Safety studies on products from whole coffee fruit.
The fruit of the coffee plant, Coffea arabica, has high phenolic antioxidant and phytonutrient content and could be a beneficial food ingredient. However, the fruit has historically been discarded for the favored harvesting of the coffee bean alone. CoffeeBerry products are derived from the whole fruit and include a ground whole powder, a water extract, and a more recently developed water-ethanol extract. The safety of CoffeeBerry products was evaluated in three genotoxicity studies, three short-term oral toxicity studies, and a 90-day dietary toxicity study. Bacterial mutagenicity studies and a micronucleus test using murine peripheral cells demonstrated that none of the three products showed mutagenic or genotoxic potential. In the short-term studies, despite palatability issues, female rats showed a tolerance for whole powder and ethanol extract at doses up to 8800 mg/kg bw/day. Male rats also exhibited palatability issues and tolerated lower doses of approximately 4000 mg/kg bw/day ethanol extract via gavage and approximately 2100 mg/kg bw/day whole powder or water extract in the diet. When fed in the diet to Sprague-Dawley rats for 90 days, ethanol extract showed no adverse effects at dietary concentrations of up to 5% (approximately 3446 and 4087 mg/kg bw/day for male and female rats, respectively).
Heimbach
J T
JT
JHeimbach LLC, Port Royal, VA 22535, USA. jh@jheimbach.com
Marone
P A
PA
Hunter
J M
JM
Nemzer
B V
BV
Stanley
S M
SM
Kennepohl
E
E
D000818:Animals; D003069:Coffee / Q000633:toxicity*; D004032:Diet; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity; D019055:No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D011208:Powders; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D012997:Solvents
D003069:Coffee; D009153:Mutagens; D010936:Plant Extracts; D011208:Powders; D012997:Solvents; D000431:Ethanol