Decaf’s Placebo Effect May Change How We Treat Caffeine Withdrawal. What This Means for Coffee Drinkers

If you’re cutting back on coffee and dreading the headache, you’re not alone in searching for relief. New research suggests decaf may help ease caffeine withdrawal, even when you know you’re drinking it.

Does decaf coffee help with caffeine withdrawal symptoms?

Yes, decaf coffee can significantly reduce caffeine withdrawal symptoms, even when drinkers know the cup contains no caffeine, according to a 2023 study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The study took a rather interesting approach, which involved a bit of a fib.

Researchers studied 61 heavy coffee drinkers who normally had three or more cups a day and then went 24 hours without caffeine. Participants were split into three groups and given decaf and told it was regular, decaf and told the truth or water described as water. Both decaf groups reported meaningful drops in withdrawal symptoms after 45 minutes, while the water group saw no improvement.

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What did the University of Sydney caffeine withdrawal study find?

The study found a measurable open-label placebo effect, meaning decaf eased symptoms even for people who knew they weren’t getting caffeine.

“A convincing cup of decaf has the power to reduce withdrawal symptoms a lot when the person drinking it is unaware it’s decaf. But our study suggests that even if they are aware it’s decaf, their withdrawal still subsides,” Dr. Llew Mills, a Senior Research Associate at the School of Addiction Medicine, said, per The University of Sydney. Participants had expected water to outperform decaf, but the opposite happened.

Why does decaf reduce caffeine cravings if it has no caffeine?

Mills and his team suggest the relief comes from a learned response built up over years of daily coffee drinking. The taste, smell and ritual of coffee become linked to the relief of withdrawal, so decaf can trigger that same conditioned response.

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“The group we lied to reported a big drop in caffeine withdrawal even though there’s no pharmacological reason why it should. Because they expected their withdrawal to go down, it did go down,” Mills said. “In other words, a placebo effect. We’ve found this in several studies now.”

Can drinking decaf help you quit caffeine for good?

Probably not on its own. Mills cautioned that the effect is likely temporary and that decaf is not expected to relieve withdrawal symptoms on an ongoing basis.

“But a cup of decaf could help someone who is trying to cut back their caffeine intake to temporarily ride out the worst of the cravings and help them stay caffeine-free,” he said. The researchers also noted the findings could inform new treatments for drug dependence that incorporate placebo effects without violating informed consent.