IS THERE TROUBLE BREWING?\Conflicting reports on caffeine's effects leave some feeling jumpy.

Byline: Diana E. Lundin Daily News Staff Writer

His tie slightly loosened, his suit a bit disheveled, Joshua Simon sits on his bar stool, savoring the strong brew that sits before him.

"I'm think I'm hooked," Simon confesses with a nervous, edgy laugh. "I drink coffee a lot. I got into it when I moved here. You go to the coffee shops in the morning and they're all in line, like waiting for the liquor store to open."

So far, the 40-year-old Reseda man has been able to limit his habit to one or two cappuccinos a day, usually sitting at the coffee bar at the Coffee Junction in Tarzana. He follows it up with a few more cups of coffee later at the hair salon he manages.

But, if health studies pointing to caffeine as a villain are right, his days as an addict are numbered.

"I think I'm going to let go of this," Simon says. "I know it's not good for your heart. I tell you, that's on my agenda right now. I think in the next month or so I'll quit. It's really at the top of my list, especially after all the studies you hear. It kind of makes me worry. That's really what helped me give up smoking."

Researchers keep cranking out their studies, with caffeine, the alkaloid that gives coffee its pick-me-up, either wearing a halo or horns when it comes to its effect on a range of medical conditions, from migraine headaches to pregnancy, hypertension to depression.

Is there a simple truth out there to this hot, bracing elixir, this jolt of java that millions of Americans count on to ease them into the consciousness of their own daily grind?

"It's like many things in life," says Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, a neurologist from Temple University in Philadelphia and an expert on caffeine. "A little bit is great, a lot is terrible. If you don't have problems with it, there are no reasons to quit. But if you're short-tempered, irritable and have a racing heart, those are signs you have too much caffeine in your body."

Whatever the concerns, there's certainly no deficit in consumption: 47 percent of the U.S. population over 10 years old drinks 3-1/2 cuppa joes a day, according to the National Coffee Association, a New York-based trade group to the coffee industry. Two to three cups of day is considered moderate consumption by doctors.

And java continues to maintain a good reputation among those who admire its taste and mildly stimulating effects.

"Coffee drinkers enjoy drinking coffee. Their palates are becoming more and more educated; they're experimenting with more and more kinds," says Robert Nelson, the association's president.

Fueling the increased coffee consumption is the specialty branch of the industry. From a scant $44 million in retail sales in 1969, the specialty coffee industry projects that by 1999, sales will exceed $3 billion for home consumption, according to figures from the Specialty Coffee Association of America in Long Beach.

But as quickly as a new Starbucks moves into town, another survey comes out extolling the good and bad about coffee. Consider these findings:

A Harvard Medical School study released last week found that women who drink two or three cups of coffee a day had a 66 percent decreased risk of committing suicide compared to those who never drank the beverage. Researchers theorized that regular caffeine intake may have resulted in improved mood and feelings of well-being.

A researcher and medical professor at the University of Buffalo studied the effects of caffeine and exercise on the cardiovascular system in mildly hypertensive men. Forty minutes before exercising, participants were given 220 milligrams of caffeine, the equivalent of slightly more than two 6-ounce cups of coffee. In most of the men, blood pressure climbed - so high, in some cases, the exercise had to be stopped.

A 1994 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a significant association between caffeinated coffee and decreasing bone mineral density in women's hips and spines. The increased chance of osteoporosis was independent of age, obesity, years since menopause and the use of tobacco, estrogen, alcohol and calcium supplements.

A 1994 study of 2,000 women showed those who drank three or more cups a day had a 27 percent lower chance of conceiving in each monthly cycle than women who consumed no coffee. Another study, conducted in 1993 by Canadian researchers, concluded that drinking as little as half a cup of coffee a day may endanger a pregnant women's fetus. Those who drank more than three cups in the month preceding pregnancy were 85 percent more likely to have a miscarriage, the Canadian study found. An estimated 10 to 15 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Why is coffee studied so intensely?

