Please drink coffee with a poor memory. Caffeine helps to remember the new information you have just learned.

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The caffeine contained in a cappuccino (pictured) can help improve memory.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB SACHA, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Caffeine's quick effect is no longer news for 80% of Americans who drink coffee or tea in the morning. However, Michael is currently an assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine. When Asa worked at Johns Hopkins University, he and his colleagues confirmed another use of caffeine: to improve memory.

The study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, found that the stimulant caffeine can strengthen memory for up to 24 hours after taking it. We talked to Asa about their findings.

Previous studies have shown that caffeine may have a positive effect on memory. What are the new findings of your research?

We think it has this effect on animals for a long time. For example, Serena Dudek of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) points out that bees are more likely to remember the fragrance of flowers after consuming caffeine-infused nectar. However, studies on humans have been inconclusive, because subjects have already taken caffeine before taking memory tests, so the results may be disturbed by other factors, such as the effect of caffeine on alertness or concentration.

So you ask people who are not used to caffeine to take a closer look at a group of images and give them a placebo or a pill containing 200 milligrams of caffeine five minutes later. Both groups of subjects came back for the test at 24 hours. People who take caffeine tablets remember those images more clearly.

Caffeine was first isolated from coffee beans by a German chemist in the 19th century. Do we know how it works?

Caffeine works by several different mechanisms. It acts on adenylate receptors, speeding up the heartbeat, increasing alertness and raising blood pressure ──, the hit-or-run response (fight-or-flight response) that occurs when you encounter a big bear. If someone says, "my adrenaline has exploded," that's the reaction. Caffeine also acts on a small area of the hippocampal gyrus that plays an important role in both long-term and short-term memory.

How much coffee does it take to get 200 milligrams of caffeine?

It's about two cups of espresso.

With these findings, shouldn't we all run and buy an espresso latte?

Don't forget that there is a lot of sugar in the coffee sold outside. I have been drinking coffee for many years, but I will not increase the amount of coffee I drink because of the research results.

Your subjects are people who don't usually drink coffee. Given that caffeine is one of the most popular pick-me-up drugs in the world, is it difficult to find enough subjects?

We are in trouble, and we are looking for people who are honest about drinking coffee. Before the experiment, we did a saliva test to test the caffeine in the subjects, and some people were disqualified.

What's the harm of caffeine?

Ingestion in large amounts can cause tremors and headaches, and it is absolutely possible to take too much. Caffeine is a stimulant. I don't think the findings should be used as a permit for unlimited caffeine intake.

Talk about the ways of application in progress. Is it possible for caffeine to be used as a drug for Alzheimer's or dementia?

I don't think caffeine can inhibit the disease. But if someone is at risk, caffeine may help. Our next step is to use brain imaging technology to conduct a more in-depth study of the brain mechanism.

Can I contact you in the future to check the information we talked about today? You talk really fast.

It must be the caffeine in me.

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