[A historical study of coffee in Japanese and Asian countries: focusing the medicinal uses in Asian traditional medicines].

The medicinal properties of coffee, making it a diuretic and stimulant, because of the effects of caffeine, have been known since ancient times, and coffee is today a popular beverage worldwide. In Japan it was introduced at the end of the eighteenth century through overseas trading with the Netherlands. During this period, various Western cultures flowed into Japan, and coffee was one of the subjects introduced through the translations of Dutch medical books. The pharmacological effects of coffee have been presented by Yamamoto in "Kōmō Honzou, (--, 1783)"; by K. Takahashi, G. Ohtsuki, and Y. Udagawa et al. in "Kōsei Shimpen (--, 1811)"; and by Kai Hirokawa in "Nagasaki Bunkenroku (--, 1795)." In the Chinese and Arabic traditional systems of medicine, the uses of coffee were based on its diuretic and central nervous system stimulant properties, attributed in general to caffeine. This study dealt with the uses of coffee in the traditional medicines of Asian countries and with some biological activities related to aging, infectious diseases, and cardioprotective effects. In various biological tests, the water extract of coffee showed no notable effect on myocardial cell beating; however, it did show superoxide anion-scavenging effects, inhibitory activity of lipid peroxidation, and suppression of hepatitis B virus surface antigen. These biological activities are closely related to the presence of caffeic acid derivatives, especially chlorogenic acid. The findings suggest that besides its stimulant effect, coffee has properties to prevent the deleterious actions of free radicals and viral infections.