Comparative Compositional Analysis of Regular and Decaf Coffees by LC/MS and HPLC and Potential Effects on Inflammatory Cytokines Produced during Bacterial Infections

Coffee is a popular beverage consumed worldwide. However, potential effects of regular and decaf coffees on the outcomes of bacterial infections are still unknown. Furthermore, there is little data about the comparative chemical composition of regular and decaf coffees. Therefore, in this paper, the chemical compositions of regular (n = 2) and decaf (n = 2) ground coffees were analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods, and their potential effects on inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1beta, IL-8, and TNF-alpha) produced by bacterial infections were investigated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In regular and decaf samples (5 g per 250 mL), more than 600 compounds were detected by LC/MS. In addition, the amounts of javamide-I/-II (0.4–0.8/1.8–2.4 mg), chlorogenic acid (16–21 mg), and caffeine (1.7–90 mg) were quantified in the samples by HPLC. Principal component analysis analysis showed a difference between regular and decaf samples, but the amount difference of most compounds was less than twofold. As expected, in LPS-treated PBMCs, both regular and decaf samples inhibited IL-6, IL-1beta, IL-8, and TNF-alpha significantly (24 h) (P < 0.05), suggesting that caffeine may have no significant role in the inhibition. In addition, the data showed that both regular and decaf samples could initiate the inhibition at different time points in LPS-treated PBMCs (P < 0.05), suggesting that coffee may inhibit these inflammatory cytokines in distinctive time-dependent manners. Furthermore, javamide-I/-II in both regular and decaf samples were found to inhibit some cytokines (IL-6, IL-1beta) in LPS-treated PBMCs. Altogether, the data indicate that the amount variance of most compounds in regular and decaf coffee may be relatively small, and both regular and decaf coffee may be equally potent in inhibiting IL-6, IL-1beta, IL-8, and TNF-alpha, suggesting that health effects of coffee consumption may be further investigated related to bacterial infections.