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"Howard C. Berkowitz" wrote in message
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In article , Adrian
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Jo Firey wrote:
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"Wayne Mitchell" wrote in message
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A cup of strong black coffee can be a real help in a situation like
that. It contains drugs that are similar to theophylin that help open
up the lungs. Proper treatment is better of course, but coffee can
be a real help in the mean time.

Jo

Also good chocolate, it contains theobromine which is part of the same
family.

The family is the methylxanthines, of which the major members are
caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine. Aminophylline is a modified
form of theophylline that is injectable, but really has no current
place in the treatment of asthma.

Of the three main alkaloids, theophylline, as has been suggested, is
the strongest bronchodilator, which helps in an acute asthma attack.
Of common beverages, strong tea has the greatest amount of actual
theophylline. Coffee has the most caffeine.

I thought tea had the highest caffeine amount

Depends on the brewing technique, with instant the lowest and
drip/espresso the highest. A rule of thumb is that a 6 oz/180 ml cup
of coffee contains between 50 and 150 mg of caffeine, with no
significant quantities of other methylxanthine alkaloids. 1oz/30ml of
single-shot espresso has about 100 mg.

Tea is more typically 20-100, but with other alkaloids besides
caffeine. I'm trying to hunt down concentrations.

Getting into more detail than people probably want, caffeine gets
transformed, in the liver, to paraxanthine (84%), theobromine (12%),
and theophylline (4%).