Author Archives: jason

Coffee Alert!

Posted on March 12, 2012 | 2 comments

Coffee (Image from flickr by user Ballstik Coffee Boy)

I have to admit, I hate Monday mornings. It is the time of the week that is as far away from the weekend as possible, and I am not a “morning person“. So I occasionally drink a cup of coffee on dreadful Mondays, hoping that it would help me stay alert through rest of the day. However, a research from University of Bristol, United Kingdom, reported that people who depend on a shot of coffee to kick-start their day are no more alert than those who are not regular coffee drinkers. In fact, individuals who usually consume little or no caffeine may feel increased level of anxiety and fatigue.

Chemical Structure of Caffeine (from Wikipedia by Icey,ClockworkSoul)

It is widely known that caffeine helps to temporarily ward off drowsiness and restore alertness, as it is a psychostimulant acting on the central nervous system. However, it is also anxiogenic, meaning it could cause anxiety. With this in mind, researchers at University of Bristol investigated the relationship between habitual intake of caffeine and caffeine-induced anxiety levels.

STUDY METHOD

Placebo Pills (Image from Thoughtbroadcast.com)

In this research, participants were 162 non-/low (0~1 cup of coffee per day) and 217 medium/high (1-6 cups of coffee per day) caffeine consumers and they were asked to avoid caffeine consumption for 16 hours. In a randomized, double-blind, parallel group design, all volunteers were asked to rate the anxiety, alertness, and headache level using standard questionnaire called the Mood, Alertness and Physical Sensations Scales (MAPSS) before proceeding with the experiment. After that period, they were given either a caffeine pill (100 mg) or a placebo. Later, they took a slightly higher dose (150 mg) of caffeine pill or another placebo. The participants’ emotional states were measured using MAPSS after each intakes of pills.

RESULTS
Surprisingly, caffeine did not increase the alertness of any groups more than non-caffeine consumers who were given the placebo. Moreover, non/low caffeine consumers had more headaches after taking the caffeine pills, but did not feel any more alert than normal.
Also, high caffeine consumers who were given a placebo after abstaining from coffee for 16 hours felt less alert and experienced worse headaches than those who received actual caffeine pill. In fact, the headache was so severe that four people had to drop out of the study.

It is interesting to note that anxiety levels significantly increased with intake of caffeine among those who usually consume little or no caffeine. However, medium/high caffeine consumers did not become any more anxious after caffeine, implying that frequent consumption of caffeine helps in building tolerance to anxiety inducing effect.

Image from "Futurama"

Well, what does these results imply? It seems that what people perceives as “enhanced alertness” from caffeine is actually the “restoration of alertness” counteracting the caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

 References:
Journal Article – “Association of the Anxiogenic and Alerting Effects of Caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and Habitual Level of Caffeine Consumption”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3055635/

Caffeine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

News Article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/02/drinking-coffee-alert-caffeine

 

 

2 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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Sweet Babies!

Posted on February 13, 2012 | 6 comments

Chocolate (Image from flickr by Andy Ciordia)

Tomorrow (February 14th) is Valentine’s Day, and that could only mean one thing : Chocolates! We all love to indulge in that small piece of guilty pleasure, not only because of it’s delightful sweetness, but also because  it makes us feel happier. As if those weren’t good enough excuses for being gluttonous over chocolate, there is a new reason why we can love chocolate even more; chocolate makes happier babies!

3D ball-and-stick image of serotonin (Image from Wikipedia by Ben Mills)

All chocolates, except white chocolate, are made with cocoa solids. Some chemical compounds found in cocoa solids, such as phenethylamine, theobromine and tryptophan,  trigger mood enhancing chemicals and neurotransmitter to be released in the brain. In other words, all of these chemicals play a part in making us happier when we ingest chocolate. For instance, tryptophan assists production of serotonin, or commonly known as “happy hormone”, which makes people feel relaxed and satisfied.  Moreover, phenylethylamine, which is similar to amphetamine in its actions, causes the brain to release dopamine in the pleasure centers of the brain, thus making people feel pleasure.

coffee (Image from flickr by user Ballstik Coffee Boy)