"I think it's so ubiquitous in our culture," said Dr. Fred Ziel, the Woodland Hills endocrinology chief for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. "It's part of our daily routine to talk about it. And our culture perceives it as a drug. It puts a certain psychological spin on it."

As a matter of fact, patients frequently report their caffeine consumption to their physicians without being asked, Ziel added. Patients often think caffeine is the reason for their ailment (those complaining of anxiety or stomach problems are often to told to cut down on the java, as a precaution).

But that doesn't mean you should always hit the panic button over caffeine - especially when a new study is reported, Ziel insists.

Usually, the publication of a study in a medical journal is followed by letters to the editor, criticizing and critiquing, Ziel explains. "The big print giveth and the small print taketh away," he says. "You can always count on there being a rebuttal on those things."

And there are many.

For one, Dr. Michael Bracken, a Yale University researcher and an epidemiology professor, said he's not quite certain caffeine is causing the link between low birth-weight babies and their mothers who use caffeine, though there is a strong suggestion.

Studies also suggest, Bracken said, that coffee has had little effect on premature births, though it may delay conception.

"We're also looking if there's some other component of coffee that's responsible for these effects," he said, adding that other products with caffeine, such as tea, chocolate and soda, may also play a role.

In terms of the recent study about caffeine's positive effects on suicide, doctors say an equally plausible explanation is that depressed people may avoid coffee entirely.

In different results of that same 10-year study of 85,000 women, researchers from the Harvard School of Public health found no link between coffee consumption and the risk of heart disease, even among those who drank six or more cups of coffee per day.

About what about those worries about caffeine-related loss of calcium? Just drink a glass of milk daily.

But it is true, doctors say, what's been reported about withdrawal from caffeine - headaches are likely to follow. Regular consumption reduces sensitivity to caffeine. When the intake is decreased, the body becomes oversensitive to adenosine, which in turn causes the blood pressure to drop dramatically.

The resulting drop in blood pressure causes an excess of blood in the head (though not on the brain), leading to a headache.

Experts say those who want to decrease their caffeine intake from coffee should "fade" their consumption, gradually substituting increasing amounts of decaffeinated coffee.

But for some, a regular cup of high-octane coffee is the only way to go, whatever the studies say.

Over at Aroma, a trendy coffee bar with an outside courtyard on a quiet street in Studio City, Susan Lozinski and Scott Altomare sipped a strong brew from oversize cups while reading the daily newspaper.

"This is part of our morning ritual," says Lozinski, 28, who was visiting Altomare in Studio City from her home in New York. "The stronger, the better."

"We get up, we come here, we drink coffee, we read the paper and we talk," Altomare says.

There is virtually no chance they'd give up the java.

"Only if it was as bad as cigarettes," she says, then drains her cup. "Maybe then."

Julie Even, a 50-year-old retired school teacher living in Woodland Hills, likes her cappuccino and crossword puzzles. And the studies don't faze her.

"Even though you know they're true. But there are so many things that are bad for you," she says.

Occasionally, she's annoyed by the stains her favorite beverage leaves behind.

"As a matter of fact, I just had my teeth cleaned yesterday, and they had a hell of a time getting the stains out from the back," she says, adding, "but they can do it. So it's worth it to me."

Rick Farrow of Sherman Oaks, a 39-year-old contractor and furniture manufacturer for one of the studios, drinks two cups every morning and a few more throughout the day.

"I used to drink a lot more at night, but it it keeps me up too late," he says.

But give it up? He doesn't think so.

"My parents drink it. They've been drinking it their whole lives," he says, then adds with a wink, "and they're still around."

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Photo (1--Cover--Color) JAVA JIVE Is coffee good or bad for you? It depends... (2) "This is part of our morning ritual. The stronger, the better," says Susan Lozinski of New York, kicking back at Aroma coffeehouse in Studio City with friend Scott Altomare. (3) "My parents drink it. They've been drinking it their whole lives, and they're still around," says Rick Farrow, 39, of Sherman Oaks, drinking a cuppa joe and scrutinizing a newspaper at Aroma. Gus Ruelas/Daily News