Caffeine

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.

A new study has revealed a previously undiscovered mechanism showing how caffeine can trigger the repair of heart muscles. The research, so far only involving mouse experiments, lends more weight to the growing body of observational evidence suggesting caffeine has beneficial health effects.

How many cups of coffee do you have a day? It’s not a stretch to say that caffeine is the world’s most popular drug, with 85 percent of American adults consuming the drug in some form every day. But when and how frequently should we be taking a caffeine hit to get the best effect from it?

Caffeine may be a “catalyst” that turns us from sleepy zombies into functioning members of society, but now that may be more literal. Scientists have used caffeine to replace the metal catalysts normally used in creating polymer materials, opening the door for drug delivery via chewable gels.

​A massive study has concluded that moderate coffee intake is generally safe for most of the population. The review examined over 200 meta-studies on the health effects of coffee consumption and concluded that three to five cups a day looks to be the safest maximum volume one should consume.

A new study by Indiana University researchers has revealed how several compounds, including caffeine, help boost the production of an enzyme that has been shown to protect the brain against several degenerative neurological disorders.

Soylent is a powdered drink mix claimed to provide all the sustenance your body needs to function. But acknowledging that there are plenty of people who are unable to function without their daily caffeine hit, Soylent has introduced a caffeinated version called Coffiest.

Thanks to some enterprising chemists and go-getters, there are now lots of ways to get a caffeine boost not involving a mug. We test out four.