New research tracking hundreds of thousands of people over decades suggests that moderate caffeine consumption is linked to a lower risk of developing dementia.
The study found that people who drank between one and five eight-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee had an 18 percent reduced risk of dementia. However, those who drank caffeinated tea daily had a roughly 15 percent reduced risk.
Interestingly, the benefits plateaued beyond two and a half cups of coffee daily, possibly because the body cannot process higher amounts of the beneficial compounds in these beverages. Caffeine can mimic adenosine and bind to receptors in the brain, blocking the molecule that promotes sleepiness, and keeping us alert, Knight said. By doing so, it increases neuron activity, which may reduce inflammation.
“Inflammation is being studied as a cause of cognitive impairment,” she said. “Caffeine has the potential to reduce oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, which helps to decrease brain aging.”
Scientists propose that caffeine might protect the brain by reducing inflammation and improving blood vessel function. It may also enhance insulin sensitivity, which is important because diabetes is a risk factor for dementia, due to the increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Time for my morning Espresso!
It runs in my family. My father was a pot a day guy. Diagnosed with it in 2007 at age 65, died of complications of alzheimers in 2012. All but one of his brothers died from it, all coffee drinkers. Mother didn't drink it, is supposed to be in a home (brothers will not let me know where) with Alzheimers. I'm a pot a day guy, and I'm just waiting for the diagnosis in the next few years. By the looks of things, the only way I don't die of it is to take a healthy serving of cyanide daily with my coffee.
ReplyDeleteIn the massively variable lives of EVERYONE (environment, personal care products, food, exposure to toxins, mental activity, and thousands upon thousands of other variables, its hard to take ANY of these studies with anything but a grain of salt...and I am actually a degreed scientist. At least when cloned mice are subjected to ONLY ONE VARIABLE, one can say with high certainty the effect of that ONE variable (keeping in mind that mice are not humans). But with self-reporting and thousands of variables, pretending that ANY of these studies are worth anything more than keeping researchers employed on OUR tax dollars paying the grants, is a bit absurd. My mom with Alzheimer's was a life-long coffee drinker. Keep you mind sharp with exercises. That seems like a better approach. Stop worrying about everything and let it go. Burning out the brain with worry and other negatives seems more consistent in the dozens and dozens of folks I have known with Alzheimer's...coffee or not.
ReplyDeleteThat right there.
DeleteAs my friend Steve once said, "There's too much information out there!"
I know I'm only one person, but its genetics, not environment. Both of my grandfathers died without suffering from dementia. Both of my grandmothers slowly lost their minds. You don't know what suffering is until you've had to tell your grandmothers that their husbands have passed away, every time they wake up, during every remaining day of their lives.
ReplyDelete--------piss on/in starbux
ReplyDelete