The following comes from the book "The Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation" by John A. Widtsoe, chapter 7 titled "Hot Drinks". I offer here for educational purposes only, especially for those of us who are interested in knowing the affect of caffeine on our bodies.
"Hot drinks are not for the body or belly." 1
The Meaning of "Hot Drinks".
When the Word of Wisdom was first promulgated in 1833, the question was
at once asked: What is the meaning of "hot drinks?" Was it an
injunction against consuming beverages so hot as to burn the tongue or
mouth? That did not seem reasonable. Did it mean that the consumption of
warm drinks should be reduced? That did not, even in that day, seem so
unreasonable, for it was recognized that the stomach lining might be
made unduly sensitive by frequent large ingestions of hot liquids. In
fact, some clinical results of the modern day indicate that hot
beverages, continuously used, predispose the stomach to certain serious
disorders.
The
question concerning the meaning of "hot drinks," as used in the Word of
Wisdom, was at last brought to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He defined
"hot drinks" as tea and coffee, the two common household beverages of
the day. Joel H. Johnson, with whose family the Prophet was intimate,
relates that on a Sabbath day in July (1833) following the giving of the
"Word of Wisdom," when both Joseph and Hyrum Smith were in the stand,
the Prophet said to the Saints: "I understand that some of the people
are excusing themselves in using tea and coffee, because the Lord only
said 'hot drinks' in the revelation of the Word of Wisdom. Tea and
coffee are what the Lord meant when he said 'hot drinks.'" 2
On March 17, 1838, when the body of Seventies were preparing for their
pilgrimage to the "land of Zion," they agreed that they should see to it
that "the commandments are kept, and the Word of Wisdom heeded, that
is, no tobacco, tea, coffee, snuff or ardent spirits of any kind to be
taken internally". 3
Sometime later, in 1842, Hyrum Smith, the Prophet's brother, in
speaking upon the Word of Wisdom concerning the term "hot drinks" said,
"There are many who wonder what this can mean, whether it refers to tea
or coffee, or not. I say it does refer to tea and coffee." 4
Brigham Young, who, as the President of the Council of Twelve, was very
near to the Prophet, always taught that "hot drinks" meant tea and
coffee.
He once said:
"I
have heard it argued that tea and coffee are not mentioned in the Word
of Wisdom; that is very true; but what were the people in the habit of
taking as hot drinks when that revelation was given? Tea and coffee. We
were not in the habit of drinking water very hot, but tea and coffee—the
beverages in common use." 5
Moreover,
from the time that the Word of Wisdom was received, until the present
day, the Church as a whole has understood and taught that the term "hot
drinks" refers to tea and coffee and all similar beverages. This
definition may be extended to include all drinks whether hot or cold in
temperature which, like coffee and tea, contain any stimulating
substance, for such are detrimental to health.
This definition of "hot drinks" furnishes the key to this part of the Word of Wisdom.
One
may well ask: what has modern scientific investigation to say about
this definition of the term "hot drinks"? Has the statement been
interpreted arbitrarily or are there good scientific reasons why such
drinks are injurious to human welfare?
Historical.
Coffee and tea are among the oldest beverages used by man. The origin
of their use is lost in antiquity. Coffee appears to have come from
Abyssinia, the present Ethiopia, and from the neighboring countries,
especially Arabia. Tea on the other hand has come from the Far East,
India, China, where it has been used from time immemorial.
Both
coffee and tea made their appearance in Europe towards the middle of
the seventeenth century, about the time of the introduction of tobacco.
Today, coffee and tea are the most widely used beverages of man.
Joseph
Smith was not the first to advise against the inclusion of coffee and
tea in the human dietary. Mohammed, in the Koran, forbade the use of
coffee (also alcohol.) At various times, men, observing the deleterious
effects of these drinks upon the human system, have written and spoken
against them. Even laws have been passed against coffee and coffee
houses.
Economics of Hot Drinks.
The coffee and tea habit has spread over the world. In the United
States alone, in 1936, the consumption of coffee was 1,739,184,000
pounds or a per capita consumption of 13.48 pounds. The value of this
quantity in the raw state was $133,961,369. In the same year the United
States used 82,476,599 pounds of tea, about two-thirds of a pound per
capita, with a value of $17,885,001. To these vast sums the cost of
manufacture and distribution must be added. The combined value in the
raw state of these two luxuries, which are detrimental to human health,
reached in 1936 the great sum of $151,846,370. The cost to the ultimate
consumer was undoubtedly several times as large, approximating
$650,000,000. Besides, and of most consequence, "the amount of tea and
coffee consumed in America is adequate to supply every adult in the land
about three grains of caffeine (a large dose, medicinally speaking)
every day in the year." 6 When one considers the numbers of those who do not use these drugs it may be guessed how many over-use them.
