, in the USA, and at the University of Navarra, Spain.

“We also have studies on caffeine and reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease,” he adds.

Let it be clear: these studies specifically evaluated coffee consumption. The caffeine that appears in other versions, such as soft drinks, energy drinks or chocolates, may not have the same effect. Furthermore, these products have different dosages (larger or smaller) and often carry an excessive amount of sugar – which, on the other hand, is related to a number of health problems.

And it’s worth remembering that coffee doesn’t just bring caffeine. There are a number of other substances in there, such as chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant.

For Cornelis, the accumulation of knowledge about the positive points of the drink made specialists start to see it with good eyes.

“In 2015, for the first time, the American Nutrition Guidelines indicated that, based on the evidence available at that time, consuming up to five cups of coffee a day was safe and possibly beneficial,” she recalls.

But the nutritionist points out that the habit of drinking coffee goes far beyond the psychostimulant effects of caffeine or the attempt to protect health.

“Coffee consumption is related to the community environment, breaks at work to interact, opportunities to develop relationships and enjoy a good social atmosphere”, she believes.

“And that kind of environment is even more welcome now after all the isolation issues we’ve had with the covid-19 pandemic,” concludes Cornelis.

This text was originally published here.