Coffee sales boom leads to rise in 'intolerances'

Britain's coffee boom has seen an explosion of chains open across the country and is mooted to be worth £1bn-a-year. But it is also causing a growing number of people to experience health problems ranging from itchy skin to migraines.

The number of people with "coffee intolerance" has more than doubled in the past four years, said Yorktest, which reported the percentage of the population identified with the ailment had risen from 2 per cent to 5 per cent.

But representatives of the industry have dismissed the company's findings as pseudo-scientific nonsense and insisted that moderate coffee consumption was safe. It acknowledged that some people experience difficulty with their central nervous system as a result of drinking large amounts of coffee.

Excessive caffeine consumption has long been associated with nausea, heart palpitations and insomnia and a teenage waitress made headlines this month when she was admitted to hospital after downing 14 shots of espresso. Jasmine Willis, 17, had ingested almost three times the recommended daily amount of coffee in four hours and could hardly breathe. She had been crying and laughing uncontrollably in front of bewildered customers.

In a press statement, Yorktest said a spate of "caffeine-related cases" had highlighted the danger of drinking too much coffee and suggested that the "coffee protein itself may be fast becoming a health factor in its own right and the gradual over consumption seems to be taking its toll on people's health". It listed the symptoms as itchy skin, feeling depressed, migraine headaches, IBS, fatigue, and joint pains. A spokesman said: "We're not saying don't drink coffee but it's obvious we are drinking much more than we used to and there appears to be a tipping of the scales in terms of what the body can take. The high street is full of coffee shops and people have coffee machines at home producing stronger coffee. Basically, more people are drinking more coffee and more tests are showing a positive result."

He added that coffee along with stress and lack of exercise could damage the digestive system.

Britons drink 70 million cups of coffee daily, with retail sales rising from £632m in 2002 to £680m in 2005. The biggest growth has come from coffee shops which specialise in stronger espresso-based drinks, such as lattes and Americanos.

The Coffee Science Information Centre, which is funded by the European coffee industry, rubbished the suggestion that the product was causing the problems. Roger Cook, a spokesman, said: "The comments that Yorktest make in their press release would be nigh on impossible for them to substantiate. Coffee is one of the most highly researched products in use today and there are thousands of studies published about it. We have nothing to suggest there is a condition called coffee intolerance."

Allergy UK, which recommends Yorktest's products, said it received cases of people complaining about symptoms as a result of drinking coffee.