Now, does this mean that babies would also feel happier when chocolate is eaten during pregnancy? Many women actually avoid eating chocolate during pregnancy, as they are  concerned about the caffeine in the chocolate. This is because many studies suggest that caffeine is dangerous to an unborn child and is linked to an increased risk of miscarriage. However, contrary to popular belief, chocolate has very small quantities of caffeine, between 5 – 30 milligrams per 1 ounce, which is less than half the caffeine found in a cup of coffee (between 90 – 135 milligrams). On average, doctors recommend that a pregnant woman consume no more than  270 milligrams of caffeine each day. This indicates that small intakes of chocolate during pregnancy is acceptable. In fact, a study from University of Helsinki in Finland has shown that consuming chocolate while pregnant may actually benefit babies. In this study, babies were observed under the areas of smiling and laughter, and fear of novel situations. The results showed that mothers who consumed chocolate daily while pregnant rated their children as more happy (increased smiles and laughter, reduced crying in new situation) at 6 months of age. Interestingly, while maternal stress during gestation was a predictor of fear in 6 month old babies, this was largely negated by chocolate consumption.

Happy baby! (Image from flickr by user Mallu2007)

So chocolate is even more wonderful than we thought! In addition to tasting so delicious and making us feel happier, chocolate also makes new-borns happier. Maternal chocolate consumption could not only improve the temperament of babies, but it could also reduce the known effects of maternal stress on the babies. However, excessive ingestion of chocolate during pregnancy may build up caffeine levels in the body increasing the risk of miscarriage (along with the risk of becoming overweight). Moderation is the key here!

YouTube Preview Image
A video clip addressing this topic from Youtube – uploaded by user karensue64

References:
Raikkonen K, Pesonen AK, Jarvenpaa AL,Strandberg TE. (2004) “Sweet babies: chocolate consumption during pregnancy and infant temperament at six months.” Early Hum Dev. 76(2):139-45.
http://gsdl.sld.cu/collect/chocolat/index/assoc/HASH42f5.dir/doc.pdf

Cocoa Solids:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_solids

Phenethylamine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenethylamine

Theobromine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine

Tryptophan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan

Serotonin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin

Amphetamine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine

Pregnancy Wizard – “Chocolate during Pregnancy”:
http://www.pregnancywizard.com/food-diet-nutrition/chocolate.php

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Posted in Biological Sciences

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Go exercise!…to be smarter?

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 11 comments

Image from Men's Health - "How to lace your running shoe"

Want to improve your memory and study more efficiently? Then drop your pen and lace up your sneakers! Recent studies show that exercising not only builds muscles, but it also boosts memory.

Researchers from University of Dublin  investigated the correlation between exercise and memory where they asked group of sedentary students to take part in a simple memory test. After the initial baseline test,  half of the students went through vigorous exercise and the other half just sat quietly. Then both groups took the test again. (specific procedures can be found in Physiology & Behavior Journal). Remarkably,  the exercised students performed significantly better on the memory test scores (compared to their baseline test), while the students who had rested showed no improvement.

Image of BDNF - from Wikipedia provided by Protein Data Bank

Interestingly, the researchers have collected the students’ blood samples throughout the experiment to give a biological explanation to their results. They have found that the students had significantly higher levels of a protein called  brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, immediately after the strenuous activity, whereas the student who had sat quietly showed no change in BDNF levels. Thus these finding suggest that increases in BDNF prompted by exercise may play a particular role in improving our ability to memorize and recall on something.

Image of Hippocampus - from Wikipedia by user Looei496

In supporting this idea, other studies also reached similar conclusion even with animals. In one particular experiment from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Federal University of Santa Catarina), Brazil, the researchers made sedentary elderly rats ran for 4-6 minutes, 4-5 days per week for five weeks (specific procedures can be found in Mechanisms of Ageing and Development Journal). This physical activity seemed to ignite some biochemical process in the memory center (hippocampus) of their brains, resulting in increased production of BDNF molecules there. As a result, these exercised elderly rats performed as well as much younger rats on rodent memory tests.

Although more needs to be studied on this topic and BDNF, these studies do indicate that exercising does help in improving memorization. So it would be a good idea to go for a walk or get any sort of physical activity in between study breaks, not only to get some fresh air, but to get some BDNF in our brains to study more efficiently. This may sound a bit bizarre but, we should go exercise to become smarter! It’s just too bad that I cannot make “studying” as an excuse for not getting any exercise anymore.

References:

Aerobic exercise improves hippocampal function and increases BDNF in the serum of yong adult male:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938411003088

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor

Short bouts of mild-intensity physical exercise improve spatial learning and memory in aging rats: Involvement of hippocampal plasticity via AKT, CREB and BDNF signaling:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047637411001564

Hippocampus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences

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