The
world consumption of coffee in 1933 was not far from five and one-half
billion pounds, valued approximately in the raw state, at four hundred
million dollars. The world consumption of tea is even larger, but
difficult to estimate. Great Britain alone consumed, in 1929,
559,167,758 pounds of tea, valued in the raw state at $187,791,410.
China and Great Britain are the chief tea-drinking countries in the
world; America and the Scandinavian countries, the chief coffee
consumers.
Since
all of these and similar beverages are not only unnecessary for human
welfare, but actually injurious to the body, the huge expenditures for
tea and coffee and similar substances cannot be defended. The money
might better be used for the normal, necessary requirements of man.
It
seems clear that the "hot drinks" habit has increased greatly in recent
years. For example, in the United States the per capita consumption of
coffee in 1830 was 2.99 pounds; in 1933, 12.52 pounds—a four-fold
increase. The increase in the use of tea in the United States, not a
tea-drinking nation, while not so great is substantial.
Composition of Coffee and Tea.
At the time of the receiving of the Word of Wisdom little was known of
the composition of tea or coffee. The study of the ingredients of the
natural products of the plant kingdom was in its infancy, as indeed was
the whole science of chemistry. It was of course assumed, since these
beverages had a distinct effect upon the body, that they contained some
"active principle."
In
1821, a white, silky substance, odorless and bitter to the taste, was
extracted from coffee and named caffeine. Six years later, the same
substance was found to exist in tea. Thousands of chemical analyses of
tea and coffee have been made during the last century. Coffee contains
small quantities of several substances of questionable value to man,
such as trigonelline and the depsides; and also from one to two percent
of caffeine. Tea, in addition to several other somewhat harmful
substances, contains three to six percent of caffeine and over ten
percent (at times as high as 25 percent) of tannin. A small quantity of
tannin is found in coffee also. A cup of tea or coffee contains about
one to one and one-half grains of caffeine.
Caffeine
has been shown since that time to be one of a series of chemical
compounds known as purin derivatives. These compounds, alkaloids, are
found rather widely distributed in the plant kingdom. In their chemical
nature they are related to urea, a waste product of the animal body.
Whether these purin derivatives, alkaloids and poisons, are the products
of the disintegration of the protein substances in the plant, as the
corresponding substances are formed in the animal body, is not yet
known. The suggestion has been made that they serve the purpose, because
of their taste and after effect, of protecting the plant against
destruction by wild animals.
Three
substances are of special concern in the study of "hot drinks":
caffeine and its near chemical relatives, theophylline, and theobromine.
These have to some degree the same or similar physiological effects.
They are usually associated in nature, though caffeine predominates in
coffee and tea, and theobromine in chocolate and cocoa. The special
importance of theophylline is that it is made synthetically and is no
doubt often used in commercial beverages.
Effects Upon the Body and Mind.
Caffeine found in tea, coffee, and other foods and drinks, is a drug,
an alkaloid, related to some of the most violent of poisons. When it
enters the human body, it produces at first a feeling of stimulation,
followed in due course by a period of depression, relief from which is
sought by the use of more caffeine. It is, therefore, habit-forming, so
that the power of the will is weakened. It deceives the user into the
belief that he is better off, when in fact he is laying the foundation
for an increasingly worse condition. The causes that led to the taking
of the drug remain just the same, for they cannot be removed by drug
taking. Drugs cannot build up the body; they merely mask the truth,
temporarily. Only by natural processes such as rest and proper food can
fatigue be overcome and new power acquired. Like all other drugs of its
class, these alkaloids—caffeine, theobromine, theophylline—fasten their
hold upon the victim with a firm, unyielding grasp.
In
recent years it has been found that trigonelline, which occurs in
coffee to the extent of about one-fourth of one percent, may act as a
poison upon people with "acid" stomach. Trigonelline is hydrolized by
acids into methyl nicotinic acid, a near relative of nicotine. This acid
is a poison to the human body. An "acid" stomach changes the
trigonelline into this injurious acid, often with serious results. Aged
and sedentary people, for this reason, if for no other, should avoid the
use of coffee.
