PMID: 9443519Jan 1, 1997Paper

Caffeine and the common cold

Journal of Psychopharmacology
A SmithH Whitney

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to determine whether caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee removed the malaise (reduced alertness, slower psychomotor performance) associated with having a common cold. One hundred volunteers were tested when healthy and 46 returned to the laboratory when they developed colds. Those subjects who remained healthy were then recalled as a control group. On the second visit subjects carried out two sessions, one pre-drink and another an hour after the drink. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions, caffeinated coffee (1.5 mg/kg caffeine/body weight), decaffeinated coffee or fruit juice. Subjects with colds reported decreased alertness and were slower at performing psychomotor tasks. Caffeine increased the alertness and performance of the colds subjects to the same level as the healthy group and decaffeinated coffee also led to an improvement. These results suggest that drugs which increase alertness can remove the malaise associated with the common cold, and that increased stimulation of the sensory afferent nerves may also be beneficial.

References

Dec 1, 1976·The British Journal of Medical Psychology·M HerbertC Doré
Apr 12, 1990·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·A P Smith
Jan 1, 1990·Neuropsychobiology·A P SmithP Leathwood
Jan 1, 1990·Clinical and Experimental Allergy : Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology·G I BarrowD A Tyrrell
Feb 1, 1988·Psychological Medicine·A P SmithJ S Willman
May 1, 1987·British Journal of Psychology·A P SmithJ S Willman
Jan 1, 1993·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·S CohenA P Smith
Mar 20, 1993·BMJ : British Medical Journal·A P SmithK G Nicholson
Mar 28, 1996·Nature·A Smith, D Nutt

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Sep 3, 2002·Food and Chemical Toxicology : an International Journal Published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association·A Smith
Dec 17, 1998·Psychoneuroendocrinology·A SmithK Nicholson
May 10, 2005·The British Journal of Nutrition·Andrew P Smith
Oct 3, 2000·Ergonomics·A SmithH Whitney
Jun 8, 2012·Stress and Health : Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress·Andrew P Smith, Charlotte Boden
Nov 8, 2005·Journal of Psychopharmacology·Andrew SmithGary Christopher

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, also known as "common cold", is an acute, self-limiting viral infection of the upper respiratory tract involving the nose, sinuses, pharynx and larynx. Discover the latest research on acute viral rhinopharyngitis here.