Posted on 02/15/2023 7:01:57 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Coffee drinkers can take advantage of a new placebo discovery showing decaffeinated coffee quenches withdrawal symptoms in people reliant on their daily caffeine fix.
Research found caffeine withdrawal symptoms, such as headache, fatigue, bad mood and irritability, shrank after participants drank decaf—regardless of whether or not they knew it was decaf.
For the study, 61 heavy coffee drinkers, who consume three or more cups a day, went without caffeine for 24 hours and had their withdrawal measured.
They were then separated into three groups. Two groups were given decaf, with one group told truthfully they were drinking decaf and the other deceived into thinking it was regular coffee. The third group, a control, was given water.
Three-quarters of an hour later, all participants were asked to rate their withdrawal symptoms again.
"The group we lied to reported a big drop in caffeine withdrawal even though there's no pharmacological reason why it should. Because they expected their withdrawal to go down, it did go down," Dr. Mills said.
"In other words, a placebo effect. We've found this in several studies now.
"What was interesting in this new study is that withdrawal symptoms also reduced even when people knew they were getting decaf. Not as much as the group we lied to, but a significant amount."
Years of associating the taste and smell of coffee with withdrawal reduction means decaf can elicit a conditioned withdrawal reduction effect even without the caffeine, and even, it turns out, without the expectation.
"We did this study to model some of the processes involved in addiction to any drug, including more serious, or harmful, drugs. What we found has some promise for developing new treatments for addiction that integrate placebo effects."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Pass the caffeinated coffee.
Decaf still has caffeine and related drugs in in it.
Decaf process can’t get rid of it all.
No, it does not.
At least not for everyone.
Coffee is God’s gift to man in the morning. It tastes great and gets you going! The Corp. long ago did extensive studies on caffeine in coffee’s ability to improve alertness and focus and the results were positive. If it’s good enough for the Marines it’s good enough for me.
Drinking tea also helps, because it has more manageable amounts of caffeine.
Yeah, give me caffeine, too.
(Husband bought me a Bialetti Moka pot for Valentine’s day. I’ve always wanted one...)
Why are we supposed to give it up?
But decaf coffee still has caffeine in it, it’s just a lower dose.
I love coffee but i did get tired of the headaches and being a slave to it. Then it was diet coke. Now it’s just water ....boring old water :(
I’m heard that decaf coffee was processed using nasty chemicals, I’ll pass.
I’ve never understood headaches from coffee, or from not having it. I never drank it until I was about 40, and I quickly became addicted. (Might have something to do with help with sinus issues...)
All I want is MORE.
The only headache I’ve had worse than coffee withdrawal was when I had Covid.
Sorry to hear you had Covid.
I went through a short period when I was in my 20s when I had lots of headaches; I’ve never had one since...
Drinking decaf coffee is like kissing your sister...
Simple. It amplified the placebo effect. The subjects thought they were getting caffeine, and responded accordingly.
You haven’t seen my sister.
My husband had to decaffeinate for his dental implant and his blood pressure dropped from moderately high to normal.
Apparently he is caffeine sensitive.
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