The National Coffee Association (NCA) in the US says there is a growing focus by regulators on caffeine, which recently led it to file comments about caffeine with the Food and Drug Administration, part of the US Department of Health and Human Service (HHS).
The NCA says that, as part of this growing focus on caffeine by regulators, an expert group including representatives from the HHS and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is weighing language that would bring caffeine under the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). The DGA is something Americans are familiar with because of its ‘Food Pyramid,’ which later became ‘MyPlate,’ and other recommendations.
Inclusion of caffeine in the 2015 guidelines would be the first time that a non-nutrient has been included in official statements on healthy eating and physical activity. The NCA will shortly be submitting comments to the expert group – the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) – which is shaping the guidelines.
“As a starting point, it is notable that for coffee, the language proposed is essentially positive,” said the NCA. “The committee has separated ‘normal’ caffeine consumption in coffee from ‘high-dose caffeine,’ for which its recommendations differ.
“The significance is twofold,” said the NCA. “Years of positive scientific evidence on coffee and health have clearly filtered up to the highest levels of federal health policy, and the caffeine in coffee is being distinguished from the concerns circulating in Washington about energy drinks and other caffeine-infused foods.”
The DGAC’s latest draft states that “moderate coffee consumption” by adults – defined as three to five cups, or up to 400 milligrams of caffeine, per day – results in positive associations with disease reduction, including cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and diabetes. Speaking more generally to the issue of caffeine consumption, the committee also relates caffeine consumption with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and overall cognitive decline and impairment – all of which will be of increasing concern as America’s population ages.
However, despite the positive associations cited, there are a few areas of potential concern. Citing coffee as a ‘known stimulant,’ the DGAC recommends future research on the effects of coffee/caffeine on sleep quality, dependency and addiction. The NCA will draw evidence from its comprehensive database of research literature on coffee and caffeine to address these points.
The DGAC also calls for more research on caffeine and pregnancy outcomes. Here, with guidance from the NCA’s Scientific Advisory Group, the NCA will inform the DGAC of the ‘pregnancy signal,’ a physiological phenomenon which is typically side-lined in the literature.
Put simply, women with a healthy pregnancy tend to develop a hormonal aversion to some strong food-related smells such as from spicy foods and coffee, and naturally reduce their intake accordingly. Conversely, women without the ‘pregnancy signal,’ who typically have less viable pregnancies, are not averse to continuing their coffee consumption. Thus, there may be underlying issues related to a particular pregnancy which may be conflated with coffee consumption, a matter which needs to be fully understood and considered in any future research.
The DGAC also proposes adding an “implication” that coffee “as it is normally consumed” can contain “added calories from cream, milk and added sugars,” encouraging consumer awareness. The NCA said it will draw from statistics about consumer behaviour in the National Coffee Drinking Trends to encourage a more precise statement about coffee consumption and additives.
Significantly, the terminology used in the DGAC’s recommendations on “high-dose caffeine” is quite different in tone and approach and focus entirely on energy drinks. Two recommendations on high-dose caffeine, however, do call for NCA comments to bolster coffee’s distinct treatment as a source of “normal” caffeine consumption. The DGAC notes that further research is needed to define excessive caffeine intake and to capture more data on the prevalence of excessive caffeine intake beyond intake of energy drink.
“Renewed attention on caffeine by federal agencies is something the NCA is watching carefully,” the association concluded. “With caffeine potentially being included in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines, it has never been clearer how legislative and regulatory challenges can come at the industry from many different angles, and several related directions simultaneously.”
