Caffeine

A venture into the backcountry for a hike or camping trip usually means leaving some of our creature comforts at home, but innovations in outdoor gear have come to mean that a quality caffeine fix need not be one of them.

Coffee seems to have a range of health benefits, but exactly how it helps remains unknown. A new study has identified specific proteins that caffeine works on, which help the liver remove bad cholesterol and protect against cardiovascular disease.

A new study has found caffeine can be used to help bees locate specific flowers. The research suggests the drug enhances bee memory and makes them more efficient at homing in on certain targeted flowers.

A new study has found caffeine consumption can reduce the volume of gray matter in the human brain. The researchers stress these findings do not imply caffeine negatively impacts the brain but the drug may induce a kind of temporary neural plasticity.

A new review encompassing dozens of observational studies and meta-analyses suggests there is no safe level of caffeine consumption during pregnancy. The review calls for a “radical revision” to health recommendations but not all experts agree with the findings.

A team of scientists has created a mathematical model for what they say is the ideal coffee, recommending that a less-is-more approach could lead baristas to produce one heavenly espresso after another, using around a quarter fewer beans.

Caffeine has long been considered an effective appetite-suppressant, and it's been shown to effectively speed up the body’s fat metabolism processes. Now, research has homed in on another mechanism that may explain caffeine’s anti-obesity properties.

Adding fuel to the endless coffee debates comes the latest large study. This time, researchers looked at data from over 300,000 people for possible links between coffee and cancer, and found it neither gave, nor prevented us from getting cancers. It's just a tasty beverage after all then.

Nitro-infusion cold-brew is a big thing among coffee aficionados, but most of us need to go to a specialist coffee shop to get our fix – and it's not a cheap fix. Portland's GrowlerWerks has come up with an alternative for us. Nitro cold-brewing (and storing, and pouring) in our own homes.

The placenta may be one of the least understood organs, but it’s important to study its effects on the health of a developing fetus. Researchers at Iowa State University have used microfluidic models of the organ, a placenta-on-a-chip, to see if, and how much, caffeine can cross from mother to baby.

A new study offers insight into the oft-cited correlation between coffee consumption and a decreased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The discovery reveals a coffee compound called EHT works synergistically with caffeine to potentially protect the brain from neurodegeneration.

Research has revealed that people with a preference for drinking coffee over tea tend to display a genetic variant that signals a higher sensitivity to tasting bitterness in caffeine. This counter-intuitive finding suggests the bitterness of caffeine reinforces an attraction to the beverage.