Caffeine in Foods and Its Antimicrobial Activity: International Food Research Journal 22 (1) : 9-14 (2015)
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Seema YadavCaffeine in Foods and Its Antimicrobial Activity: International Food Research Journal 22 (1) : 9-14 (2015)
Uploaded by
Seema YadavInternational Food Research Journal 22(1): 9-14 (2015)
Journal homepage: http://www.ifrj.upm.edu.my
Caffeine in foods and its antimicrobial activity
1
Nonthakaew, A., 1*Matan, Na., 1Aewsiri, T. and 2Matan, Ni.
1
Food Science and Technology, School of Agricultural Technology, Walailak University,
80161, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
2
School of Engineering and Resources, Walailak University, 80161, Nakhon Si
Thammarat, Thailand
Article history Abstract
Received: 1 January 2014 Caffeine is a widely known food constituent. Coffee and tea are major sources of caffeine.
Received in revised form: However, there is little data about caffeine’s antimicrobial activity. Although caffeine is safe
23 July 2014 for the consumer and suitable as an antimicrobial agent in food, ingesting a lot of caffeine will
Accepted: 27 July 2014
affect the body (>400 mg day-1). As a result, legislation has defined the amount of caffeine to be
used in various food products. In term of antimicrobial activity, caffeine at concentration from
Keywords
62.5 to >2,000 µg•ml-1 could inhibit bacteria. In addition, higher amount of caffeine (>5,000
Caffeine µg•ml-1) was found to inhibit mold growth.
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Coffee
Tea
Food
Antimicrobial
Introduction
Natural sources of caffeine
Natural coffee and tea contain some Caffeine is a substance that can be found in
antimicrobial substances that could inhibit a variety various plants and beverages. Beverages such as
of microorganism including pathogens (Pane et al., coffee, tea, cocoa and soft drinks are the most
2012; Chen et al., 2013). Caffeine was reported produced from coffee and tea plants. Different
to inhibit mold (Suárez-Quiroz et al., 2004) and caffeine concentrations in raw materials and food
bacteria (Sandlie et al., 1980; Almeida et al., 2012). products are shown in Table 1.
Therefore, the objective of this paper is to review
the antimicrobial activity of caffeine extracted from Coffee
these plants. Coffee is the most importance source of caffeine
(Minamisawa et al., 2004). Caffeine in coffee
Definition of caffeine depends on the extraction method and types of coffee
Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, C8H10N4O2) include fresh or roasted beans. For instant, fresh and
(Figure 1) is a natural alkaloid or xanthine alkaloid roasted green beans of the Arabica genus from Los
found in coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa beans, cola Altos de Chiapas, Mexico contain 4.00 and 9.33
nuts and other plants It is one of the most widely used mg•l-1 of caffeine, respectively (Salinas-Vargas et al.,
pharmacological substances in the world. Caffeine 2014). On the other hand, the amount of caffeine in
can be taken into the body by drinking coffee, tea, Arabica fresh coffee was reported to be from 190 to
cocoa and cola and it is also used as component 456 mg•l-1. Higher concentrations of caffeine in fresh
(Nawrot et al., 2003). coffee from 314 to 646 mg•l-1 were found when using
Robusta (Rodrigues et al., 2007).
Tea
Tea also provides a significant source of caffeine
(Najafia et al., 2003). Dried tea contains a higher
composition of caffeine when compared to the coffee
Figure 1. The chemical structure of caffeine bean (Chu and Juneja, 1997). Unfortunately, the
tea brewing method causes reduced caffeine. The
caffeine content in tea is also related to the tea type
*Corresponding author.
Email: [email protected]
