Deca like coffee has caffeinated effects. The placebo effect is powerful, too. And in the case of decaffeinated coffee, it is particularly effective, researchers have shown, in alleviating withdrawal symptoms in heavy drinkers.
We exchange the coffee for a decaf: and we look at the effect… This is our experience of the day with Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine To epsilon. Many of us are attached to our morning coffee… But we could also take decaffeinated.
franceinfo: Researchers have just shown that deca also works, like coffee?
Mathilde Fontez: Yes, and yet the researchers, a University of Sydney team, have chosen for their experience, heavy coffee drinkers. They forced them to abstain for 24 hours. Then they served them coffee, or decaf. And yes, what they saw was that even deca had effects – participants reported that the craving was lessened, that they felt that arousing effect normally caused by caffeine.
It’s the placebo effect…
Yes, it is indeed the placebo effect that is expressed here, once again. This effect is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy: when we have expectations, our brain works to make them come true. For example, taking a pill, even if there is no medicine in it, can ease the pain. Decaf is the same thing.
But what researchers notice in particular is that this placebo effect of deca works, even when you know you are taking deca. Some of the participants in the experiment knew that there was no caffeine in their cup, and they still felt their cravings subside. A possible explanation: we would be conditioned.
Coffee is not just caffeine, but it’s a whole ritual: a whole set of stimuli that are always the same, the taste, the smell, the heat of the cup. Even the sound of the coffee maker. We would have integrated these stimulations so much, that they would be enough, on their own, to trigger the neuronal effects of caffeine.
No more coffee then?
The effect remains less strong, of course, than with real coffee. But yes, you can try to wean yourself off caffeine, with this method, without suffering from withdrawal. This is also the conclusion of the researchers: exploit this effect, beyond the example of coffee.
One could imagine withdrawal protocols for other drugs, where patients would be aware of taking a placebo. It would solve one of the methodological problems of these treatments: because it is unethical to deceive the patient. We have to tell him, normally, when we give him a placebo. It remains to be seen whether this deca effect works as well, for other psychotropic drugs than caffeine…