

Coffee and Caffeine Help Prevent Alzheimer's - emeraldd
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=120795&CultureCode=en

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pnathan
Reading the paper, it appears that there is, indeed, a statistical & effective
difference between the coffee/caffeine drinking set and the non-drinking set.

It's also worth noting that these trials were targeted at senior citizens.

It appears they did check vs. aging effects.

However, there are limitations:

 _We also did not ask participants when their last caffeine intake was prior
to coming in for the initial visit/blood sample. As well, we did not ask
subjects about their long-term caffeine/coffee intake habits, although it is
likely that subjects with high plasma caffeine levels are habitual/moderate
coffee drinkers. Additionally, complete data on ApoE status, education level,
ethnicity, dietary habits, and lifestyle choices were not available for all
study participants, so none of these can presently be eliminated as
contributory to the results observed. Finally, the follow-up time of 2–4 years
was relatively short for establishing causality and reverse causation (i.e.,
subjects with poorer cognitive performance may have reduced caffeine/coffee
intake) is possible._

Essentially, they sampled twice and compared cognitive capabilities. However,
there appears to be a existing body of knowledge indicating there is a strong
linkage.

[http://health.usf.edu/nocms/publicaffairs/now/pdfs/JAD111781...](http://health.usf.edu/nocms/publicaffairs/now/pdfs/JAD111781.pdf)

~~~
emw
_"Additionally, complete data on ApoE status, education level, ethnicity,
dietary habits, and lifestyle choices were not available for all study
participants, so none of these can presently be eliminated as contributory to
the results observed."_

Background on ApoE:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_E#Alzheimer.27s_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_E#Alzheimer.27s_disease).
I'd be interested to see how participants' ApoE status relates to these
results.

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abrichr
_"We found that 100 percent of the [mild cognitive impairment] patients with
plasma caffeine levels above the critical level experienced no conversion to
Alzheimer’s disease during the two-to-four year follow-up period"_

These are truly amazing results, in my opinion.

 _Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine alone or decaffeinated coffee had a very
different immune marker profile._

I wonder what makes the combination of coffee and caffeine different than
either of them individually.

 _A study tracking the health and coffee consumption of more than 400,000
older adults for 13 years, and published earlier this year in the New England
Journal of Medicine, found that coffee drinkers reduced their risk of dying
from heart disease, lung disease, pneumonia, stroke, diabetes, infections, and
even injuries and accidents._

I find the decrease in injuries and accidents particularly interesting. My
guess is that it's because coffee makes us more alert, but I'm still surprised
it can make such a difference.

About a week and a half ago I gave up drinking coffee due to the withdrawal
symptoms I experienced if I went a day without it (fatigue, headaches). It
feels a lot better not to be addicted, but now I'm not sure whether I should
resume.

~~~
hendler
`It feels a lot better not to be addicted, but now I'm not sure whether I
should resume.`

I feel the same way. Skeptical of this research after the wine/resveritol
controversy.
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120501134209.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120501134209.htm)

And Spain's research into the benefits of alchohol:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8367141.stm>

Would less than three cups a day work as well?

`I wonder what makes the combination of coffee and caffeine different than
either of them individually.`

Caffeine and antioxidants? Grounds for more research for sure.

~~~
Terretta
FTA: _"Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine alone or decaffeinated coffee had a
very different immune marker profile."_

> _@hendler: "Grounds[sic] for more research for sure."_

I fresh grind coffee beans for each cup, with a coffee maker that has a bean
bin, so it's not convenient to swap types of beans.

To control caffeine intake while enjoying coffee, I use decaf beans, and take
an aspirin+caffeine tablet with the first cup of decaf but not with subsequent
cups.

This lets me regulate caffeine, gives me the RDA of aspirin, and lets me enjoy
as many cups as suits a given morning without risk of jitters.

That said, I can certainly understand why the researchers would think to check
caffeine alone vs decaf alone, while not checking caffeine + decaf. I suspect
my use case is unusual.

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lpauls
How have they proven causality? Coffee intake can be effected by other
lifestyle choices. It's not unreasonable to suspect that people tend to drink
coffee because they want to do perform better mentally.

For instance, a study of the cross section of the participants of this study
against those who do regular mental exercise (Sudoku, balancing the checking
account, playing cards) which induce caffeine intake, would be interesting.

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disappointment
As interesting as these results are, I don't want to play the game of keeping
score of what foodstuffs, activities etc. cure and cause various illnesses. I
will try to have a balanced diet and keep active in mind and body. Beyond
that, I have yet to be convinced that power playing my lifestyle according to
such research papers as happen my way would provide a statistically
significant improvement to my long-term quality of life.

I hope doctors are able to make more effective use of these results than I am.

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organico
My dad has been a huge coffee drinker his entire life - He was recently been
diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's. Obviously this doesn't rebuttal any
large-scale scientific study, but this topic is of particular closeness to me.

~~~
jplewicke
Best wishes to him and the rest of your family.

~~~
organico
I appreciate it, thank you.

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meatpopsicle
my grandmother drank 3 pots of coffee a day for over 50 years. it did nothing
to help her alzheimer's. I haven't seen any causality in this study.

~~~
umjames
Does Alzheimer's run in your family?

My mom drinks at least 3 big cups of tea daily. There's no way she doesn't
have Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. Although her mother had
Alzheimer's also, so maybe caffeine isn't enough to overpower genetics.

I wonder if tea has the same effect as coffee in this case. They both have
caffeine.

~~~
pyre
It was mentioned that the affects of caffeine or decaf coffee alone don't seem
to do the same work as caffeinated coffee.

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skaushik92
Correlation does not imply Causation

<http://xkcd.com/552/>

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joj
A minimum of three cups of caffeinated coffee daily for these results. I would
never sleep again, even with Ambien. I don't believe it....some one's
promoting coffee?!?! And I guarantee there's a lot of money being paid by the
coffee industry.

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nmridul
Am I the only one to find a research saying coffee is good for xxxx one day
and after a month another research comes and says coffee is bad for xxxx
because ...

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systematical
Coffee keeps winning.

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jackolas
No P-value?

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Toshio
Devil's advocate: Are we sure these studies aren't somehow paid for by the
coffee industry?

~~~
mechanical_fish
From the article:

 _The USF-UM study was funded by the NIH-designated Florida Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Center and the State of Florida._

Presumably these government agencies have records of the grant proposals and
funding criteria.

I would also guess that this experiment will be independently valided by other
research groups. That may have happened already to some degree. You could find
out by examining the manuscript once it comes out. I note with approval that
this news aggregator has thoughtfully provided complete bibliographic
information.

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emeraldd
COFFEE! The life's blood of any IT shop!

~~~
joj
After having just read that Nestle has paid The American Diabetes Assoc. to
say that there is no correlation between sugary sodas and candy to Diabetes;
and that Dannon, and Kraft Foods, are in bed with the Dairy Industry, I'm very
suspicious that the coffee industry is funding these researchers at FSU. (I'm
a certified plant based nutritionist....eye-opening, to say the least!)

