Coffee Pains

A cup of coffee contains about one-tenth of a gram of caffeine. In mild doses, the action of this drug is to step up the pulse rate, increase the flow of blood in the coronary arteries that serve the heart itself, stimulate the thinking areas of the brain, constrict the blood vessels. In a recent paper abstracted last week in Modern Medicine, Dr. Robert Louis Levy of Columbia University declared that in certain high-strung individuals under mental or emotional stress, coffee may cause heart pains.

These pains have sometimes been confused with the pains caused by heart disease. There is no reason for such confusion, according to Dr. Levy. Coffee pains are mild; they last a comparatively long time; they are not brought on or aggravated by exercise; there is no sign of organic heart disease; they disappear when coffee is withdrawn from the diet. Dr. Levy cited two cases: a doctor and a lawyer, both of whom suffered from coffee pains for years but continued to lead active lives without further ill effect when they quit drinking coffee.

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