If you enjoy the taste of coffee but don’t want caffeine’s side effects, decaffeinated coffee with 97 per cent of the stimulant removed is an alternative for your morning brew. Recent new stories, however, may have left you concerned about the safety of decaf coffee. Health advocacy groups recently petitioned to ban the use of methylene chloride in the decaffeination process owing to cancer concerns. Here’s an explainer about methylene chloride, plus tips on how to avoid it when opting for decaf.
What is methylene chloride?
Methylene chloride (also called dichloromethane) is a colourless synthetic chemical that’s used as a solvent in paint and furniture stripping products and a component in aerosol products and other industrial applications. When it comes to food, methylene chloride is used as a solvent to remove caffeine from coffee beans and tea leaves. There are several ways to remove caffeine from coffee beans. The most common of those, called the direct method or the European method, involves steaming green unroasted coffee beans to open their pores and make caffeine accessible. The beans are then rinsed with methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to extract the caffeine. Once the caffeine is removed, the beans are washed, dried and roasted.
Methylene chloride is used predominantly in Europe. Methylene chloride is also used to process spices and create extracts used as food ingredients, including hops extract for beer.
Health risks of methylene chloride
When inhaled, methylene chloride can cause wheezing, shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, nausea and memory loss. Exposure to high levels of the chemical can cause serious harms to health, even death. In 2023, it was proposed a ban on all consumer uses and most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride. Animal studies have demonstrated that inhaling methylene chloride causes liver and lung cancer. As such, methylene chloride is classified as a Group 2A probable carcinogen to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization. This means there is strong evidence that methylene chloride can cause cancer in humans, but at present it’s not conclusive.
What about methylene chloride in decaf coffee?
Data indicate actual levels of methylene chloride in dry decaffeinated coffee (and tea) are much lower than the permitted limit. What’s more, the amount in coffee and tea will be even less when hot water is used to make the beverages since methylene chloride vaporizes at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. (Boiling water is 100 degrees Celsius.) There is no evidence that drinking coffee that’s been decaffeinated using the European Method poses health risks.
Rather, many studies have linked drinking decaf (and regular) coffee every day – compared to not drinking coffee – with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and all-cause mortality.
If you’re concerned about methylene chloride, you can avoid it without giving up your decaf.
Look for decaf coffee products made using the
“Swiss Water Process,”
a method that does not use chemical solvents to extract caffeine. You can also choose products labelled certified organic, solvent-free or naturally decaffeinated with carbon dioxide.
Adapted from: The Globe and Mail
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