Important Information: coffee = less Alzheimer’s

>> Sunday, January 18, 2009


Every now and then some bit of news comes along that brings a smile to my face and a smile to my heart.   Such a bit of news was received today by email from newsmax.com in their most recent newsmax.com health alert.   It reads:


 



“Drinking Coffee Slashes Risk of Alzheimer’s

Drinking coffee during midlife can slash your risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A Finnish study found that those who drank coffee at midlife had a lower risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in late-life than those who drank no coffee at all. Those who drank three to five cups of coffee a day lowered their risk by 65 percent.

“We aimed to study the association between coffee and tea consumption at midlife and dementia/AD risk in late-life, because the long-term impact of caffeine on the central nervous system was still unknown, and as the pathologic processes leading to Alzheimer’s disease may start decades before the clinical manifestation of the disease,” says lead researcher, associate professor Miia Kivipelto from the University of Kuopio, Finland and Karloinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Coffee-drinking was categorized into three groups: low (0 to 2 cups daily), moderate (3 to 5 cups) and high (more than 5 cups). Tea-drinking was categorized into two groups: those not drinking tea and those who drank at least one cup daily. While all coffee drinkers had a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than non-drinkers, those who drank moderate amounts of coffee lowered their risk by a surprising 65 percent. Drinking tea had no impact on the risk of developing dementia.

“Given the large amount of coffee consumption globally, the results might have important implications for the prevention of or delaying the onset of dementia/AD. The finding needs to be confirmed by other studies, but it opens the possibility that dietary interventions could modify the risk of dementia/AD,” wrote Kivipelto. “Also, identification of mechanisms of how coffee exerts its protection against dementia/AD might help in the development of new therapies for these diseases.” “

For those of you reading who don’t know, I am very much a fan of coffee; a self described “connoisseur” though a relatively recent convert by no means an expert.  This news, though smile causing, is hardly surprising.   Coffee (good coffee) has been known to have substantial health benefits for quite some time as a quick Google search reveals.


I know this post might seem a bit random, but I hope that this news brings a smile to all coffee fans reading this is found to be informative by those who are not necessarily fans.  


I think I'll go brew me a cup or two in celebration of my reaffirmed knowledge!


God bless and veritas supra omnis!



5 comments:

Hillary January 19, 2009 at 7:12 AM  

I grinned at the headline and the whole way through.
I am sending Loretta directly over to read this, she will laugh...
Meanwhile, I shall go start her coffee :D

Craig January 20, 2009 at 7:11 AM  

No mention of sugar or milk in the coffee, is there a breakout of the way the coffee was prepared?

Mark Hutchins January 20, 2009 at 9:50 AM  

Good question, Craig. I don't know the answer for certain but I am fairly sure that sugar and cream were not included in the analysis...just coffee itself. But, never fear! There is a such thing as healthy sugar and cream. :-) All you have to do is pay a little extra for it. :-(

I personally drink about half of my coffee with sugar (sometimes healthy sometimes not) and cream (usually healthy) and the other half straight. I like it either way.

Hillary January 27, 2009 at 6:46 PM  

I passed the information in this post along to dad this morning and he had a brilliant observation. To quote him:

" When people like this make studies here is what they do; they take a slew of people who are dying of Alzheimers and see how many of them drank coffee. Not very many of them did which led them to say that drinking coffee helps prevent Alzheimers, but the truth is that the coffee drinkers all died of caffeine poisoning long before they were old enough to get Alzheimers!"

Did I ever mention that I like my dad? :D

Mark Hutchins January 27, 2009 at 9:40 PM  

Well, I have no reason to doubt that your Dad is full of brilliant observations, but I think the motivation behind the study was a little more scientific than a sudden urge to see how many people with Alzheimers drank coffee. ;-) Besides, coffee has other benefits as you will see if you click on the link to the google search I did.

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