Coffee Gives More of a Boost to Men, but Women Respond to Decaf

Tue, Aug 18, 15 by Jim Couch

Caffeine gives more of a boost to men than women, according to new research.

But the same study found that while decaf coffee perks up both sexes, it affects women more. 

The results come from a University of Barcelona study of caffeine’s effects on 668 university students, with an average age of 22.

Measurements were taken before and after caffeine was taken, with the results showing it had a stronger effect on men.

‘Although both the men and women saw an improvement in their activity levels with the coffee, which increased in later measurements, we observed a greater impact among the males,’ said researcher Ana Adan.

When subjects were given decaf, researchers also found a small improvement in their states of alertness.  The results was slightly more noticeable among women, although it is unclear if this was a result of a placebo effect.

Regardless of sex, researchers found that caffeine had an almost immediate effect, with alertness increasing in some cases just 10 minutes later.

But 45 minutes was found to be the time needed for maximum caffeine concentration to be reached in the blood.

(Credit for the above story to the UK’s Daily Mail Reporter).