Coffee drinkers may have another excuse to pour that extra cup or two. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine – the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day – their memory impairment was reversed, report University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
Now, you may be asking yourself how a mouse could possibly drink five cups of coffee a day. I couldn’t drink that much coffee. It would be like a human drinking five bathtubs of coffee a day. Apparently, the mice drank water spiked with massive amounts of caffeine. After which they probably ran through fifteen mazes for fun and then went to the bathroom.
But back-to-back studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, show caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer's disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Both studies build upon previous research showing that caffeine in early adulthood prevented the onset of memory problems in mice bred to develop Alzheimer's symptoms in old age.
Massive amounts of caffeine could actually become a viable 'treatment' for Alzheimer's patients, and not simply a protective strategy.
Imagine Alzheimer’s Clinics filled with rambling aged people who’ve just mainlined 1500 micrograms of caffeine and are chattering away at 100 miles an hour while stumbling along after their stroller. Maybe we can go back to the 60’s and fit strollers with a “rap box” where they can rap into mobile amplifiers while carrying on intellectual discussions on solving the world’s problems.
Caffeine's potential for treating Alzheimer's became known several years ago, after a Portuguese study reported that people with Alzheimer's had consumed less caffeine over the last 20 years than people without the neurodegenerative disease. Since then, several uncontrolled clinical studies have reported moderate caffeine consumption may protect against memory decline during normal aging. The highly controlled studies using Alzheimer's mice allowed researchers to isolate the effects of caffeine on memory from other lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise.
The Alzheimer's mice received the equivalent of five 8-oz. cups of regular coffee a day. That's the same amount of caffeine – 500 milligrams -- as contained in two cups of specialty coffees like Starbucks, or 14 cups of tea, or 20 soft drinks.
At the end of the two-month study, the caffeinated mice performed much better on tests measuring their memory and thinking skills. In fact, their memories were identical to normal aged mice without dementia. In addition, the brains of the caffeinated mice showed nearly a 50-percent reduction in levels of beta amyloid, a substance forming the sticky clumps of plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
Since caffeine improved the memory of mice with pre-existing Alzheimer's, the researchers were curious to know if it might further boost the memory of non-demented (normal) mice administered caffeine from young adulthood through old age. Bummer, it didn’t.
To find more studies on preventing Alzheimer's disease visit: http://www.boomer-books.com/health.html
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