NPR: Study: Caffeine May Help Treat Alzheimer's

Study: Caffeine May Help Treat Alzheimer's

My mother, who is approaching 80, used to drink 15 to 20 cups of coffee a day. I kid you not. Finally, her doctor told her she just had to cut back. And she did ... to about 10 cups a day.

So I think she'll be glad to hear that a study has found that the caffeine equivalent of drinking five cups of coffee a day may help prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease. ScienceDaily reports that separate studies also show that using certain blood pressure drugs or taking fish oil may help as well.

The blood pressure drugs appear to block the formation of the sticky wads of protein called amyloid plaques that build up in brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tests with caffeine and fish oil showed they were effective in reducing the plaques in animals.

Gary Arendash, a researcher at the Byrd Alzheimer's Institute in Tampa, Fla., says giving Alzheimer's mice the human equivalent of five cups of coffee, or 500 milligrams of caffeine, breaks apart the sticky plaque. His institute has begun clinical trials with older people. "Caffeine could be a surprisingly effective treatment against this disease,'' Arendash told Bloomberg. "It's almost too good to be true.''

I used to give my mom a hard time about drinking so much coffee. But maybe it's not so bad.

1:33 PM ET | 11- 8-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I think this study is true, because oversees, people drink Turkish Coffee that contain way more caffeine than American coffee, and Alzheimer disease is less common there.

Sent by Chaza R. | 3:26 PM ET | 11-08-2007

I totally agree. My grand-grandmother ist 93 years old. She drinks strong coffe and green tea. She also eats a lot of local fish here in europe. Shes in a good shape and can still do math.

Sent by Gregor | 5:57 PM ET | 01-11-2008

Dr. Arendash's study was conducted in mice, and was inspired by an observational study conducted in humans in Europe that suggested a connection between prevention of this disease and consumption of caffeine. The findings to the mouse study open the door to human studies using caffeine as a therapeutic prevention, as well as a possible intervention. Very exciting!

Sent by Monika Wahi, MPH | 9:36 AM ET | 01-25-2008

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