快猫短视频

CAFFEINE in fizzy drinks is more likely to cause addiction than improve the
taste of the products, new research on a small group of consumers suggests.

快猫短视频s at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that only 2 out of
25 adult cola drinkers could distinguish between the taste of caffeinated and
caffeine-free varieties. 鈥淭his stands in sharp contrast to the claim some
soft-drinks manufacturers make that they add caffeine purely for taste,鈥� says
psychopharmacologist Roland Griffiths, who led the study, which was partly
funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Volunteers tasted 50 cups, drinking pairs of the same drink with and without
caffeine added to the level of 0.1 milligram per millilitre鈥攖he standard
level in fizzy drinks. Twenty-three of the test subjects could not spot the
difference unless caffeine levels were raised to well above those approved by
the US Food and Drug Administration.

In 1998, Americans guzzled 15 billion cans of fizzy drinks, of which 70 per
cent contained caffeine. Caffeine-free versions of Coca-Cola Classic and Pepsi,
the two most popular soft drinks in the US, account for only 5 per cent of their
sales.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to see the soft-drinks industry come out of denial about the role
of caffeine in their products,鈥� says Griffiths. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e adding a mildly
addictive drug, one which surely accounts for the fact that people drink far
more sodas with caffeine than without.鈥� The US National Soft Drink Association
condemned the study, saying: 鈥渢oo few people were tested, too little science was
used.鈥� Coca-Cola refused to comment on the findings.

Earlier research done by Griffiths and his colleagues found evidence of
withdrawal symptoms in children denied their usual supply of caffeinated soft
drinks.

Marjorie Bowman, editor of the journal which published the research this
week, notes the study is 鈥渘ot definitive proof鈥�. But given fizzy drinks are of
little or no nutritional value, she argues caffeine should not be added to them
if the practice promotes addiction.