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Currently, there are more than 55 million people living with dementia around the world, and it is estimated that Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 50–75% of all dementia cases. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease in the present time, and treatment and lifestyle changes can only slow its progression. A recent study by researchers at the Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, indicates that there could be a link between slower rate of cognitive decline and drinking more coffee, and that drinking more coffee may slow down accumulation of amyloid deposits in the brain.
The study, published in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, was conducted over 126 months and involved 227 adults aged 60 or more, who did not have cognitive decline when the study began. The participants answered questions about the amount and frequency of coffee they consumed. Then, cognitive assessments to measure six cognitive areas—episodic recall memory, recognition memory, executive function, language, attention and processing speed, and the AIBL Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (PACC)—were done using a selection of psychological measures at baseline and 18-month intervals. While 60 participants underwent PET brain scans to assess accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain, 51 participants had MRI scans to assess their brain volume atrophy.
Data analysis of the study showed slower decline in cognitive areas of executive function, attention, and the PACC score, as well as slower accumulation of amyloid protein, in habitual coffee drinkers. But, a link between coffee intake and brain volume atrophy was not established in the study. The results suggest that increasing coffee consumption from one to two cups per day may reduce cognitive decline by up to 8% after 18 months, along with a 5% reduction in beta-amyloid accumulation over the same period.
However, Dr. Samantha Gardener, the lead author of the study, cautioned, “Additional studies with participants followed for [more than] 10 years in a range of different groups of participants, and intervention studies, where participants are assigned a specific amount and type of coffee to drink, are required to confirm our preliminary findings.”
Reference: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Nov 19, 2021, https://bit.ly/3ltGLzl