Tannic
acid, found in coffee in small quantity as tannin, but in tea to a
large extent, is an astringent. It is found in oakbark and is the active
substance in the tanning of leather. When tannic acid is taken into the
body, its astringent nature affects the lining and the contents of the
stomach and intestines, tending to cause many serious disorders. A
practical recognition of the injurious effect of tannic acid is the
advice to steep tea quickly in hot water, so that the caffeine, which is
very soluble, may go into solution, while the less soluble tannic acid
in large part remains behind. Long continued steeping of tea leaves
brings the tannic acid into more complete solution and makes the
resulting tea a more dangerous beverage.
Coffee
and tea, very much alike in their immediate physiological action, both
contain dangerous drugs. Like all other such poisons, their effects
differ with the quantity given and the condition of the user. A person
with a sensitive nervous system or one not in full strength is affected
most quickly. A small amount of a drug may give a feeling of
exhilaration while a large dose may produce death. Nevertheless, the
constant taking of small doses of a poisonous drug has a cumulative
effect and leads eventually to disease.
The
physiological effects of caffeine have been studied experimentally by
many investigators, especially in Europe. All have come to practically
the same conclusion. All agree that the use of caffeine-containing
beverages is harmful to the body and reduces normal health. No principle
laid down in the Word of Wisdom has received more complete vindication
by progressing science.
Coffee
and tea act directly upon the brain. A small dose of caffeine, as found
in a cup of coffee, stimulates the mental powers and banishes
drowsiness. Connected thought becomes more difficult, for impressions
come more rapidly. However, the period of reaction and depression more
than offsets the artificially induced brilliance. Throughout a period of
a week, month or year, the person who depends upon normal foods, rest
and play for the regeneration of the power spent in daily activity will
produce more and better work than the person can possibly do who resorts
to artificial unnatural stimulation to accomplish the tasks before him.
The
wider effect of caffeine upon the brain was put to experimental test by
Professor Storm van Leuwen, of the University of Leyden, Holland. A dog
was confined in a cage which registered every movement of the animal.
After a small dose of caffeine, the movements of the dog increased more
than three times; and a very small dose resulted in extreme restlessness
during sleep. Caffeine has the same effect upon human beings. All
coffee and tea drinkers may suffer, sooner or later, and usually do so,
from insomnia, irritability, loss of memory, high blood pressure,
headaches and other nervous disorders.
Dr.
Hawk administered coffee "over a prolonged period," one to three times
daily to 100 normal young men. The nervous system was "very definitely"
and unfavorably affected and as a result the mechanical and mental
efficiency of the coffee drinkers was materially lowered and they became
less efficient human machines. 7
The
heart and circulatory system are likewise affected by caffeine. Several
investigators have demonstrated that not only are the heartbeats
somewhat increased after coffee or tea drinking, but there follows also
an irregularity of the heart, and an increase in the blood pressure.
This means that more work is placed upon the heart. The increased rate
of breathing after a cup of coffee is well known to every coffee user.
There is direct action also upon the muscles, which has given rise to
the statement that more muscular work may be done by men under the
influence of caffeine. This is true, for a brief period, but as with the
apparent mental brilliance after coffee drinking, the work done over a
longer period of time is greater by a non-user of caffeine.
The
irritation or injurious stimulation of the kidneys by caffeine, is a
major evil of coffee and tea. These delicate organs should not be
unduly, improperly and frequently excited as in the case with the
habitual user of coffee and tea.
The
whole body is more or less directly affected unfavorably by the use of
caffeine-containing drinks. It has been reported that injury to eyes and
ears and various glands has come from this habit. It seems clear that
normal metabolism is interfered with by caffeine, since it disturbs the
equilibrium that should exist between the nervous system and the various
parts of the body. Indigestion and loss of appetite are often found
among coffee and tea drinkers. Coffee poisoning is a malady of frequent
occurrence.
All
informed persons, whether users or not of "hot drinks," advise against
allowing children the use of them, for the coffee or tea habit disturbs
the nervous system, hinders nutrition and retards the normal growth and
development of children. The reason, then, why the habitual adult
caffeine-user does not at first suffer as much is that he possesses
greater resistance, but to some degree he does suffer as does the child
from the invariably injurious effects of habitual coffee and tea
drinking.
Dr.
L. W. Oaks calls special attention to the effect upon her child of the
coffee and tea consumed by the nursing mother. The caffeine taken in by
the mother is passed on in part through the mother's milk to the infant
with corresponding injury.
