Drinking coffee can cause stronger sugar cravings because caffeine dulls perception of sweetness, report finds
New research shows that caffeine affects the way we taste sweet flavours and could be cumulative throughout the day. But if you don’t want to cut down on your coffee consumption, there is another way...
If you are frequently tempted to buy a treat from the pastry case at your favourite coffee shop, there could be a good reason why – and it is not just your lack of willpower.
A new study on coffee has found that caffeine can affect the way we perceive sweetness and may make us crave sweets more strongly.
How much caffeine and sugar is in Hong Kong’s favourite drinks? After teen’s recent death in US, you need to know
Caffeine gives us a perceived energy jolt because it blocks receptors in our brain that monitor levels of adenosine, a chemical that can make us feel sleepy. Previous research established that adenosine also helps us taste sweet flavours.
For this new study, a team of scientists at Cornell University in New York gave participants a cup of lightly sweetened coffee, some of which were decaffeinated. They did not tell the participants whether their cup contained caffeine (the purely decaf cups contained quinine, to make sure both types of coffee had the same level of bitterness).
The ones who drank caffeine perceived their coffee to be less sweet than those who unknowingly drank decaf. When the participants were asked to taste and rate a sucrose solution more than 15 minutes later, the caffeinated participants still reported tasting lower levels of sweetness.
