BOOZE, BEANS AND YOUR BODY

Caffeine and alcohol are two of the world's most common drugs. But what effects does drinking them have on our brains and bodies?

- WORDS DOM RESEIGH-LINCOLN

For over 1,000 years, scholars and academics have theorised and argued about the true effects of a stiff drink. Aristotle thought that the intoxicating effects of alcohol were the work of playful spirits, while people suffering through the Black Death in 14th-century Europe believed ales could protect them from the plague. Caffeine, in its many varied forms, has also attracted as much reverence as it has popularity since the Maya's mass cultivation of cocoa beans in 600 BCE. But what do these two substances really do to our brains? And could new research shed fresh light on addiction?