"Many
nervous, crying babies no doubt owe their unstable and irritable
temperaments to the absorption of caffeine from the milk of tea or
coffee-drinking mothers." 8
The
expectant mother who uses caffeine-containing beverages is laying a
foundation for failure in life for the unborn child. The human misery
due to the caffeine habit is beyond estimation.
The
best knowledge of the day fails to produce any good argument for the
use of coffee or tea or any similar habit-forming drug. The fact that
many people use them or have used them is no argument in their favor.
Injurious things are often consumed through ignorance or because of the
wilfulness of man. Those who never acquire the habit are better off,
physically, mentally and economically.
Undoubtedly, the habitual use of
tea and coffee shortens many thousand lives each year and is the
indirect cause of much suffering and inefficiency.
Other Stimulating Beverages.
The drug caffeine is found in many other plants than tea and coffee,
such as yerba, mate, Cola nuts, guarana paste and yonpon tea. 9
Decoctions of these and similar plants are often used where found for
their stimulating effects and for commercial purposes the world over.
They do not bear the names coffee and tea but have the same effect,
because they usually contain the same poisonous drugs.
Caffeine
is separated in large quantities from the coffee bean, to make
decaffeinated coffee on the one hand, and caffeine-rich soft drinks on
the other. Stimulating substances of this class are also made
synthetically and given fancy names. Whenever a drink is advertised to
"give you a lift," the "lift" is likely to be caused by the drug which
it contains. Such soft drinks are decidedly harmful and habit-forming,
even though sold by the millions. Such caffeine-containing drinks,
offered by every soda fountain and most eating places, and consumed in
large quantities, should be known and avoided.
There is an added danger
from the association of the caffeine with the syrup of the drink, for
then one is apt to take much more caffeine than one would do if taking
tea or coffee. Often the amount of caffeine in a portion of these drinks
is larger than in a cup of strong coffee. The caffeine habit is soon
developed, difficult to overcome, and body and mind are injured. Many
unnecessary failures in life may be traced to the caffeine-habit as
acquired elsewhere than by the use of coffee or tea.
Cocoa and Chocolate.
The most common of the substances similar to caffeine widely
distributed in nature and largely used by man, are the products of the
cocoa bean—chocolate and cocoa. The United States consumes about 40
percent of the world's production of cocoa beans, which with other cocoa
and chocolate importations amounted in 1936 to 631,883,818 pounds, with
a value in the raw state of $33,000,803. The cocoa bean contains about
50 percent of fat and varying amounts up to 3 percent of the substance
theobromine, a near relative of caffeine. Cocoa is usually the ground
cocoa bean from which some of the fat has been expressed. Chocolate
consists of ground cocoa bean from which the fat has not been removed,
mixed with white sugar, starch and flavorings. The percentage of
theobromine is therefore somewhat smaller than in the bean itself.
Theobromine acts upon the body, especially upon the kidneys, very much
as does caffeine. While it does not have as strong an effect upon the
central nervous system, it is more irritating to the kidneys. Chocolate
also contains considerable fat which has food value, but which sometimes
is a combination too rich for weak digestions. Chocolate contains less
theobromine than cocoa, and chocolate candy still less. However, the
accompanying concentrated sugary preparations used excessively, are a
menace to human health. (see chapter 12) The chocolate habit, which is
related to the caffeine habit, is a matter of common observation, and
should be controlled. The wise person tries to emancipate himself from
the use of every habit-begetting drug.
Theophylline.
Theophylline, less known, is more like caffeine in all of its
physiological effects. It occurs in nature in small amounts, but since
it is now made synthetically at a reasonable cost, it is a factor to be
considered, for it is likely to appear more and more in a variety of
beverages offered the public.
Curing the Caffeine Habit.
As with the alcohol and tobacco habits, so with the caffeine habit.
Assuming a will directed towards the conquest of the habit, the most
direct way to success is through a natural, normal life. The observation
of the positive factors of the Word of Wisdom—proper food, ample sleep,
exercise, recreation and righteous living—would enable a person of
reasonable self-control to overcome the caffeine habit. The
well-nourished body has no unnatural cravings and does not need a
"lift." (see chapters 8 to 16)
Avoid "Hot Drinks."
Caffeine, the essential principle of tea and coffee, was discovered, as
a chemical substance, a few years before the Word of Wisdom was
received. This knowledge was, however, buried in scientific
publications. It is very unlikely that the Prophet Joseph Smith had
heard of it. It was many years after 1833 that the physiological effect
of caffeine was established by science. In the days of Joseph Smith, tea
and coffee did not come in for the disfavor shown by some towards
alcohol and tobacco. Indeed, people were often advised to use tea and
coffee as a means of conquering the liquor habit.
