Coffee Aroma Reduces Stress
June 20, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Wake up and smell the coffee – it could reduce the stress that comes from not getting enough sleep.
New research shows you don’t have to drink coffee to feel its effects – just smelling it can jump-start genes in the brain. When they experimented on lab rats, an international group of scientists found inhaling the aroma of coffee changes the activity of genes in the brain in a way that helps reduce the stress of sleep deprivation.
Hundreds of studies have been done on the ingredients in coffee and its health benefits. However, few have dealt with how the aroma of coffee can help your health.
The researchers let lab rats inhale coffee’s aroma, including some rats that were stressed by sleep deprivation. They compared gene and protein expressions in the rats’ brains.
The study found rats that smelled the coffee showed different levels of activity in 17 genes, and 13 of them had differential expressions between the stress group and the stress with coffee group. This included proteins with healthy antioxidant activity that can protect nerve cells from stress-related damage.
SOURCE: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008;56
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.