According to Sunday’s New York Times Magazine , researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Miami were onto something when they published a study relating coffee consumption to improved cognitive performance in aging.
More and more research has come to the conclusion that coffee consumption — independent from caffeine intake alone — results in lower mortality, and lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, oral cancer, basal cell carcinoma, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The USF and UM study looked at older adults with mild cognitive impairment, which often precedes Alzheimer’s disease, and tested the levels of caffeine in their blood. Two years later, participants were reevaluated. Those with little or no circulating caffeine were far more likely to have progressed to full-blown Alzheimer’s during that time than those who had been taking in about three cups worth of coffee each day.
The same researchers from USF had previously looked at mice that were genetically bred to develop Alzheimer’s. Half of the mice were fed caffeine alone, and the other half were given actual coffee; then all were given memory tests. The coffee group did significantly better.
Although it is unclear what other valuable ingredients in coffee may be responsible for these differences, researchers have some understanding about the mechanism through which caffeine benefits the brain.
Caffeine disrupts the action of adenosine, a substance in cells that provides energy but can become destructive to tissues if it leaks out when cells are under stress. Escaped adenosine can trigger a biochemical cascade that results in inflammation which can contribute to neuro-degeneration or dementia.
Caffeine may not be the ultimate solution to preventing or treating cognitive disease — but for whatever its worth, that medicine isn’t a hard one to swallow.
