Why coffee and cigarettes are a morning ritual for millions | health

MONDAY, Aug. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Smokers suffering from nicotine withdrawal may not only crave a cigarette but a cup of coffee when they wake up in the morning.

Science can explain it.

The researchers determined two compounds in coffee that directly affect certain nicotine receptors in the brain.

Study author Roger Papke, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, said he wonders why the two habits go hand in hand, similar to how people enjoy alcohol and tobacco in the evening.

“A lot of people look to coffee in the morning for the caffeine. But did coffee do anything else for smokers? “We wanted to know if there are other substances in coffee that affect the brain’s nicotine receptors,” Papke said in a university news release. liberation.

The researchers applied a solution of dark-roasted coffee to cells that secrete a specific human nicotine receptor. The team concluded that an organic compound in coffee could help restore dysfunction in the receptors that cause smokers to crave nicotine.

Papke suspects that one compound in brewed coffee, known as n-MP, may help ease morning nicotine cravings.

The findings still need to be tested in humans.

Papke called the study an important step in better understanding how coffee and cigarettes affect the brain’s nicotine receptors, and a good basis for studying nicotine withdrawal in animal models.

The findings were recently published online in the journal Neuropharmacology.

Additional information

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more nicotine withdrawal.

SOURCE: University of Florida News Release, August 17, 2022