Warning issued to anyone who drinks decaf coffee

Good luck enjoying any food or drink these days, especially if you’re a regular social media user. No matter the grub, no matter the bevvie, there’s someone out there loudly proclaiming that it’s a poisonous death trap.

If it isn’t UPFs its PFAS, if it isn’t microplastics its pesticides. The old wisdoms of eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, and keeping the treats in check are no match for unqualified social media sensationalism, or indeed the actual risks posed by our farming and food production processes.

A cancer-linked compound is commonly used to remove caffeine from coffee (Tatiana Maksimova/Getty Images)

A rare glimmer of positive news recently came in the shape of a study that found women who regularly drink coffee are less likely to develop age-related health conditions, but the caffeine content seems to be an important factor there.

Even then, the effects seem to be limited to coffee-based caffeine, with regular caffeinated soda drinkers actually seeing a higher likelihood of developing a chronic health condition.

Coffee itself is rich in nutrients besides caffeine, including vitamins B2, B5, B1, and B3, folate, manganese, potassium, and magnesium.

Decaffeinated coffee still contains many of these nutrients, but according to Sadie Gannett on Instagram it may contain a known carcinogen.

“Have you ever wondered how coffee beans that naturally contain caffeine become…DEcaffeinated?” asked the said the post’s caption.

“There’s a few different ways, but one of the main ways is to use chemical agents and solvents to wash the beans which then binds to the caffeine and pulls it out of the coffee beans.

“The two main chemicals used: methylene chloride and Ethyl acetate. They are efficient and preserve flavor, but get this:

“Methylene chloride was banned in 2024 for most industrial and consumer uses due to its carcinogenicity and neurotoxicity, but is still permitted for decaffeinating coffee because the FDA regulates food use, not the EPA.

“While the EPA banned most uses, food use falls under the FDA’s purview, which allows it as long as only trace amounts are in the final product.”

So, as with all health advice you see online, it’s worth taking a look at what the experts reckon before you make any immediate changes to your lifestyle.

CNN reported Dr Maria Doa, senior director of chemical policy for the Environmental Defense Fund, as saying: “In addition to being carcinogenic, methylene chloride can cause other health harms, such as liver toxicity and at higher exposures neurological effects, and in some cases death.”

Per the Delaney Clause of 1958, the FDA is compelled to ban any food additives that have a proven link with causing or inducing cancers when ingested.

As such, Doa argued: “Thus, these chemicals categorically cannot and should not be deemed as safe.”

The FDA’s stipulation around methylene chloride within decaf coffee is that ‘the residues of methylene chloride must not exceed 10 parts per million (0.001%) in decaffeinated roasted coffee and in decaffeinated soluble coffee extract (instant coffee)’.

In an email to CNN, an FDA spokesperson said: “While methylene chloride may be indirectly involved in food processing, such as in the decaffeination of coffee beans, residue limits have been set to limit exposure.

“Any food product that contains residues of methylene chloride above the established limits are not permitted for sale or consumption.”

As to whether it should be banned outright for use in decaf coffee, the president of the US’s National Coffee Association, William Murray told CNN that banning its use in decaffeinating coffee ‘would defy science and harm American’s health’.

The FDA hasn't yet banned the use of methylene chloride (Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images)

Using methylene chloride is known as the ‘European method’.

He continued: “There is no evidence that European Method decaf presents any risk.

“Indeed, the overwhelming weight of independent scientific evidence shows that drinking European Method decaf, like all coffee, is associated with decreased risk of multiple cancers and with other significant health benefits.”