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Recent Studies on the Benefits of Coffee

9 July 2009 No Comment
coffee posterThere are some pretty interesting studies coming out on coffee intake at the moment. Now, let’s not get carried away. For every study telling you that it’s better to do more of one things there’s usually another saying you should do less of it. It’s all about balance, and what works for some individuals doesn’t work for others. We should apply this same principle to coffee intake.
But I did want to mention a couple of articles on coffee that I read recently as the results are quite impressive. In the first, over 1400 people followed for 21 years and the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. I don’t need to tell you, that’s a massive reduction.
According to Nicholas Bakalar at The New York Times (http://bit.ly/3D23rr), the hypothesis is that coffee intake is related to a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, which in turn has been associated with a greater risk of dementia.
Also, caffeine has been shown tto re-duce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effect
in the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.
In the second study, over 83000 women were examined over 24 years. Like the first study, this is a large number of people over a long period of time, so the results are worth noting.
They found “no increase in the risk for stroke associated with increasing coffee intake, and evidence for a protective effect for intakes of 2 or more cups per day vs less than 1 cup per month”. The authors were quick to point out that this benefit only existed in non smokers.
One interesting point was that other drinks containing caffeine, including tea and caffeinated soft drinks, were not associated with stroke risk, but Decaffeinated coffee was associated with  trend toward lower stroke risk!?! Clearly there are components in coffee other than caffeine that may lower the risk for stroke….

There are some pretty interesting studies coming out on coffee intake at the moment. Now, let’s not get carried away. For every study telling you that it’s better to do more of one things there’s usually another saying you should do less of it. It’s all about balance, and what works for some individuals doesn’t work for others. We should apply this same principle to coffee intake.

But I did want to mention a couple of articles on coffee that I read recently as the results are quite impressive. In the first, over 1400 people were followed for 21 years and the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. I don’t need to tell you, that’s a massive reduction.

According to Nicholas Bakalar at The New York Times (http://bit.ly/3D23rr), the hypothesis is that coffee intake is related to a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, which in turn has been associated with a greater risk of dementia.

Also, caffeine has been shown to reduce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effectin the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.

In the second study, over 83000 women were examined over 24 years. Like the first study, this is a large number of people over a long period of time, so the results are worth noting.

They found “no increase in the risk for stroke associated with increasing coffee intake, and evidence for a protective effect for intakes of 2 or more cups per day vs less than 1 cup per month”. The authors were quick to point out that this benefit only existed in non smokers.

One interesting point was that other drinks containing caffeine, including tea and caffeinated soft drinks, were not associated with stroke risk, but Decaffeinated coffee was associated with  trend toward lower stroke risk!?! Clearly there are components in coffee other than caffeine that may lower the risk for stroke….

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