Does Q-Musso herbal coffee cure body aches and joint pain? No, that's not true: No results of testing that could corroborate such alleged properties have been submitted for this product, according to Thailand's Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, such claims cannot be used when advertising the product.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) by @qmussocoffee on TikTok on June 15, 2023, still circulating. It stated (translated from Thai into English by Lead Stories staff):
Joint pain, knee pain, back pain. Q-Musso coffee can help.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sun Mar 17 12:35:24 2024 UTC)
Q-Musso herbal coffee is made with 24 different herbs, such as lingzhi, ginseng, black sesame, Inca peanut and safflower, and contains a very small percentage -- 2 percent -- of arabica coffee, according to the Q-Musso website (archived here). The website also states that one of its herbal ingredients is Derris scandens (archived here), a plant used in traditional Thai medicine. The website claims this is a pain killer as effective as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Diclofenac (archived here) and Naproxen (archived here). The website also claims that Derris scandens can cure inflammation caused by knee osteoarthritis.
The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine told Lead Stories on March 15, 2024, by phone that Derris scandens was used in Thai traditional medicine to relieve muscle pain and body stiffness. However, the Department added that no reliable study proves that Derris scandens can reduce the inflammation caused by knee osteoarthritis.
According to a review of the role of caffeine in pain management published in the scientific journal Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine online on March 26, 2016, (archived here), caffeine has a potential role for pain modulation as it might block specific adenosine receptors that create pain. Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), though, told Lead Stories on the phone on March 15, 2024, that coffee generally contains caffeine, which might ease pain temporarily, but is not a cure for any symptoms or diseases.
The FDA states that Q-Musso is a brand of instant coffee registered in the food category. Despite the pain relief benefit of caffeine and, allegedly, herbs, the company producing Q-Musso coffee has never submitted any result of medical efficacy testing to the FDA. Therefore, no health benefits, including easing body aches, joint pain and other symptoms, can be advertised for Q-Musso coffee.
