Discussion Board

I've been experimenting with drinking tea instead of coffee and have found that coffee causes me to have sinus inflammation and just generally feeling bad. Dairy does the same. While it's clear to me why dairy is a problem for many people, myself included, I've never heard anyone mention "allergies" to coffee. It must not be the caffeine that's a problem because black tea doesn't bother me. I'm going to post this on Jeff Novick's thread also. Please let me know if any of you have knowledge of or experience with this. Thanks! At this point, I feel so miserable from drinking 1 cup of coffee yesterday and having some dairy, that I'm ready to do a detox. Ugh....

Hi Birdy

I also have a reaction to coffee that has nothing to do with caffeine as I'm fine with tea. I break out in a horrible pimply rash on my cheeks and along my jawline. The same thing happens with cocoa and chocolate, so there's something about the coffee bean and cocoa bean that I react to. I haven't been able to work out what it might be, other than these beans are high in saturated fat, which I don't digest well.

I'd love to know if you find out anymore about this.

Buffy

Buffy, Coffee beans high in sat fat? I've not heard this. Tell us more. Don

Hi Don

Last year when I broke out in a horrible rash, I came across info about the coffee bean being high in saturated fat. I just tried to find the info again, but haven't found it. If you search the USDA Nutrient Database for coffee you'll see that brewed coffee does have saturated fat. Unfortunately it doesn't cover the coffee bean itself.

I react to coffee, cocoa/chocolate, and various nuts and seeds (both on my skin and digestively). The thing they all seemed to have in common was a high amount of saturated fat, but it might be something else I'm not aware of.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Buffy

This article on caffeine doesn't specifically answer your question, but thought you might find something of interest in it.

Karin_Kiwi posted a link to the "Retreat" website (in Australia) that contains the article.

http://www.cedarvaleretreat.com.au/icaffeine.html

Thanks for your responses, and Clary thank you for the link. I may not get any specific information about coffee, but my experience is enough to make me swear off it at this point. And I now have great motivation to avoid dairy! I noticed that the most recent citation on that article you linked, Clary, was 1978. I read a book a couple of years ago about caffeine and it seems like we haven't learned much more in 30 years. As is common with so many substances, some people do well with caffeine and some don't. My husband is not bothered by it at all. I don't think that saturated fat has anything to do with causing a rash. There are about 150 different chemicals in coffee and obviously one or more of these are causing me and other people problems, whereas tea does not. In general, tea seems to be a good thing to drink.

McD did a newsletter article on coffee v tea in July 2004. In summary: coffee = bad; moderate amounts of tea = OK but try to switch to herbal . The article is at http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougal ... coffee.htm

Did a little more investigation on the suggestion that coffee contains fat, even sat fat. Understanding Nutrition by Whitney and Rolfes lists it as a trace. The Government Nutritional Database seems to confirm that whatever fat is in brewed coffee is insignificant. Don

One of my friends and I both agree that there's something in coffee that makes us jittery and anxious above and beyond the caffeine content. Black tea, cola, yerba mate, and even high-caffeine energy drinks don't have this effect.

The only thing coffee seems good for is protecting the liver against alcoholic cirrhosis: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/healt ... ref=slogin

Also, I've read that drinking unfiltered coffee (french press, turkish) raises cholesterol.

Birdy, when I was allergy tested back in 2000, I reacted to coffee and slightly to black tea too. I have no idea what in the coffee I reated to. I'm a person who has hives quite often and so I never know what is going to set them off. When I was tested, I broke out so much that they had a hard time telling what foods I was reacting to and how much.

I really like coffee but gave it up after that, as well as many other foods/beverages and since following this program for the past 5 + yrs., the hives are better, but I still have them. Of course, I can rub my skin the wrong way and break out!


I usually drink herb teas and like them very much. I love rooibos (red) tea now. Most people have to acquire a taste for it, which I have. I like it with vanilla in it. I don't drink tea every day though. My main beverage is water and I drink lots of it daily.

You also mentioned dairy. To me, dairy is one of, if not the most detrimental food humans consume. I'm allergic to it and I always know if I happen to ingest any if I'm eating away from home. It causes me hives, gastric distress, sinus congestion & brain fog. Because it makes me feel ill, I have no desire for it.
I wish that I could develop that same feeling for oils!! I need to be more diligent in keeping them out of my diet when away from home, and it's so hard.