A new study suggests that drinking decaffeinated coffee can reduce side effects from a lack of caffeine.
- Lack of coffee leads to adverse effects.
- Deca is effective in reducing the effects of a lack of caffeine.
- Some thought mechanisms cause a placebo effect to fight against addictions.
Headaches, irritability and fatigue…the side effects that follow stopping coffee consumption are real. Researchers have tackled this problem and found a surprising way to counter it.
The placebo effect of effective deca on caffeine withdrawal symptoms
According to their work conducted on a group of 61 heavy coffee drinkers, all of whom regularly consumed at least three cups of caffeinated coffee a day, drinking decaffeinated coffee may best cope with the effects of caffeine deprivation.
After going without coffee for 24 hours, the people studied had their withdrawal symptoms measured and were divided into three groups. One was given water, one was given decaffeinated coffee and told it was decaffeinated, and the third was given decaffeinated coffee when they were told it was ordinary coffee.
When asked to rate their withdrawal symptoms 45 minutes later, the group that was lied to reported the most pronounced reduction, likely due to the placebo effect, the study authors say.
The taste and smell of coffee are enough to compensate for the lack of caffeine
Scientists believe this is because after years of associating the taste and smell of coffee with a reduction in withdrawal symptoms, test subjects were conditioned to feel some of this reduction, even drinking coffee without caffeine.
Thus, drinking deca could help people overcome their caffeine addiction only through cognitive biases: “This study shows that cognitive factors, like what you expect and how much drug you think you have in your body, have a big effect on how you experience withdrawal symptoms.” said Dr Llew Mills who led the team of researchers.
These results could also help treat other types of chemical addictions: “We performed this study to model some of the processes involved in addiction to any drug, including more serious or harmful drugs. What we found holds promise for the development of new addiction treatments that incorporate placebo effects.“, explained Dr. Mills.
