Caffeine Reduces Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

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RArmant - 14 Sep 2006 03:12 GMT

TAMPA -- If you think that your daily cups of coffee only provide you
with alertness after you wake up or during the day, think again.
Long-term intake of caffeine, the major constituent in coffee and tea,
has been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimers in mice that develop
the disease. In a study just published on-line in the journal
Neuroscience, researchers at the Byrd Alzheimers Institute in Tampa,
Florida, are reporting that caffeine intake equivalent to five cups of
coffee a day in humans, protects Alzheimers mice against otherwise
certain memory impairment and reduces Alzheimers pathology in their
brains.

The complete article can be found at:
http://www.byrdinstitute.org/news/institute-news/09-13-06.aspx

From the pdf file:
Caffeine treatment
In the behavioral study, caffeine was administered in the drinking
water (0.3 mg/ml, Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) of APPsw mice
beginning at 4 months of age (Tg+Caff). On average, mice drink
5 ml per day, giving a daily dose of 1.5 mg caffeine to each mouse.
Given that metabolic rate (MR) = Mass ** -¼, the MR of mice (average
weight=0.025 kg) is 7.2x greater than that of humans (average
weight=68 kg). Thus, a 1.5 mg daily dose in a mouse is
equivalent to an approximately 500 mg daily caffeine intake
(approximately
five cups of coffee) by a human. Following ingestion of
three cups of coffee, peak plasma caffeine concentrations do not
exceed 30 uM, well below the 500 uM concentration that produces
lethal intoxication (Fisone et al., 2004; Fredholm et al.,
1999). The caffeinated water was changed two times a week to
ensure caffeine remained fully dissolved at the appropriate
concentration.
Control APPsw and NT mice were given ad libitum
access to untreated tap water that was also changed twice weekly
to ensure freshness. Caffeine treatment was continued throughout
behavioral testing and until killing at 9½ months of age. The
weights of animals were monitored throughout this behavioral
study. All three groups consisted of equal numbers of male and
female mice.

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RArmant - 15 Sep 2006 01:26 GMT

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstra
ctPlus&list_uids=12099922&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum
Eur J Neurol. 2002 Jul;9(4):377-82.
Does caffeine intake protect from Alzheimer's disease?

Maia L, de Mendonca A.

Dementia Clinics, Hospital of Santa Maria and Laboratory of
Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, Portugal.

Caffeine is the most widely consumed behaviourally active substance
in the western world. Neuroprotective effects of caffeine in low doses,
chronically administered, have been shown in different experimental
models. If caffeine intake could protect against neurodegeneration in
Alzheimer's disease (AD), then higher levels of caffeine consumption in
normal subjects as compared with AD patients should be detectable in the
presumably long period before diagnosis when insidious pathogenic
changes are taking place. A case-control study was used: cases were 54
patients with probable AD fulfilling the National Institute of
Neurologic and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the AD and Related
Disorders Association criteria, in a Dementia Clinics setting. Controls
were 54 accompanying persons, cognitively normal, matched for age (+/-3
years) and sex. Patients with AD had an average daily caffeine intake of
73.9 +/- 97.9 mg during the 20 years that preceded diagnosis of AD,
whereas the controls had an average daily caffeine intake of 198.7 +/-
135.7 mg during the corresponding 20 years of their lifetimes (P <
0.001, Wilcoxon signed ranks test). Using a logistic regression model,
caffeine exposure during this period was found to be significantly
inversely associated with AD (odds ratio=0.40, 95% confidence
interval=0.25-0.67), whereas hypertension, diabetes, stroke, head
trauma, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, non-steroid
anti-inflammatory drugs, vitamin E, gastric disorders, heart disease,
education and family history of dementia were not statistically
significantly associated with AD. Caffeine intake was associated with a
significantly lower risk for AD, independently of other possible
confounding variables. These results, if confirmed with future
prospective studies, may have a major impact on the prevention of AD.

PMID: 12099922

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