[Footnote A: U. S. Dispensatory, 17th ed., pp. 278 and 279.]
Caffein is not in any sense a food, but, as a stimulant, must be classed with tobacco, opium and other similar substances. Owing to its action on the heart and circulation, the body becomes heated, and in that sense a solution of caffein is a "hot drink." The use of tea and coffee in health is now generally condemned by the best informed persons in and out of the medical profession. Dr. W. Gilman Thompson says, "The continuance of the practice of drinking coffee to keep awake soon results in forming a coffee or tea habit, in which the individual becomes a slave to the beverage. * * * Muscular tremors are developed, with nervousness, anxiety, dread of impending evil, palpitation, heartburn, dyspepsia and insomnia. * * * It produces great irritability of the whole nervous system and one may even overexcite the mind."[A] While it is true that one cup of coffee or tea does not contain enough caffein to injure the system, yet the continual taking of these small doses results in a weakening of the whole system, that frequently leads to premature death.
[Footnote A: Practical Dietetics, p. 199.]
The U. S. Consular and Trade Report for January, 1906,[A] warns against the use of coffee in the following words, "The important connection between consumption of coffee and epilepsy which deserves to be known everywhere, serves as a warning to be extremely careful with coffee made of beans containing caffein, and at any rate, children should be deprived of it entirely, otherwise their health will be exposed to great danger."
[Footnote A: Page 249.]
Besides caffein, both tea and coffee contain an astringent known as tannic acid. In coffee this substance is present only in small quantity, but in tea from four to twelve per cent occurs. Tannic acid is the substance found in oak bark, and has the property of making animal tissues hard—that is, makes leather of them. The habitual tea drinker subjects the delicate lining of the stomach and intestines to the action of this powerful drug.
Without going into further details, it is readily seen that the teachings of Joseph Smith, in 1833, in relation to the value of tea and coffee in human drinks, harmonizes with the knowledge of today. Moreover, he was in advance, in the certainty of his expressions, of the scientists of his day. It is true that caffein had been found in coffee and tea a few years before the revelation of 1833, but the physiological action of the drug was not known until many years afterwards. Besides, as in the case of tobacco, the Church leaders in speaking against the use of tea and coffee did not mention the poisonous principle that had recently been discovered in them; thus revealing their ignorance of the matter.
[Sidenote: The doctrines regarding the values of herbs and fruits harmonize with recent scientific truths.]
"And again, * * * all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man. Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving."[A]
[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants 89:10, 11.]