Caffeine May Reduce Alzheimers

thelars writes "This article discusses research that links coffee consumption to a reduced risk of alzheimers disease. According to the article, drinking at least three cups of coffee a day may reduce your risk of alzheimers by up to 60%. Time to stock up on Penguin mints..."

Penguin Mints?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah...Penguin Mints are -loaded- with Aspartame, yet another chemical that some suspect could be Alzheimer-causing (amongst other things).

Just go for a nice cup 'o Joe instead.

Cause and effect?

[gwernol]

Interesting. I've seen studies suggesting that increased brain activity throughout life also correlates with lower incidences of Alzheimers. People who read a lot, do crosswords, basically stay mentall active seem less likely to develop this disease.

I wonder if what is actually happening is the caffeine allows you to do more mental work, which in turn reduces your risk of Alzheimers.

Pure speculation, of course, but it would be interesting if someone could do the experiement to try to validate this theory.

Re:Cause and effect?

[Peyna]

I wouldn't put it at the caffeine allowing you to do more mental work, but that heavy consumers of caffeine tend to drink lots of caffeinated beverages because their brains are already busy and they need to stay perked up. So, I would say that maybe a higher amount of caffeine consumers are already move active in the brain department. How many people drink 3 cups of coffee a day and then sit in front of the tv for 12 hours?

Other anti-sleep drugs?

[koreth]

Given the link between sleep and memory (short-term memory is thought by many researchers to transfer to long-term during sleep, for example) I wonder if there'll be a similar effect among users of modafinil [slashdot.org] and other sleep-suppression drugs. Or is it something unique to caffeine that has nothing to do with its effect on sleep cycles?

Re:Other things that help.

[dytin]

Actually, it could be for the same reason. I think that chess, as well as crosword puzzles, other word games, etc. reduces the risk of alzheimer's because you use your brain a lot in these activities, similar to the principle of "use it or lose it". Perhaps drinking caffine also causes your brain to be used a lot more. I mean, if you're more awake and more alert, then you're also probably using your brain more.

Of course, if this were true, then I'd imagine that halucinogenic drugs probably also reduce the risk of alzheimer's.

known neurological effects of caffeine

[Preposterous Coward]

Interesting theory. Moderate doses of caffeine have long been known to have positive effects on learning and memory, at least in rats running mazes -- which seems similar enough to programmers navigating cubicle farms that we can be confident the results should generalize ;-)

Re:Something to remember...(ha, ha)

[Anonymous Coward]

True. Another possibility is that people with dementia just don't want to drink coffee as much, or forget to. The details on the study are scarce, but another possibility may be that people with dementia just don't accurately report on their caffeine consumption (or it's more difficult to measure in people with dementia because of their poor memory).

Oh, by the way, I hope you're not just documenting dementia with the mini-mental. I would prefer they get a full neuropsych eval. But then again, IAAP (psychologist).

Re:Other anti-sleep drugs?

[Joe Tie.]

I wonder if there'll be a similar effect among users of modafinil

It'd sure be nice. I used modafinil a lot back when I was in school, and it was so much smoother than drinking coffee. No big high or low, just a banishing of tiredness and a minor feeling of alertness. Combine that with reducing risk of Alzheimers and you'd get one heck of a combo.

I'm a bit sceptical

[Telecommando]

My mother-in-law was a waitress for most of her adult life and a total caffine addict, 3-4 POTS of coffee a day, she got headaches if she didn't get enough caffine. When she couldn't have coffee she'd have Mountain Dew or really, really strong tea.

Now she has rapidly-advancing Alzheimer's and it's not a pretty sight. She's in perfect physical health, strong heart & lungs and may last another 5 years until her brain deteriorates to the point where it forgets how to breathe.

She's only been diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the last 2 years and she's already forgotten her children, husband, and grandchildren. She can't dress herself, can barely feed herself (you have to keep reminding her to pick up the spoon and eat) and will sometimes hold animated, rambling, incoherent conversations with inanimate objects. Yet somehow she still remembers her dog, who stays loyally by her side, her constant companion.

It's a sad, sad disease and reminds me of what my grandmother once told me when I was small, "There are things worse than death and scarier, too." I didn't understand then, but I do now.

They may be onto something, but I'll be a bit sceptical until they do more research. And I'll still have another cup of coffee or two. Not necessarily because I believe it will help (My aunt has Alzheimer's as well, she's always in a fetal position and totally unresponsive now.) but because I enjoy it. (And some days I NEED it. Sleep? What's that?)

Re:Cause and effect?

[HiThere]

Sorry to reply to myself, but I just reread the article.
There is a line in there that says "Scientists suspect that the caffine...", but the reported results don't say that. So I suspect that their experimental results are specifically on coffee. (It would be interesting to know if they were on people who drank any particular kind of coffee, or if they were on any particular group of people [there might be other commonalities].)