To help prevent serious health problems arising from consuming too much caffeine, scientists, including Indian-origin researchers, have developed a rapid, at-home test to detect even low levels of the stimulant in most beverages and even breast milk
Washington: To help prevent serious health problems arising from consuming too much caffeine, scientists, including Indian-origin researchers, have developed a rapid, at-home test to detect even low levels of the stimulant in most beverages and even breast milk.
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Mani Subramanian from the University of Iowa and colleagues note that caffeine's popularity as a "pick-me-up" has led to it being added to more than 570 beverages and 150 food products, including gums and jelly beans. It also comes in a pure powder form that consumers can use themselves to spike drinks and food. In small amounts, most people can handle caffeine without a problem. But excessive doses can lead to serious health problems, including insomnia, hallucinations, vitamin deficiency, several types of cancer and in rare cases, death, researchers said.
Subramanian's team, including Sujit K Mohanty, Sridhar Gopishetty and Chi Li Yu, wanted to develop a quick and easy way for consumers to determine whether the caffeine levels in their foods and drinks fall within a safe range. They tested an enzyme called caffeine dehydrogenase and found that it could detect caffeine in a variety of drinks - with the exception of teas - within one minute.
Also, it was sensitive enough to pick up on caffeine's presence at concentrations as low as 1 to 5 parts per million, the maximum limit the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises for nursing mothers. They say that their method could be integrated into a dip-stick type of test, like over-the-counter pregnancy tests, that could be used at home. The research was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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