29-10-2009 - 5 cups of coffee to fight Alzheimer’s

LONDON. Who says coffee is bad for you? It’s not true. Drinking five cups a day could cure the memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease, an American study has found.

The American team, which conducted its research on rats, says that caffeine stops the production of the protein plaques that characterise the illness. In the past a number of other researchers had suggested that caffeine helped protect against Alzheimer’s.
The 55 rates used in the University of Florida study published by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, were brought up in a way that ensured they developed the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Researchers conducted behavioural tests to confirm the damage that occurred to the memory when the rats were 18-19 months old, the equivalent of 70 human years. Then half the rats were given caffeine in their daily drinking water.
The animals were administered the equivalent of five 227 gram cups of coffee a day, about 500 milligrams of caffeine. When the tests were repeated on the rats two months later, the ones that had been taking caffeine regularly obtained much better results on tests of memory and logic, and their performance was comparable to that of rats of the same age which did not suffer from dementia. To the contrary, rats which did not drink coffee and had Alzheimer’s disease showed no improvement.

Even more importantly, the scientists observed in the brains of rats that had taken caffeine a reduction of almost 50% in the levels of the protein beta amyloid, which forms knots that are harmful to the brain in dementia patients. Caffeine seems to have an effect on the production of the enzymes required to produce beta amyloid; and, according to the researchers, caffeine reduces the inflammation of the brain that opens up the way to excess production of this dangerous protein. Dr Gary Arendash, who coordinated the study, comments: “These are particularly exciting results because it’s hard to obtain an improvement when there is already an existing state of memory deficit. It is possible that caffeine may not only protect but 'cure' Alzheimer’s. Caffeine is safe for most people, penetrates the brain easily and appears to have a direct effect on the process of formation of the illness.” The Florida team now hopes to start human trials as quickly as possible and see if the same results are repeated on people.

Source: PrimaDaNoi