Daily Caffeine Protects Your Brain

Chroniton writes "The BBC has a story that many Slashdot geeks will be happy to hear: the caffeine from a cup of coffee a day can help prevent Dementia, by blocking the damage of cholesterol. (At least in rabbits) This is in addition to the already-known protection against Alzheimer's Disease. More research is needed to test the effect on humans."

god damn it

[timmarhy]

Just make up your fucking minds already, every other week coffee is bad, then good, then bad again.

like it's going to stop anyone drinking it anyway...

Caffeine or coffee?

[lixee]

How do they know it's the caffeine molecule and not the heaps of antioxidants present in coffee?

Re:god damn it

[electrictroy]

Better solution:

Don't eat cholesterol. Then you won't have to worry about it damaging your brain. (Just a thought; I'm not a doctor.)

I wonder how caffeine is supposed to reduce Alzheimer's disease? My dad drank a cup of coffee every day, but it doesn't seem to stop him from forgetting everything.

Offtopic, I admit, but...

[pjt33]

I couldn't help but think of Hans Reiser when I first noticed that ad.

Re:god damn it

[stranger_to_himself]

It's the media. They take a single study and purport it to be some kind of fact.

It also seems to be the case that the less applicable your study, the more coverage you get. It's running joke now in epidemiology that you get more impact and coverage by showing a potential mechanism in 10 rabbits than you do by demostrating a genuine preventive effect in a population study of 100000 people.

Re:god damn it

[Eivind]

Won't work. Most of the cholesterol in your body is PRODUCED by your body, not obtained from ingested food.

Indeed there's some controversy in medical-science circles currently over to what degree food-cholesterol (like in eggs) influence blood-cholesterol at all.

Regardless of how that particular debate ends though, you'll have cholesterol in your blood even if you eat -zero- of it.

Re:god damn it

[Lumpy]

The claims are interesting as just casual observation of old people 69-100 does not correlate with their findings. The people with dementia are from a generation that Coffee was drank for every reason and occasion. Hell even the Military gave them coffee in their C-rations it was available everywhere, even in the great depression the poor in the streets had coffee available to them from the aid workers and rescue missions. Coffee in my parents and grandparents age gap was more prevalent in their lives than it is today in society.

I really wish they would publish more detailed information and also started going to aged people asking questions to see who drank a cup at least a day. The human research has been done, just nobody has bothered to ask the experiment members for the results.

Re:god damn it

[Hatta]

Interestingly enough, drinking coffee can cause higher cholesterol, even though it contains none. French press coffee contains cafestol [wikipedia.org] which seems to boost the body's production of cholesterol (or inhibit the degredation, it's not clear). There's a measurable dose dependent effect, so as much as it pains me I've quit drinking French press coffee in favor of drip, a paper filter seems to bind the cafestol and remove it.

Re:Hmm yes

[Asuranceturix]

Surprisingly, there is a somewhat "legal" definition of a cup in the US, at least according to the FDA, which is equal to 16 international tablespoons or 12 australian tablespoons or 240 ml, whatever you feel like. More information about the cup as a (crazy) measuring unit in the good ol' Wikipedia [wikipedia.org].

Re:exercise

[MojoStan]

Actually, running (like many aerobic sports) places a HUGE impact on the knees, which is why many seasoned marathon runners tend to have knee issues as they age. I've had friends quit the sport for this precise reason.

Personal anecdote: I quit "running" and started "jogging" (while still getting the benefits of aerobic exercise). Seriously, just changing my mindset from "training for competition" to "excercising for my long-term health" changed my life for the better. Ever since I slowed down my pace and stopped trying to get faster, I haven't had any serious injuries and I've stayed in shape year-round. When I was a "runner," I would occasionally have to deal with shin splints, ankle sprains, and burn-out. As a "jogger," I cover more miles than I did as a runner but I no longer have these running-related injuries and problems.

As a former competitive high school runner (cross country and track), it was mentally tough for me to slow down and jog. I imagine it's tough for many males to accept being passed by a female runner or some shirtless dude that you know can't beat you in a race. Just remind yourself that you aren't training for anything. You're exercising for your health. "Miles per week" is what's important, not "how fast" you're running.

Of course, my testimonial doesn't mean "jogging" will work for everybody that's having problems with running. However, I think many runners (especially guys) need to just slow the frick down if they're getting running-related injuries.