The session Coffee and Human Health comprised of two sub sessions: 1) Coffee and Diseases: From Caffeine to other Constituents 2) Beneficial Effects of Coffee. The sub session on 'Coffee and Diseases: from Caffeine to other Constituents' was chaired by A.Nehlig (France) & G.Van der Stegen (The Netherlands).

In the introductory remarks, the Chairpersons touched upon the importance of creating awareness among coffee drinkers on the beneficial effects of coffee on human health. While stressing on antioxidant properties of coffee if consumed in moderate amounts, it was pointed out that the physiological effects of caffeine and other coffee constituents require more extensive studies.

In all, two oral presentations were made during this sub session. The first oral communication on acrylamide and furan in Coffee: a toxicological evaluation of potential risk to humans was presented by Dr.J.R. Coughlin (USA) who dealt with the association of heat-generated toxins, such as acrylamide and furan with cancer.

Studies indicated that a cup of coffee has 4-37 ppb of acrylamide. Coffee has recently been shown by the USFDA to contribute possibly 50% of total furan (an aminal liver carcinogen) to the American diet. Considering the available epidemiological data, it appears that coffee consumption does not seem to represent a risk factor for the digestive tract cancers and is even protective in colorectal cancer. Therefore, more research is still needed to really understand the complex interactions of acrylamide and furan in the components of the food ingested within the human body.

The paper titled 'Results of a Survey on Coffee and Children by Dr. Nandini Mundkur (India) pertained to the findings of a survey conducted on various school children aged 11-16 years from different economic strata on coffee consumption. Of the 1404 children interviewed, majority of them drank coffee at home and many of them were fond of visiting cafes.

The second sub session of 'Beneficial Effects of Coffee' was chaired by Dr. E. Illy (Italy) & Dr. M. Blanc (Switzerland). Dr. Illy in his introductory address highlighted the current research findings relating to coffee consumption and human health. Three papers were presented in this sub session. Mr. Carlos Brando from Brazil presented the "Brazilian Experience to Promote Coffee Consumption" covering a comprehensive overview of coffee consumption in Brazil during 1990's and highlighted several steps taken to promote coffee consumption. Coffee consumption was promoted by creating awareness among different segments of the population by disseminating the positive health effects of coffee through media and messages. The consumer was targeted before the medical professionals in order to improve the domestic coffee consumption.

Dr. Raghuramulu, India, presented a survey report on 'Awareness of Beneficial Effects of Coffee Among Doctors' which indicated that 77% of doctors had knowledge about the positive effect of moderate coffee drinking on health where as 97% of doctors were only aware of the effect of coffee in increasing alertness.

Dr. A. Crozier, UK Presented the paper titled "Phenolic Antioxidants in Coffee - their Absorption and Metabolism in Human Volunteers". The speaker mentioned that coffee contains several antioxidants like hydrooxicinnamates, 3-caffeoylquinic acid and chlorogenic acid of which the latter compound is the major antioxidant. The analytical report indicated that chlorogenic acids are largely absorbed by the large intestine and caffeoylquinic acids by small intestine of human body.