A Low-Heartburn Coffee?
Coffee-lovers with delicate stomachs, listen up! Scientists may have found a way to enjoy an eye-opening cup of java without gastrointestinal discomfort.
Some coffees are labeled “stomach friendly,” because they’re steam treated to drive out caffeine and other chemicals thought to cause gastrointestinal distress. But food chemists [Veronika Somoza et al.] wanted to know exactly which chemicals were behind the heartburn. So they took extracts of two coffee blends—one light, one dark—and their steam-treated counterparts. Each extract proved to be a unique chemical mix, with different amounts of caffeine and other compounds.
When the researchers served these coffee extracts to cultured human stomach cells, the cells jacked up acid production. Except in the case of one extract, high in a compound called N-methylpyridinium—a chemical produced in the roasting process that’s not found in raw green coffee beans. And the darker the roast, the more there is. Now the researchers are test roasting a stomach-soothing N-methylpyridinium blend. Human trials will determine if it has all the boldness with none of the reflux.
The potential market for a kinder, gentler coffee is huge. About 40 million people in the United States alone avoid java, often because of acid reflux disease, a common stomach problem for coffee drinkers, according to background information from the American Chemical Society. Stomach-friendly coffees are already on the market, but some doctors don’t recommend them for people with acid reflux, which pushes stomach contents back up the esophagus, causing heartburn.
Now, we heartburn-problem sufferers can enjoy a good cup of coffee. Hurray!!!
[source: Healthday]
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