Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491371
STiR tea & coffee industry international 53 www.world-of-coffeeandtea.com BREW IN ASIA THE BEST Koelnmesse Pte Ltd Jennifer Chiah (Ms) Tel: +65 6500 6738 Fax: +65 6294 8403 j.chiah@koelnmesse.com.sg International Trade Exhibition for the Coffee and Tea Industry in Asia 2015 20 - 24 May C h a l l e n g e r H a l l 3 IMPACT Exhibition & Convention C e n t e r , B a n g k o k , T h a i l a n d Jointly organized by The Thai Chamber of Commerce Powered by THAIFEX–World of Food Asia C M Y CM MY CY CMY K WoCT15 89x254mm STIR Mag Ad.ai 1 27/10/14 6:15 pm Gast started by presenting some characteristics of Colombian coffee growing, including the increasing challenges of climate variability and the effects that El Niño and La Niña have on production volumes. He spoke of how Cenicafé organizes its work and seeks to ensure sustainability of coffee cultivation. The organization does this through two essential programs: "Cof- fee and Climate Variability" for developing adaptation strategies and "Production & Productivity," for creating strategies to in- crease Colombian coffee productivity and quality. Attendees packed the main room during all four days of presentations. Colombian scientists, of course, were a strong presence at this conference and that meant many researchers from Cenicafé presented updates on their projects. Topics included prediction models using near infrared spectroscopy for 12 chemical compounds related to coffee quality; coffee's genetic map associated with performance, bearing, and fruit size; development of improved rust resistant coffee varieties (Colombia, Tabi, and Castillo); and the plasticity of hybrids derived from crosses of Caturra and Timor Hybrid with wild Ethiopian accessions under different sun and shade conditions. In email correspondence following the conference, STiR Tea & Coffee International asked Ana Maria Sierra, executive coordina- tor of Toma Café, how the themes that emerged from presenta- tions at ASIC 2014 will influence her work in the coming year. Sierra said, "[Most] of the presented physiological studies are already part of our scientific communication plan for this year and 2015. Sustainability is also a key topic for Programa Toma Café and ASIC 2014 allowed us to learn more about the chal- lenges currently facing the industry." caffeine consumption may reduce risk for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Coughlin expects the science community, particularly those interested in public health, to conduct studies to identify with greater specificity which populations may be at risk due to caffeine intake. Darío Echeverri, a physician researcher at Fundación CardioInfantil-Instituto de Cardiología, Bogotá, Colombia, presented his group's work on "The vasodilating effect of caffeine." He situated his presentation in understanding the context for why death due to cardiovascular disease has been decreasing since the 1990s in developed countries. Access to new treatment technologies and public awareness campaigns about risk factors contributed to this decline. Still, many view regular intake of coffee as a risk factor. Much of that concern was eliminated when an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012 found an inverse association between coffee consumption and death rates. This finding, counter to many earlier studies, found researchers like Echeverri asking new questions about how coffee might protect against cardiovascular disease. His research group has been using live animal and tissue studies to gain a better understanding of how caffeine affects the restriction or widening of arteries. So far, the group has found more than one mechanism through which caffeine acts on arterial tissue. His group is continuing to study this question and expects to have results based on human studies in a few months.