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PubMed · 7344909

Caffeine: an update.

B L Oser·R A Ford
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Abstract

While the total annual volume of caffeine has increased over the years, the actual per capita daily intake has not. This is based on the fact that the quantity of caffeine in a soft drink is about the same or, in the case of diet drinks, less than in 1961 when the original GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) determinations were made. Since that time, there have been numerous studies on the effect of caffeine on animals and humans. The Select Committee on GRAS Substances (SCOGS) of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in 1978 reviewed all the data available at that time and concluded that there is "no evidence in the available information on caffeine [that] demonstrates a hazard to the public when it is used in cola-type beverages at levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced...", although they did suggest further study was necessary. The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers' Association (FEMA) Expert Panel has now reviewed not only the same data s the FASEB (SCOGS) Committee, but several more recent studies. On the basis of this review, the Panel reaffirms the GRAS status of caffeine under conditions of its current use as an international ingredient in nonalcoholic beverages.

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Abnormalities, Drug-InducedAdolescentAdultAnimalsBehaviorCaffeineChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornKineticsMiceMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPregnancyRatsReproductionJournal Article

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B L Oser, R A Ford. 1981. Caffeine: an update.. https://doi.org/10.3109/01480548109017824

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PubMed1995

Teratogenicity of high vitamin A intake.

BACKGROUND: Studies in animals indicate that natural forms of vitamin A are teratogenic. Synthetic retinoids chemically similar to vitamin A cause birth defects in humans; as in animals, the defects appear to affect tissues derived from the cranial neural crest. METHODS: Between October 1984 and June 1987, we identified 22,748 pregnant women when they underwent screening either by measurement of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein or by amniocentesis. Nurse interviewers obtained information on the women's diet, medications, and illnesses during the first trimester of pregnancy, as well as information on their family and medical history and exposure to environmental agents. We obtained information on the outcomes of pregnancy from the obstetricians who delivered the babies or from the women themselves. Of the 22,748 women, 339 had babies with birth defects; 121 of these babies had defects occurring in sites that originated in the cranial neural crest. RESULTS: For defects associated with cranial-neural-crest tissue, the ratio of the prevalence among the babies born to women who consumed more than 15,000 IU of preformed vitamin A per day from food and supplements to the prevalence among the babies whose mothers consumed 5000 IU or less per day was 3.5 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.7 to 7.3). For vitamin A from supplements alone, the ratio of the prevalence among the babies born to women who consumed more than 10,000 IU per day to that among the babies whose mothers consumed 5000 IU or less per day was 4.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.2 to 10.5). Using a smoothed regression curve, we found an apparent threshold near 10,000 IU per day of supplemental vitamin A. The increased frequency of defects was concentrated among the babies born to women who had consumed high levels of vitamin A before the seventh week of gestation. CONCLUSIONS: High dietary intake of preformed vitamin A appears to be teratogenic. Among the babies born to women who took more than 10,000 IU of preformed vitamin A per day in the form of supplements, we estimate that about 1 infant in 57 had a malformation attributable to the supplement.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