Coffee and cigarettes, smokers know it well, seems to be a combination that is difficult to give up. A new UFHealth study investigated the correlation between nicotine and caffeine, scientifically demonstrating an interesting link between the two.
The caffeine contained in the coffee and the nicotine found in the cigarettes they are often a much loved couple by smokers. According to a new study published in the scientific magazine Sciencedirect
coffee would have direct effects on the two main types of receptors of the nicotine in the brain.
The study, entitled Coffee and cigarettes: modulation of high and low sensitivity α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by n-MP, a biomarker of coffee consumption was led on the front line by Roger Papke, professor of pharmacology at the University of Florida School of Medicine, who and his team wondered:
Many people have coffee in the morning because of the caffeine, but does coffee have an additional effect on smokers?
Coffee and cigarettes: research attempts to explain the correlation
Coffee e cigarette they are connected on a much deeper level than an irresistible one habit. The reason is related to the fact that they come stimulated of the receptors in the brain.
The Research cited has allowed to identify two compounds in coffee (1-methylpyridinium, and 1-1-dimethylpyridinium, n-MP) which have emerged directly influence some receptors of nicotine highly sensitive in the brain: the hill in the coffee affects α7 receptors and n-MP mainly affects i receptors a4b2.
n-MP inhibits one of the two main types of receptors α4β2 and empower the other.
The researchers then began to undertake that in addition to the already known fame of the caffeine and the nicotineamong the most addictive substances in the world, in addition to the already known processes that exist when you have an addiction and in addition to the habit, there is a correlation and elaborate on between the two substances, which could also be very useful for behavioral science:
HS receptors in smokers are likely to become progressively desensitized during a smoking day, but they can be hypersensitive in the morning when nicotine levels in the brain are low. A smoker’s first cup of coffee can therefore balance the effects of the first cigarette of the day in the brain.