Posts by Crystal

Half of Americans drink coffee every day, and in recent years, coffee houses featuring exotic roasts and flavors have sprung up all over the country. While coffee has become an essential part of contemporary life, humans have been drinking coffee for centuries. Still, we know very little about coffees chemical makeup and what its components do in the human body.

That is about to change.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded support of $6 million over three years to create an Institute for Coffee Studies within the Vanderbilt Addiction Center. The institute will be dedicated to studying the chemical nature of coffee, with an initial research focus on how coffee affects the brain and whether coffee can be used to treat depression and to prevent relapse in patients who have successfully undergone alcoholism treatment.

Studies of coffee and caffeine have shown that drinking three or four cups of coffee a day is not harmful in healthy people, said Dr. Peter R. Martin, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and director of the Division of Addiction Medicine.

Man has decided, for whatever reason, to drink coffee. Its apparently not dangerous. It must have some benefit. It behooves us to understand that benefit. This opportunity to identify the other chemicals in coffee and study their effects is extremely exciting.

The work of the Institute for Coffee Studies will be funded by the Brazilian Coffee Association and similar associations from coffee-producing countries throughout the world dedicated to developing coffee as a crop that may replace or reduce illicit drug crops.

Investigators at the Institute for Coffee Studies will systematically evaluate other agents in coffee, besides caffeine, to determine whether they have any medicinal value, beginning with a group of chemicals called chlorogenic acids, Martin said.

Work in the mid-1980s suggested that chlorogenic acids may have an effect on the opiate system in the brain, Martin said. They may have antidepressant effects, which would make some sense because we know that drinking coffee gives people a sense of well-being. Its possible that these or other components of coffee may have an effect on reducing alcohol dependency.

To begin the work, the researchers will examine the chemical characteristics of coffee, evaluate their effects on the bodys neurotransmitter systems, synthesize the agents that are not yet available for study and study these agents in cell cultures and animal addiction models.

We would like to see whether chlorogenic acids or other components can have an effect on animals alcohol self-administration, Martin said. The idea is that, perhaps, drinking coffee can have a beneficial effect on people who are depressed and who are addicted to alcohol. Thats what wed like to determine.

The work will take research into coffee beyond the study of caffeine, its most well-known chemical component.

Some of the chlorogenic acids are present at quite high concentrations in coffee, so you have to wonder what they do. We think its important to find out, said David M. Lovinger, professor of molecular physiology and biophysics and pharmacology. Lovinger serves as associate director of basic research for the Addiction Center and the Institute for Coffee Studies.

The group representing Brazilian coffee growers became interested in Vanderbilt because of the reputation of its Department of Pharmacology, Martin said.The group visited Vanderbilt last year and met with researchers in pharmacology and the Addiction Center.

The visiting group included a scientist, Professor Darcy Roberto Lima of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who has been cataloging plants in the Brazilian rain forest, Martin said. We discussed potentially expanding the project to include looking at the potential pharmacological effects of these plants.

The coffee growers hope to use the information gleaned from scientific research to make their product more healthful, Martin said.

Coffees chemical components vary with how it is produced, he said. Depending on how the coffee beans are roasted, the chemical effects may be changed. The idea is to make coffee as healthful as possible and reap any medicinal benefits that may be there.

The Institute for Coffee Studies hopes to report initial findings at the Triennial World Conference on Coffee, Drugs and Health, planned for next year in Rio de Janeiro.

4

AMBER ALERT for JW Children\blood tran?

by CornerStone in

jw
friends

i heard somthing on the radio and wanted to throw this out.

here in california an amber alert was just issued for a young girl who has a mother that was just released from custidy.

she apparently has the child and the mother is thought to be delusional,( she thinks god is giving her orders and stuff, kinda like the gb :) ).. i know the amber alert is state wide but it may also be nation wide, i don't know.. but here's the rub, the alert was issued on what is a domestic problem, not a criminal situation.

Crystal

I saw a short report on this.

The little girls name is Cierra Rose Walden and her moms name is Pamela.
Pamela was just released a few days ago from some sort of mental facility.
She abducted the little girl on a visitation.
This is in Bakersfeild CA, and there is an Amber alert.
This all they said.

17

Still on the fence!!!

by breeze in

jw
friends

i have been associated with the witnesses all my life.

going to the meetings was much different before the society got so large, 6,000,000 witnesses and probably at least that many not active anymore!.

i am sure that my life has been dramatically changed by this association.

Crystal

Breeze, You said: Once an organization has to have several books to guide the every movement of the brotherhood it is out of control.....too many controls....!

Ecclesiastes 12] And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
[13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
[14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Interesting how the jw ignore or twist scriptures for their own advantage.

Welcome aboard!!

Edited by - Crystal on 30 August 2002 9:36:7

15

Is it just me or...

by SPAZnik in

does anyone else dream about jw.com posters from time to time?.

i have the most vivid dreams.. .

write a short essay of appreciation for .

Crystal

Hey ...I thougt I was the only one.If I'm on this forum most of the day at night I have one big jumble of a dream.Nothing as detailed as your dream(i'm jealous!!)I wake up more tired.Lets seek counlsing together!

40

Ruth's Watchtower (Part II)

by Stephanus in

jw
friends

we've been having a bit of fun with our speculations about what ruth is really like, from clues drawn from the watchtower she (or someone) left in a train.

i had a look at the watchtower itself and have been rather amused by its overall cheesiness.

or to quote groucho marx:.

Crystal

Hey...Isn't that Eddy Murphy in the green Africian outfit...from the movie Trading Places??

Edited by - Crystal on 29 August 2002 9:28:46

10

Spanish - Anyone? Need some Help....

by Adonai438 in

jw
friends

my husband has a new co-worker that has struck up conversation with him regarding jws.. she is a jw and knows he's a christian and is trying to talk with him.

no problem right?

my husband and i have been ministering to jws for 7 years now and this shouldn't be a problem-- .

Crystal

Click on link.

http://translator.dictionary.com/text.html

32

Godfather Rutherford (Photoshop-fun)

by Rado Vleugel in

jw
friends

not marlon brando, but rutherford is the original godfather!.

rado vleugel.

http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/

Crystal

LMAO!!!! I wish i knew how to do that!! give us more!!!

32

Godfather Rutherford (Photoshop-fun)

by Rado Vleugel in

jw
friends

not marlon brando, but rutherford is the original godfather!.

rado vleugel.

http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/

Crystal

More..more..I want more!!

27

Adult Children of Alcoholics

by Ray Skyhorse in

jw
friends

how do witnesses view aa meetings and aca meetings?

are they ok with the 12 steps?

the reason i am asking is because i think it might be beneficial for my jw-wife to attend some aca meetings but i'm unsure of how "anti-aa" the witnesses are.. also, if anyone care to make any comments re aca meetings, i'm all ears.

Crystal

You are right granny,People will do what they want to do no matter what.I guess sometimes it is easier to blame AA for my divorce,he would of screwed around regardless.

I went to some Alanon meetings.They helped me in realising that it was not my fault that my husband went back to drinking and also that my father's drinking was no reflection on me or my mother.After awhile I felt I did'nt need to go...it became depressing hearing some of the horror stories from the other women.

My recovery involves, reading the bible and praying.I also enjoy gardening,photography and traveling.I have a great boyfriend.I believe the divorce and the crap i went through just made me stronger.

When I run into my husband now, I am very nice to him (I think it makes him feel guilty) I just think of him as spirtually sick.It takes too much of my energy to feel angry..i only hurt myself.

Interesting tid bit about Bill Wilson

What do you do now for recovery??