Discover the surprising power of a common stimulant! Recent research reveals how one everyday substance can shield your brain from the harmful effects of another. Could this be the key to...

Psychotropic substances affect the body and alter human behavior in various ways. For instance, caffeine can temporarily reduce the volume of gray matter in the brain, negatively impacting cognitive functions, while alcohol, regardless of its strength, can worsen dietary choices, leading individuals to consume more fatty, fried, salty, and smoked foods, as well as favor simple carbohydrates over fiber.

Specialists from several universities in the USA and Italy have observed that one psychotropic substance can protect the body from the effects of another. They studied the brain activity of rodents that received caffeine prior to alcohol exposure. The findings of the research were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

The authors of the article conducted an experiment involving male rats. One group of rodents was given only alcohol, another group received both alcohol and caffeine, while a third group was administered drugs that block certain receptors, allowing the researchers to track the effects of caffeine.

It turned out that caffeine effectively blocks the dopamine release triggered by alcohol, which leads to feelings of satisfaction and increases the likelihood of repeated drinking. Caffeine also prevented the formation of salsolinol—a chemical substance linked to the reward system that "reinforces" alcohol consumption. Additionally, caffeine could inhibit the stimulation of dopamine neurons that would otherwise occur under the influence of alcohol.

“In rodents that had never consumed alcohol before, low doses of caffeine prevent <…> the release of dopamine in a specific area of the brain responsible for reward. Caffeine in mice that received it before alcohol potentially reduced the perception of alcohol's pleasurable effects. Therefore, caffeine doses comparable to those consumed by humans may protect against some of the effects of alcohol that lead to very dangerous changes in behavior and, consequently, addiction.”

Caffeine had a similar effect on mice when they were administered salsolinol and morphine directly instead of alcohol. These substances were supposed to activate dopamine regardless of alcohol, but caffeine blocked their action.

According to the researchers, caffeine could serve as a basis for preventive measures to avert the onset of alcohol dependence. However, the scientific work has several limitations. For instance, the study involved only male mice that had not previously consumed alcohol. In the future, the research team plans to repeat the experiment on females and on animals that are already dependent on alcohol.