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Ever get a sour stomach after your morning coffee? Well, you might end up switching to a dark roast—because that coffee concoction may leave you with a happier tummy. That's according to research presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. [And to be published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, http://bit.ly/cberXM]
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.
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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10 Comments
Add CommentBut of course, if you roast it to burned toast, you kind of no longer have any reason to drink it !!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWonder if Charbucks had anything to do with this study.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGuess I will have to order my latte with an extra shot of N-methylpyridinium. Could we shorten the word to a shot of methyl?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA problem, that chemical people are probably unaware of, and don't have the obligation to know: Dark roast byproducts tend to induce or worsen high blood pressure, and hypertension is a much serious health problem than gastric acid oversecretion. Mildly toasted -natural toast- coffee is more health friendly
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm in the coffee business and 25 or so years ago a mentor of mine told me that dark roast like burnt toast had a calming effect on the stomach.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe choice of throat cancer from gastric reflux is not a very good one. I drink dark roasts and my blood pressure is fine, but I subscribe to coffee drinkers enjoying whatever roast they desire. The point of the research was to point out the good coffee for those with reflux problems.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've had gastric reflux for year's and very blessed not to have high blood pressure,and I like for my coffee to taste like coffee,I alway's buy medium roast,was afraid the dark roast would be too strong and bad for me,so after reading this good new's about the dark roast being stomach friendly ,I'm going to give it a try,and I thank SciAm.com for this bit of good new's.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact that your stomach cells generate less acid on dark roast coffee is a good thing for many folks. Those that suffer with acid reflux, like myself, can appreciate the fact that this may help us make better choices in coffee that will irritate our condition less.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for the information!
Brady Crabb
http://dark-roast-coffee.blogspot.com/
Or a shot of meth
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Human trials will determine if it has all the boldness with none of the reflux" means??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am learning English still~