A Healthy All-Nighter

At home at last, after another long day in the lab. Time to cook some dinn... oh.. s*&%t, the deadline for the bulletin is tomorrow and I said I would write another Taste of Science. I forgot! What to write about? Quick, a look in the fridge in search of inspiration. While doing so, better fix some coffee to help stay awake long enough to finish the column. I know, I know, I drink too much. To my defense, I am a victim of society: it is the second most drank beverage in the world, right after tea. As such, it is also the major source of antioxidant for most. Caffeine as little to do with it: if it shows some antioxidant power in vitro, it has none under physiological conditions.

Ok, let's see... blue, liquefied carrots, moldy tomatoes and licorice – no, old zucchinis... Nothing interesting there, except for some decadent microbiologists. Maybe my vegetables are producing some new type of antibiotics? At least, the delicious Costa Rican coffee is ready: dark, of course. Too bad that the roasting of the beans degrades a large part of the hydroxycinnamic and chlorogenic acids. They are the most active antioxidant in the beans, especially the later, of which about 45 types have been identified thus far. Ironically, the Coffea robusta brews – considered a lower grade, developed only as a more resistant and easier to grow cultivar - presents more of these that Coffea arabica, the higher quality cultivar. I had spinach juice? Oh wait no, that is... was milk.

Ahhh, coffee; delicious as always. It is a good thing that what Prometheus takes from one hand, he gives back with the other. During the roasting process, new molecules are synthesized, not only delicious, but showing some antioxidant power on their own. Some authors have even observed an increase in antioxidant activity for the first phases of roasting – although this activity decreases for the medium and darker roast grades.

This increase is due to the production of melanoidins – polymers of sugars and amino acids – and Maillard reaction products. The first are not only antioxidants in their own right, but also chelate other large molecular weight molecules, otherwise insoluble, with have also some reducing potential. As for the seconds, they are produced by the fusion of peptides to reducing sugars in the food matrix cooking. The bread's crust and caramel are classical examples of the Maillard reaction creating the most delicious and flavorful molecules. They can be a double-edged sword. In certain conditions, they act anti-oxidant. In other, they degrade in Amadori compounds, a-amino-ketones which in turn degrade to hydrogen peroxide, a pro-oxidant. This will induce the translocation of NF-kB to the nucleus, inducing apoptosis: the darker side of cooking. Ok, we are at the pantry now... Kraft Dinner – always useful as a dye, lard – always nice with Kraft Dinner - and frozen pizza – once-frozen actually, what is that doing there??? Better move to the spice cupboard.

Another sip of coffee... maybe I should have gone for espresso instead of French press tonight. Both methods are left behind in terms of total extraction of overall antioxidant compounds by the Mocha brewing. In the Mocha brewing – also called the Napolitan method, the steam percolates in the coffee, before being collected at the top of the recipient. In the French press, the coffee infuses directly the hot water before being pressed with a plunger. Finally, in the espresso method, water is quickly forced by high pressure through compacted, finely ground coffee.

The high pressure of espresso help for a good extraction, but the short time of contact with the water more than compensate for the effect. In raw amount of antioxidant, espresso is the weakest type of coffee. The compounds actually extracted are of higher efficiency though, ensuring a higher activity per milliliter of coffee. So here we have, Piri Piri, Buth Jokala, Sambal Oelek, any of which could classify as a biological weapon of sort, but not as a column subject about science having a peek in the kitchen.

But any brew of coffee you choose in the end, epidemiological studies indicated a protective role for them toward Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, as well as liver, kidney, breast and colorectal cancer. At your next coffee break, you can then consider that you are not slacking off but fighting cancer…

Now, about that column, if only I could find something to talk about. There MUST be something around…

Disclaimer: The situation above is fictiona and depicts a purely hypothetical refrigerator. Any resemblance with existing food supplies is purely coincidental.