LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Caffeine is not addictive for most people, a new study concludes, and has little effect on human health. No, really.
According to a much-promoted French study released Monday during the American Chemical Society's annual meeting, drinking up to three cups of coffee a day has no effect on the part of the brain responsible for addiction. And it may actually be good for you.If you're a rat.
After spending two years with 30 rodents, researcher Astrid Nehlig of the French National Health Medical Research Institute found that moderate consumption increases energy and renders addiction "quite unlikely." The study was funded by the French coffee industry and her employer.
Bank loan officer Laura Comstock doesn't hesitate when asked if she agrees with Nehlig's conclusions. "No," she replies flatly.
Comstock must have at least two caffeinated drinks -- usually tea or Diet Coke -- to get through the day, plus a midmorning cup of joe.
"I get headaches if I don't drink coffee," she said, seated at a coffee house during lunch, a cup of decaf in hand. "There's got to be something to that."
According to Nehlig, seven or eight cups of java would have to be consumed in quick succession to create the same addictive brain activity as a low dose of, say, morphine. "Addiction to caffeine is not the same as addiction to methamphetamines or cocaine or morphine," Nehlig said.
"I'm not denying that there cannot be a dependence on caffeine. I'm just saying that there is no adverse physical effects to using caffeine in moderate levels," the researcher said.
Caffeine studies are all over the map when it comes to health effects. Some say the drug increases productivity. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said it may degenerate bone mass and endanger fetuses.
Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, has done extensive research on caffeine. He's skeptical of Nehlig's conclusions. "When you start extrapolating from rats to humans, all kinds of things change," he said.