Boost From Coffee Is Just an illusion

Study Suggests the 'Alert' Feeling From Drinking Coffee May Not Be Real

By Tim Locke
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Sheena Meredith, MD

June 3, 2010 -- Can't start your day without a coffee? It's all in your mind, according to University of Bristol, U.K. researchers who've found the stimulating effects of caffeine may be just an illusion.

Their study involved 379 brave volunteers who went coffee "cold turkey" for 16 hours before being given a caffeine capsule or a placebo capsule containing corn flour.

They were then tested for a range of responses, but there was little variation between the real- caffeine group and the placebo group in levels of alertness.

Around half of the study participants were non-coffee drinkers or low consumers. The rest were medium to high consumers of coffee.

(More here.)