Sure I've got stained teeth and I'm more than a little hyper. The good news about my fondness for coffee ALL DAY LONG? It might help me prevent Alzheimer's disease has received an extra boost from two new studies.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
"Florida researchers report that a daily dose of 500 milligrams of caffeine -- the equivalent
found in five 8-ounce cups of coffee -- reversed memory issues in mice bred to develop Alzheimer-like symptoms. After two months on the stimulant, the mice rebounded to score just as well on memory tests as normal mice of the same age that had never exhibited signs of dementia.
The studies, published in the July 5 online edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, also found that caffeine cut by half the mice's excessive blood and brain levels of beta amyloid, the protein linked to characteristic plaque found in human Alzheimer's disease.
"The new findings provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a protective strategy," lead author Gary Arendash, a University of South Florida neuroscientist, said in a news release. "That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process."
Studies to test whether caffeine can help people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease are likely to follow, investigator Huntington Potter, director of the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said in the news release." In the most recent experiments, the researchers also found that caffeine did not improve the memory of normal mice as it did for the Alzheimer's mice."
Coffee (and other forms of caffeine) is looking more and more like a good thing. Have a cup today. Make it three, maybe five.
Not a problem for me...
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