CAFFEINE'S KICK CARRIES BIG PUNCH - SCIENTISTS

Everyone knows it causes anxiety and sleeplessness. Most people understand
that it is mildly addictive.

But a group of Canadian scientists wonders if consumers are really aware
that the amount of caffeine they consume could negatively affect pregnancy,
the health of children and the onset of osteoporosis.

The scientists are also raising concerns about the distinct possibility
that Health Canada may soon allow beverage producers, who are now allowed
only to add caffeine to cola soft drinks, to add caffeine to carbonated
citrus-flavoured soft drinks as well.

"I think it's time that the issue of caffeine and health be opened to
public debate," says John Kennelly, chairperson of the University of
Alberta's department of agriculture, food and nutritional science.

Health Canada recommends that Canadians should consume no more than 400 to
450 mg of caffeine per day. That's about what you'd find in two eight-ounce
mugs of gourmet coffee, four cups of instant coffee, or two-and-a-half Big
Gulp cola drinks.

No one knows how many Canadians exceed the recommended daily limit, but two
recent studies suggest there is cause for serious concern.

One study, for example, shows that Canadians drink 25 per cent more soft
drinks than milk. The other indicates that children who consumed one or
more soft drinks a day consumed one-fifth less calcium than children who
did not drink soft beverages at all.

That worries Kennelly and the other nine scientists who recently wrote to
Health Minister Allan Rock, calling on him to consider disclosing caffeine
content on food and beverage labels.

Kennelly believes many Canadians would be interested in the information so
they can manage their intake.

Kennelly realizes that food producers are likely to react negatively to any
regulation that requires them to create new labels and possibly conduct
analyses of the caffeine content that may be naturally found in a product
they sell.

But the more important issue, he says, is health.

"Caffeine is the only drug that is widely added to the food supply. ... It
is an addictive stimulant and scientific research has demonstrated that
caffeine consumption affects reproduction, behaviour and bone mineral
metabolism, and has negative nutritional consequences for children."

Health Canada has not yet responded to the scientists' request. But the
scientists already have a powerful ally in the Washington-based Centre for
Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit health organization with one
million members.

CSPI has already presented Health Canada with a list of studies
establishing direct and indirect links between caffeine consumption and
poor health.

The organization, which has seen caffeine introduced to bottled water in
the United States, has warned against the idea of allowing caffeine to be
added to citrus-based soft drinks in Canada.