I’ll let you in on a little secret. I LOVE coffee. In fact, my favorite necklace is a charm in the shape of a caffeine molecule.
So every time a new study confirms that my favorite beverage is also good for me, I celebrate. New research out of Finland this month had me pulling out the party hat once again.
The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, confirmed earlier research into the effects of caffeine on dementia. According to researchers a moderate coffee habit could send your risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia plummeting.
The large analysis included nearly 6,500 women 65 and over, who were a part of the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study. Up to 10 years following the initial study, the women were given an annual cognitive assessment.
Caffeine could send your dementia risk plummeting
In the new study, Finnish researchers looked at how much tea, coffee and cola the women drank and compared it to the cognitive data that had been collected. A clear pattern emerged. Woman who consumed more caffeine—over 261 milligrams—were an incredible 36 percent less likely to develop cognitive impairment or dementia—than the women who consumed less than 64 milligrams.1
When the team dug deeper and looked at race, age, smoking status, alcohol intake, blood pressure status, cases of depression, heart disease, body mass index and even quality of sleep, they found the association remained rock solid.
But it was coffee that came out on top. Tea, which has many health benefits of its own, didn’t appear to lower women’s risk for the disease. To be fair, the women didn’t drink a lot of it. But, it was the women who drank two to three, eight ounce cups of coffee daily, who really reaped the rewards.
Fight Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline with coffee
The study doesn’t prove that drinking coffee, or other caffeinated drinks, will prevent you from getting Alzheimer’s, of course. But this isn’t the first time, we’ve seen the link being made. And it adds to the growing stack of evidence that coffee can play an important role in keeping our brains firing on all cylinders, and our memories intact for years to come.
In one large study, middle aged men and women who drank three to five cups of coffee a day were found to be 65 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s as seniors.2 A 2012 study found that three cups a day of coffee could put the brakes on cognitive decline, delaying full blown dementia.3 And research out of Johns Hopkins University has shown that caffeine can enhance long term memory.4
Obviously if you’re caffeine sensitive, taking up a coffee habit is a bad idea. And overdoing it can have negative effects on your health. But if you’re already a coffee fan with a moderate habit, like me, this is just one more reason to love your java. Just be sure to skip all the sugary syrups and sweeteners, which will undo any health benefits your favorite beverage brings to the table.
References:
1. “Relationships Between Caffeine Intake and Risk for Probable Dementia or Global Cognitive Impairment: The Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study,” J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci (2016)
2. “Midlife coffee and tea drinking and the risk of late-life dementia: a population-based CAIDE study,” J Alzheimers Dis. 2009;16(1):85-91
3. “High Blood Caffeine Levels in MCI Linked to Lack of Progression to Dementia,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 30 (2012) 559–572
4. “Post-study caffeine administration enhances memory consolidation in humans,” Nature Neuroscience 17, 201–203 (2014)
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