For many smokers, a coffee is needed to make that first cigarette of the day satisfying. A new study suggests that a chemical compound – not caffeine – may help blunt morning nicotine cravings.
Researchers in the study identified two compounds in coffee that directly affect certain high-sensitivity nicotine receptors in the brain. In smokers, these brain receptors can be hypersensitive after a night without nicotine.
Published in the journal Neuropharmacology, the findings have yet to be tested in humans but are an important step toward better understanding how coffee and cigarettes affect nicotine receptors in the brain, explained Roger L. Papke, PhD, a pharmacology professor in the University of Florida College of Medicine. The caffeine in coffee gives a wellness boost to its drinkers, but smokers may get something more.
“Many people like caffeine in the morning but there are other molecules in coffee that may explain why cigarette smokers want their coffee,” Prof Papke said.
The researchers applied a dark-roasted coffee solution to cells that express a particular human nicotine receptor. An organic chemical compound in coffee may help restore the nicotine receptor dysfunction that leads to nicotine cravings in smokers, the researchers concluded.
Prof Papke hypothesises that one of the compounds in brewed coffee, known as n-MP, may help to quell morning nicotine cravings.
Prof Papke said he was intrigued by the idea that nicotine-dependent smokers associate tobacco use with coffee in the morning and alcohol in the evening. While alcohol’s effect on nicotine receptors in the brain has been well researched, the receptors’ interaction with coffee is less studied.
“Many people look for coffee in the morning because of the caffeine. But was the coffee doing anything else to smokers? We wanted to know if there were other things in coffee that were affecting the brain’s nicotine receptors,” Prof Papke said.
The findings, he said, provide a good foundation for behavioural scientists who could further study nicotine withdrawal in animal models.
Source: University of Florida
