Why do we look for something sweet when drinking coffee?

Recent research has shown that the relationship between coffee and adenosine receptors not only keeps the wearer awake but creates a greater desire to consume something sweet.

Drinking coffee

Have you ever woke up with an appetite to accompany that afternoon coffee with a chocolate, or one of those cakes that are exposed in most cafes where he orders a cappuccino? science seems to have found the answer to this question.

According to research by scientists Ezen Choo and Benjamin Picket, the answer is the relationship that coffee has with adenosine receptors, a substance that helps relax and is related to sleep.

As is well known, coffee blocks these receptors, so it keeps us active and not sleepy. However, Choo and Picket found a kind of "side effect" of this blockade:
 people slightly lose the ability to savor sweetness , which ironically increases their desire to eat more of this type of food.

In this way, new research published in the Journal of Food Science joins previous evidence that ensures that adenosine, in addition to regulating sleep, has much to do with regulating the way flavors are perceived.

Assistant professor of food sciences, and who participated in the study, Robin Dando, noted that "when you drink coffee with caffeine, it changes the way you perceive the flavors. So if you eat food at the moment or shortly after ingesting these drinks, you're likely to perceive it differently. "

To advance the study, the team divided the volunteers into two groups. The first one was given a cup of decaffeinated coffee but with 200 milligrams added of caffeine, an amount that is assimilated to the amount present in the coffee without decaffeination. The second group was given decaffeinated coffee without the addition of caffeine. In the coffee cups of both groups the same amount of sugar was added.

The result was predicted by the researchers: those who consumed the drink with added caffeine reported a lower level of sweetness than the other group.

However, a second part of the study could contradict - or at least doubt - the actual physiological impact of coffee. Why? because by asking participants if they felt more alert, both groups reported the same increase in alertness and alertness and were not able to predict whether they were drinking decaf or not.

"We think there is a placebo effect on the act of drinking coffee, " said Dando, who added: "Think of Pavlov's dog. The act of drinking coffee - with the taste and aroma - is almost always followed by an increase in attention. (...) This seems to show us that the important thing is the action of drinking coffee, is the fact of doing things to feel more awake.