Scientists have discovered another potential benefit of coffee.

More and more health benefits of coffee are being discovered, and now a new study published in the research journal Translational Psychiatry has discovered a previously unknown effect of this popular beverage.

That is, coffee can help counteract the harmful effects of alcohol on the brain and has the potential to help with alcohol withdrawal by interacting with the production of the brain chemical dopamine, according to medical news site Medical Express.

Science has just discovered a previously unknown effect of coffee.

Dopamine is a chemical messenger that is naturally released from nerve cells in the brain and produces a variety of effects. One of its functions is to create a pleasurable feeling after you do something enjoyable, making you want to do it again, and this is why dopamine plays a role in addiction, according to health news site HealthDirect .

Dopamine acts on areas of the brain that give you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. Sometimes, you want to feel more of this dopamine “reward,” which is how dopamine becomes addictive.

Too much dopamine causes aggression and difficulty controlling impulses. Dopamine imbalances also lead to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to HealthDirect.

In this latest study, scientists from Italy and the US took a closer look at the effects of coffee on this dopamine chemical.

Coffee may help counteract the harmful effects of alcohol on the brain

In experiments with mice, the authors found that caffeine inhibits the addictive dopamine pathway - the pathway that makes alcoholics want to drink more.

Specifically, caffeine has the ability to block the conversion of alcohol into salsolinol, an intermediate that triggers the release of dopamine. This makes drinking less enjoyable and reduces the desire to continue drinking.

Notably, not only with alcohol, but also with other addictive substances - such as morphine, caffeine also has this inhibitory effect.

Encouragingly, one of the few drugs for alcohol addiction, OUD, also prevents the harmful effects of alcohol by interfering with the dopamine pathway, said study author Riccardo Maccioni, PhD, a neuroscientist at the Scripps Research Institute in the US. This raises hopes for using caffeine as a potential treatment for alcoholism . Scientists said that clinical trials on humans will be conducted in the near future, according to Medical Express .

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-nha-khoa-hoc-lai-phat-hien-them-mot-loi-ich-tiem-nang-cua-ca-phe-185241207194522309.htm