Coffee & Alzheimers disease?
Alzheimers disease is a condition that affects the neurological health of the afflicted patient. Several studies with coffee have been done recently to determine whether there is a valid link between drinking coffee and reduction in the risk of Alzheimers disease. In mid-2002, the Dementia Clinics at the Hospital of Santa Maria and Laboratory of Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, Portugal, investigated to see if there was a link between drinking coffee and the reduction of the risk of developing Alzheimers disease.
In particular, the researchers sought to determine if the caffeine in coffee could protect against the degeneration of the brain that is associated with Alzheimers disease in the period before diagnosis.
They studied fifty-four patients with probable Alzheimers disease. All of the patients met the National Institute of Neurologic and Communicative Disorders and Store and the Alzheimers disease and Related Disorders Association criteria.
The researchers found that the caffeine in coffee was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer+IBk-s disease, even when other issues were taken into account.
The Klinik und Poliklinik fur Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie at the Universitatsklinikum Benjamin Franklin at the Freie Universitat in Berlin, Berlin (Germany), looked at the relationship between consumption of coffee and the delay in the onset of Alzheimers disease or reduction in the rate of progression of the disease. While they were unable to definitively state that the caffeine in coffee was beneficial to patients with Alzheimers disease, they did see the possibility of the link between coffee and overall neurological health.
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