Caffeine injection does the mind good
Researchers are aware that caffeine stimulates the central nervous system on a short-term basis, but how is cognition affected in the long run? An investigation carried out by a team of European researchers has provided some interesting answers. The Finnish-Swedish group found that midlife coffee or tea drinking can decrease the risk of dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life, as the caffeine-laced drinks give the human brain a boost. The results were recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. The researchers from the University of Kuopio and the National Public Health Institute in Finland and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden set out to study the link between coffee and/or tea consumption at midlife and dementia/Alzheimer's disease risk in later life. The team from the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study selected participants from the survivors of population-based cohorts previously evaluated in the North Karelia project and the FINMONICA study in 1972, 1977, 1982 or 1987. Around 71% (i.e. 1,409 of the participants) assessed in those studies were re-examined in 1998. The team found that 61 cases had dementia and 48 had Alzheimer's disease. 'We aimed to study the association between coffee and tea consumption at midlife and dementia/Alzheimer's disease risk in late-life, because the long-term impact of caffeine on the central nervous system was still unknown, and the pathologic processes leading to Alzheimer's disease may start decades before the clinical manifestation of the disease,' explained lead researcher Professor Miia Kivipelto from the University of Kuopio and the Karolinska Institute. According to the team, the midlife examination for their study assessed the consumption of coffee and tea with a previously validated, semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. They categorised coffee drinking into three groups: low = 0 to 2 cups; moderate = 3-5 cups; and high = 5 cups or more. Concerning tea drinking, the researchers split the participants into two groups: no tea drinking = 0 cup per day; and tea drinking = 1 cup per day. Based on the results of their study, the researchers found that midlife coffee drinkers had a lower risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease later in life versus people who either drank no or little coffee. The data also showed that moderate coffee drinkers had the lowest risk (65%). The researchers made adjustments for various confounding variables but no changes to the results emerged. The team also found that tea drinking was more the exception rather than the rule with most participants; so tea was linked with neither dementia nor Alzheimer's disease. 'Given the large amount of coffee consumption globally, the results might have important implications for the prevention of or delaying the onset of dementia/Alzheimer's disease,' Professor Kivipelto remarked. 'The finding needs to be confirmed by other studies, but it opens the possibility that dietary interventions could modify the risk of dementia/Alzheimer's disease,' she added. 'Also, identification of mechanisms of how coffee exerts its protection against dementia/AD might help in the development of new therapies for these diseases.'
Countries
Finland, Sweden