That
the expression "hot drinks" was used in the Word of Wisdom rather than
"coffee and tea," is notable; for by so doing a host of other injurious
habit-forming beverages now used (or that may be used) become subject to
the Word of Wisdom. Indeed, the use of the words "hot drinks" implies a
knowledge beyond that possessed by man when the Word of Wisdom was
received. It is remarkable indeed that Joseph Smith could so boldly
declare himself against coffee and tea, as against all similar hurtful
beverages, at a time when the world's learning could not safely make the
statement.
Human
experience, since that day, is all against the use of coffee and tea,
and similar beverages. They gradually influence harmfully the mind and
the body of the user, especially if excesses are indulged in, and the
tendency of the habit is to demand more and more.
W.
E. Dixon, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., in an exceedingly temperate study of
caffeine beverages (1930) concludes that they tend to produce a
condition of neurosis and chronic dyspepsia with all the attendant
evils. He says:
"If
a man drinks too much spirit his condition is easily recognized, but
with tea and coffee the effects are much more insidious, since they act
on the brain much as strychnine acts on the spinal cord. . . . Tea and
coffee drinking may be directly responsible for, or at all events a
contributing cause of, a large number of neurotics, just as surely as
these drinks are known to produce chronic dyspeptics; and there is
reason to believe that England and America (tea and coffee-drinking
countries) show a larger proportion of neurotics in their population
than other civilized countries." 10
Dr.
Dixon, speaking to Great Britain, suggests that the habit of drinking
tea and coffee is becoming sufficiently serious to justify consideration
by politicians, public health agencies and temperance societies. One of
the gravest dangers accompanying the caffeine habit is the failure to
recognize fully the evil until perhaps later middle life, when the harm
done to the body may be beyond recovery. Caffeine addiction may seem to
give immediate exhilaration, but in the end destroys the joy of life,
and also does irreparable injury for the future.
It
is to be emphasized that cold or iced tea and coffee come under the ban
of "hot drinks". The drug contained is just as injurious in iced as in
hot coffee or tea. Moreover, iced drinks of any kind, unless drunk very
slowly, may injure health.
Wise
people, especially Latter-day Saints, should lay aside the
caffeine-habit, if formed, and should avoid the use of all such
beverages in the home, as should the whole world. True physical and
mental enjoyment, and complete health cannot be won by those who are
subject to the habit of drinking "hot drinks"—coffee and tea and related
beverages. The waste of money alone, for unnecessary and harmful
products, justifies opposition to all caffeine products except for
industrial and medical purposes.
A Common Question.
Those who defend the use of alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee often ask,
"If these substances are abolished by man how can the large numbers of
people who will be thrown out of employment be cared for?" The most
obvious answer is that moral evil is never justified by economic good.
It may also be answered that the money now expended for these injurious
substances would more than care for the unemployed in a state of
idleness. However, such a solution is not necessary. A redirection of
effort would clearly be required. Other crops and activities would have
to be found, and would soon develop. Men labor for bread; the tobacco
road is not the only avenue that leads to food, clothing and shelter. In
our farflung society, if the will were correctly directed, such changes
would soon and effectively be accomplished. If civilization has built a
false structure, civilization must remedy its faults. Moreover, a new
age is dawning, in which the farmer, through cooperation with the
manufacturer, will find new, sound markets for present crops and many
more for all that he can produce.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Baker, Walter & Co., Cocoa and Chocolate, 1917.
Bogert, L. J., Nutrition and Physical Fitness, 1935.
Crichton-Browne, Sir James, What We Drink, 1930.
Cushing, A. R., Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 1928.
Fisher, I., and Fisk, E. L., How to Live, 1932.
Hutchinson, Food and Dietetics, 1914.
Kellogg, J. H., The New Dietetics, 1923.
Leeuwen, W. Storm van, Studien uber die Wirkung von Caffeine.
McCollum, E. V., and Becker, J. E., Food, Nutrition and Health, 1933.
Oaks, L. W., Medical Aspects of the Word of Wisdom, 1929.
Schulte, R. W., Einfluss des Kaffees auf Koerper und Geist, 1929.
Wilcox, Materia Medica and Therapeutics.
Williams, H. S., Drugs Against Men, 1935.
Wood, H. C., Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Toxicology, 1886.
Manual
for Teaching the Effects of Alcohol, Stimulants and Narcotics Upon the
Human Body, Department of Education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, No.
11, 1933.
Footnotes
