Wake up and smell the java
Study shows how the scent of coffee relaxes sleep-starved rats
By Tia Ghose
The aroma of freshly roasted coffee may help rats take the edge off all-nighters, a new study suggests. Cells in sleep-deprived rats sniffing freshly brewed coffee turn up the volume of genes that soothe stress and prevent cell damage. The finding suggests one way the smell of coffee may calm stressed-out people — even if the drink itself revs them up.
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Published in the June Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study showed that rats exposed to the scent of coffee for 24 hours amped up production of products from genes that encode antioxidants.
The research “provides, for the first time, clues about potential stress-relaxation activities of coffee aroma on a molecular level,” says Thomas Hummel, an otorhinolaryngologist at the Smell and Taste Clinic at the University of Dresden Medical School in Germany who was not involved in the study.