Just seeing reminders of coffee can stimulate the brain
March 27, 2019
Science Daily/University of Toronto
Just looking at something that reminds us of coffee can cause our minds to become more alert and attentive, according to a new University of Toronto study.
"Coffee is one of the most popular beverages and a lot is known about its physical effects," said Sam Maglio, an associate professor in the department of management at U of T Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.
"Much less is known about its psychological meaning -- in other words, how even seeing reminders of it can influence how we think."
The study, co-authored by Maglio and published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, looks at an effect called priming, through which exposure to even subtle cues can influence our thoughts and behaviour.
"People often encounter coffee-related cues, or think about coffee, without actually ingesting it," says Maglio, an expert on consumer behaviour.
"We wanted to see if there was an association between coffee and arousal such that if we simply exposed people to coffee-related cues, their physiological arousal would increase, as it would if they had actually drank coffee."
Arousal in psychology refers to how specific areas of the brain get activated into a state of being alert, awake and attentive. It can be triggered by a number of things, including our emotions, neurotransmitters in the brain, or the caffeinated beverages we consume.
In this case the researchers, including Maglio and Eugene Chan, a former PhD student at Rotman, wanted to explore how simply being exposed to things that remind us of coffee may have an effect on arousal.
Across four separate studies and using a mix of participants from western and eastern cultures, they compared coffee- and tea-related cues. They found that participants exposed to coffee-related cues perceived time as shorter and thought in more concrete, precise terms.
"People who experience physiological arousal -- again, in this case as the result of priming and not drinking coffee itself -- see the world in more specific, detailed terms," says Maglio, whose past research has looked at how uncertainty can affect our perception of time.
"This has a number of implications for how people process information and make judgments and decisions."
However, the effect was not as strong among participants who grew up in eastern cultures. Maglio speculates that the association between coffee and arousal is not as strong in less coffee-dominated cultures.
"In North America we have this image of a prototypical executive rushing off to an important meeting with a triple espresso in their hand. There's this connection between drinking caffeine and arousal that may not exist in other cultures."
Past U of T research has looked at the effect of other primed associations, notes Maglio. One study found that merely looking at a fast food restaurant logo may lessen our ability to slow down and savour pleasurable experiences in life.
Maglio says next steps for the research will look at associations people have for different foods and beverages. Just thinking about energy drinks or red wine, for example, could have very different effects on arousal.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190327164713.htm
Coffee affects cannabis and steroid systems
March 15, 2018
Science Daily/Northwestern University
Coffee affects your metabolism in dozens of other ways besides waking you up, including your metabolism of neurotransmitters typically linked to cannabis, a study reports. The neurotransmitters related to the endocannabinoid system -- the same ones affected by cannabis -- decreased after drinking four to eight cups of coffee in a day. That's the opposite of what occurs after someone uses cannabis. The study also gives possible insight in the cause of munchies. Coffee may also increase the elimination of steroids.
It's well known that a morning cup of joe jolts you awake. But scientists have discovered coffee affects your metabolism in dozens of other ways, including your metabolism of steroids and the neurotransmitters typically linked to cannabis, reports a new study from Northwestern Medicine.
In a study of coffee consumption, Northwestern scientists were surprised to discover coffee changed many more metabolites in the blood than previously known. Metabolites are chemicals in the blood that change after we eat and drink or for a variety of other reasons.
The neurotransmitters related to the endocannabinoid system -- the same ones affected by cannabis -- decreased after drinking four to eight cups of coffee in a day. That's the opposite of what occurs after someone uses cannabis. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that deliver messages between nerve cells.
Cannabinoids are the chemicals that give the cannabis plant its medical and recreational properties. The body also naturally produces endocannabinoids, which mimic cannabinoid activity.
In addition, certain metabolites related to the androsteroid system increased after drinking four to eight cups of coffee in a day, which suggests coffee might facilitate the excretion or elimination of steroids. Because the steroid pathway is a focus for certain diseases including cancers, coffee may have an effect on these diseases as well.
"These are entirely new pathways by which coffee might affect health," said lead author Marilyn Cornelis, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Now we want to delve deeper and study how these changes affect the body."
Little is known about how coffee directly impacts health. In the new study, Northwestern scientists applied advanced technology that enabled them to measure hundreds of metabolites in human blood samples from a coffee trial for the first time. The study generates new hypotheses about coffee's link to health and new directions for coffee research.
The paper will be published March 15 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.
Drinking lots of coffee for science
In the three-month trial based in Finland, 47 people abstained from coffee for one month, consumed four cups a day for the second month and eight cups a day for the third month. Cornelis and colleagues used advanced profiling techniques to examine more than 800 metabolites in the blood collected after each stage of the study.
Blood metabolites of the endocannabinoid system decreased with coffee consumption, particularly with eight cups per day, the study found.
The endocannabinoid metabolic pathway is an important regulator of our stress response, Cornelis said, and some endocannabinoids decrease in the presence of chronic stress.
"The increased coffee consumption over the two-month span of the trial may have created enough stress to trigger a decrease in metabolites in this system," she said. "It could be our bodies' adaptation to try to get stress levels back to equilibrium."
The endocannabinoid system also regulates a wide range of functions: cognition, blood pressure, immunity, addiction, sleep, appetite, energy and glucose metabolism.
"The endocannabinoid pathways might impact eating behaviors," suggested Cornelis, "the classic case being the link between cannabis use and the munchies."
Coffee also has been linked to aiding weight management and reducing risk of type 2 diabetes.
"This is often thought to be due to caffeine's ability to boost fat metabolism or the glucose-regulating effects of polyphenols (plant-derived chemicals)," Cornelis said. "Our new findings linking coffee to endocannabinoids offer alternative explanations worthy of further study."
It's not known if caffeine or other substances in coffee trigger the change in metabolites.
Although Cornelis studies the effects of coffee, she didn't drink it growing up in Toronto or later living in Boston.
"I didn't like the taste of it," Cornelis said. But when she moved to join Northwestern in 2014, she began to enjoy several cups a day. "Maybe it's the Chicago water," she mused, "but I do have to add cream and sweetener."
The study was supported by the American Diabetes Association, the German Federal Ministry of Health and other sources.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180315091253.htm