Coffee and Alzheimer’s

Researchers from Sweden and Denmark find that drinking coffee may reduce risk or Alzheimer’s and age-related dementia [via medheadlines.co]:

[P]articipants who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day were 65% less likely to develop dementia than those who drank less…

While not advocating someone start drinking coffee as a preventive measure, Dr. Miia Kivipelto, associate professor of neurology at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, suggests the following factors may be involved:

Previous studies have found drinking coffee decreases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a disease that raises the risk of dementia

Animal studies have shown that caffeine reduces formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. These plaques are a distinguishing characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

Coffee may be a bloodstream-protecting antioxidant that protects the vascular system enough to reduce the likelihood of dementia

This entry was posted on January 25, 2009 at 8:42 pm and is filed under neuroscience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.