Sunday, 24 July 2011

• Moral of the Study: Caffeinated Coffee and Alzheimers

  
  The pro and con list of coffee never ends. Caffeine's a stimulant, so it's bad. But it's full of antioxidants, so it's good. For those out there keeping tally (or those who want to justify their recent Starbuck's trip), here's another surprising fact for the pro side.

  A recent study, published in the online version of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, was completed with mice whose DNA had been tweaked to contain the human Alzheimers gene.

  Let's take a moment to think about how crazy THAT is. 

  Anyways, these mice became more forgetful as they age.

  The equivalent of four to five cups of caffeinated coffee every few days led to improvements in the mice's memories. Memory tests for mice, interestingly enough, resemble the memory test given for Alzheimer's.

  The test used water mazes in which the mice had to find, and remember, the location of a submerged platform. No, this is not how people are tested for Alzheimer's, it is just conceptually similar.

  Alzheimer's mice that got caffeinated coffee had memories as good as those of normal mice.

  Earlier research has shown that caffeine may at least partially block production of beta amyloid, the protein that clogs the brains of those suffering from Alzheimer's.

  Moral of the study? You may be able to justify that caffeine habit if Alzheimer's runs in your family. Don't go too crazy though! Everything in moderation.
  
  Do you guys drink a lot of coffee? What do you think about the always-changing perception of coffee, if it's good or bad for your health? Does it affect your intake?
  
  Source article here. 

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