Caffeine's effects on health continue to be focus of study

BY JAMIE TALAN
Newsday

The smell of coffee does it for me -- every morning, every day of my adult life. It's a strong lure, but one tempered by another force: After one cup, my brain responds that I've had enough, for the sheer pleasure in that first serving will turn into the jitters with a second.

The act of balancing caffeine's pleasure vs. its harm is one every coffee or tea drinker knows well. But scientists have taken the discussion in new directions -- to an examination of the impact of caffeine on health, far beyond the immediate jitters.

They have spent decades putting caffeine -- the ingredient in coffee, tea and cola that delivers the buzz -- under the microscope. And so far their efforts have yielded mixed results. Though recent studies have reported on potential health benefits from consuming coffee -- in fact, lots of it -- there are others that find it can be unhealthy.

What's a coffee drinker to do?

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