Habitual coffee drinkers really do wake up and smell the coffee
May 14, 2019
Science Daily/University of Portsmouth
Regular coffee drinkers can sniff out even tiny amounts of coffee and are faster at recognising the aroma, compared to non-coffee drinkers, new research has found.
Habitual coffee drinkers are not just more sensitive to the odour of coffee and faster to identify it, but the more they craved coffee, the better their ability to smell it became.
It is the first time evidence has been found to prove coffee addicts are more sensitive to the smell of coffee.
The results could open the door to potential new ways of using aversion therapy to treat people addicted to substances with a distinct smell, such as tobacco and cannabis.
The research was led by Dr Lorenzo Stafford, an olfactory expert in the Department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth.
He said: "We found the higher the caffeine use, the quicker a person recognised the odour of coffee.
"We also found that those higher caffeine users were able to detect the odour of a heavily diluted coffee chemical at much lower concentrations, and this ability increased with their level of craving. So, the more they desired caffeine, the better their sense of smell for coffee.
"We have known for sometime that drug cues (for example, the smell of alcohol) can trigger craving in users, but here we show with a mildly addictive drug, that craving might be linked to an increased ability to detect that substance.
"Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug and these findings suggest that changes in the ability to detect smells could be a useful index of drug dependency."
The team wanted to examine if there were any differences in the ability of people to smell and respond to the odour of coffee, depending on whether or not they were big coffee drinkers. The results point firmly to a link, with heavy coffee drinkers being more sensitive to the smell of coffee, and the smell being linked to their cravings.
The study is published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
The research was based on two experiments.
In the first experiment, 62 men and women were divided into those who never drank anything containing caffeine; those who consumed moderate amounts (70-250mg, equivalent to 1-3.5 cups of instant coffee a day); and those who consumed a high amount (300mg, equivalent to 4 or more cups of instant coffee a day).
Each person was blindfolded and, to test their sensitivity to the smell of coffee, they were asked to differentiate very small amounts of the coffee odour from odour blanks, which have no smell. For the odour recognition test, they were asked to identify as quickly as possible the scent of real coffee and, separately, the essential oil of lavender. Those who drank the most coffee were able to identify coffee at weaker concentrations and were faster to identify the odour.
Each person was also asked to complete a caffeine-craving questionnaire. Predictably, the results showed that the more caffeine a person usually consumed, the stronger their craving for caffeine.
"More interestingly, higher craving, specifically that which measured the ability of caffeine to reverse withdrawal symptoms such as fatigue, was related to greater sensitivity in the odour detection test," Dr Stafford said.
In a second test, 32 people not involved in the first experiment were divided into those who drink coffee and those who do not and they were tested using the same odour detection test for coffee odour, and with a separate test for a control, using a non-food odour.
Again, the results showed the caffeine consumers were more sensitive to the coffee odour but crucially, did not differ in sensitivity to the non-food odour.
The findings suggest sensitivity to smell and its links to craving could be used to help break some drug use behaviours, including addiction to tobacco or reliance on cannabis, Dr Stafford said.
Previous research showed those who were trained to associate an odour with something unpleasant later showed greater discrimination to that odour, which provides evidence of a possible model for conditioned odour aversion.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190514081745.htm
A 'joint' problem: Investigating marijuana and tobacco co-use
February 22, 2019
Science Daily/Medical University of South Carolina
A survey of marijuana and tobacco co-users investigators found that co-users with high degree of interrelatedness between their use of the two substances had greater tobacco dependence and smoked more cigarettes per day. However, the finding of a strong link between the two substances was not universal. These finding suggest that highly personalized treatments are needed for co-users who want to quit smoking.
Tobacco isn't the only thing being smoked in the Deep South, and for many, it's only half of their habit.
Marijuana, long thought to be a gateway drug to harder substances, turns out to be popular among cigarette smokers, with rates of co-use of the two substances increasing among adults from 2003-2012. Researchers don't yet know how much of a problem that could pose for people trying to quit tobacco.
As more states move to legalize medicinal marijuana and some to decriminalize recreational use, a better understanding is needed of how co-use of marijuana affects quit attempts by smokers.
To learn more, a team of addiction investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) led by Erin A. McClure, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, conducted an online survey of those who had used both marijuana and tobacco within a 30-day period about their smoking habits. Their results were published online on November 27, 2018 in Addictive Behaviors.
"We focused on marijuana and tobacco because of the high prevalence of their co-use," says Saima Akbar, first author on the article. "We don't fully understand how these substances interact and what the implications are for treatment."
The MUSC team found that more participants used marijuana and tobacco sequentially than simultaneously. For example, more participants used a tobacco cigarette as a "chaser" to marijuana than smoked joints mixing both marijuana and tobacco, known as spiffs.
The study also found that the degree to which marijuana and tobacco use were interrelated differed greatly by user. However, 26 percent of users reported they had smoked most of their cigarettes around the time they were using marijuana or were high. They were more likely to have a greater tobacco dependence and to smoke more cigarettes per day.
"So, if somebody's trying to quit smoking cigarettes, but they always use marijuana and tobacco together, it's probably going to be much, much harder for them if they are still using marijuana than for somebody who uses both, but their use is not related in any way," says McClure.
The finding also raises the question of whether smoking tobacco after marijuana use enhances its subjective effects. More than 50 percent of those surveyed reported using tobacco cigarettes as a chaser. However, another 35 percent reported not doing so. It is possible that co-users of marijuana and tobacco who feel a more intense high because of the tobacco use would be more likely to use them closer together. They could have a harder time quitting smoking than those who did not feel such an enhanced high. This possibility requires further study.
What is clear from the researchers' findings is that everyone's habit is a little different, and cessation programs will need to be personalized if they are to be effective.
McClure hopes to focus on tobacco cessation as she continues her research but also identify the people who will likely struggle with quitting due to their marijuana use. She then plans to further tailor treatment to these individuals to improve the likelihood that their smoking cessation efforts will be successful.
"We need to tailor a treatment strategy for each individual rather than doing this one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't always work very well," says McClure.
For instance, in an age of medical marijuana and increasing legalization, not all users wanting to quit tobacco will want to discontinue marijuana as well. For some, with a lesser degree of interrelatedness between their use of the two substances, this may be possible. But for those with a higher degree of interrelatedness, dual cessation strategies could be needed.
McClure is pursuing funds for a prospective clinical trial that would further explore how marijuana co-use affects tobacco cessation and compare quit attempts and cessation rates in co-users and tobacco-only users.
"That trial would help us identify the people who are going to have more difficulty with quitting smoking cigarettes because of their marijuana use, and how we can tailor treatment for them," says McClure. "It would also help clarify how we can tailor treatment for those not interested in quitting marijuana so that they still have the best chances of stopping cigarette smoking."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190222101426.htm