WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CONTROVERSY; RESEARCH AND OPINIONS DIFFER WIDELY ON RISKS AND REWARDS OF CAFFEINE.

Byline: Phil Davis Staff Writer

Chuck and Loretta Stevenson aren't about to let a little scientific discord cool their morning coffee ritual.

People like the Stevensons have been revving their brains with caffeine, the alkaloid that puts the jolt in java, for about 4,000 years. But modern science still can't come to a consensus about the good and bad effects of the world's most popular stimulant.

One study says it causes cancer, another says it doesn't. It's addictive. Then it's not. Then maybe just a little bit. Maybe it causes birth defects and low birth weight. Then again, maybe it doesn't.

``I read it and ignore it, because I don't drink enough coffee to make any difference,'' said Loretta Stevenson, a Woodland Hills retiree who became a skeptic when she realized scientists can't seem to agree on anything. ``One day they say eggs will kill you, the next day they won't.''

``If you wait long enough, coffee will be good for you,'' said her husband, Chuck, laughing.

While scientists debate, caffeine is enjoying a renaissance. The $18 billion caffeine industry experienced explosive growth in the 1990s. And two of the most recent studies give caffeine good marks, though both are controversial and do little to settle the coffee conundrum.

In March, a team of French researchers released a study that found caffeine is not addictive in lab rats. The scientists said it would take seven or eight cups of coffee consumed in rapid succession to trigger the same kind of addictive brain activity associated with a low dose of morphine.

And this summer, Dr. Jerome Goldstein, director of the San Francisco Headache Clinic, reported that caffeine increases the effectiveness of analgesics like aspirin and acetaminophen by up to 40 percent. Caffeine helps the headache by shrinking blood vessels and also speeds the medication's entry into the brain.

So is caffeine good or evil? Does it have a place in our increasingly health-conscious society, or will it soon go the way of the cigarette and leave its users marked as social pariahs? The jury is still out.

``The database being amassed is contradictory enough that you don't want to make public policy recommendations based on results,'' said Dr. Ronald Griffiths, a national expert on caffeine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. ``There are certainly no smoking guns ... In contrast to our classic mood-altering drugs of abuse and depression, such as cocaine, nicotine and alcohol, there are no life-threatening risks associated with caffeine. That's not to say caffeine is entirely benign. It is a mood-altering drug.''

Even the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the public health watchdogs who exposed fast-food burgers and movie popcorn as artery-clogging nightmares, can't find too much bad to say about caffeine. The non-profit group did ask the FDA to require labels that list the amount of caffeine in a product, but the initiative died because of the conflicting research.

``We don't want to equate caffeine with a dangerous drug,'' said Patricia Lieberman, a staff scientist at the CSPI. ``But caffeine in a number of studies has been shown to decrease fetal birth weight a small amount. It's nothing compared to the effects of cigarettes - it's not even in the same league - but anything that contributes to the rate of low fetal birth weight is a concern.''

Caffeine is listed on the ingredients label of everything from coffee-flavored yogurt to Barq's root beer, but Lieberman thinks consumers would benefit from specific information about the exact amount of the stimulant in each product.

``Drinking a Coke for a kid might be the same as you or I drinking a cup of coffee, so imagine a kid with a Big Gulp,'' she said.

A Big Gulp cola from 7-Eleven contains about 190 milligrams of caffeine, according to the CSPI. By comparison, a standard 8-ounce cup of coffee contains 135 milligrams.

To add to the confusion, not all coffees are equal. A 16-ounce ``grande'' cup of Starbucks coffee contains roughly 550 milligrams of caffeine - almost double the potency of garden-variety coffee brands - the level where Goldstein says some people will experience tremors, insomnia and anxiety.

According to Goldstein, most Americans take in about 200 milligrams of caffeine a day. But the National Coffee Association estimates America's 113 million daily coffee drinkers gulp down an average of 3.5 cups of coffee a day, making for a jittery nation.

``You'd probably do better throwing cold water on your face,'' said Dr. Ileana Blicker, a Glendale neurologist. ``It will wake you up just as fast as a cup of coffee - without all the side effects.''

That's an idea that hasn't caught on at the Village Coffee Roaster in Woodland Hills. Customers there say they'll stick with their own prescription: common sense and coffee in moderation.

``I don't have a lot of vices,'' said Malibu resident Jane Weber, who stopped by for a cappuccino on her way to the gym. ``I think anything in moderation is better than when you're excessive about it.''

Milligrams of buzz per ounce

Eighty percent of Americans consume an average of 200 milligrams of caffeine a day. Here's where it comes from:

Maximum strength NoDoz, 1 tablet, 200 milligrams

Coffee, 8 ounces, 135 milligrams

Java Water, 16.9 ounces, 125 milligrams

Ben & Jerry's No Fat Coffee Fudge Frozen Yogurt, 1 cup, 85 milligrams

Tea, 8 ounces, 50 milligrams

Coca-Cola, 12 ounces, 45 milligrams

Dannon Coffee Yogurt, 8 ounces, 45 milligrams

Sunkist Orange soda, 12 ounces, 40 milligrams

Hershey bar, 1 bar, 10 milligrams

Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, box

PHOTO (1 -- cover -- color) Caffeine good or evil?

(2) The specialty coffee drinks at such places as the Village Coffee Roaster in Woodland Hills, where Nancy Castro is pouring the steamed milk, can have almost double the potency per ounce of a regular brew - and the larger sizes mean even more caffeine in every cup.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

Box: Milligrams of buzz per ounce (see text)