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Caffeine May Reduce Alzheimers
thelars writes "This article discusses research that links coffee consumption to a reduced risk of alzheimers disease. According to the article, drinking at least three cups of coffee a day may reduce your risk of alzheimers by up to 60%. Time to stock up on Penguin mints..."
Nicotine reduces risk of Alzheimer's too. I always new drinking 10 cups of coffee a day and chainsmoking was good for me...
Now I have the ultimate excuse to stay up till 4am coding hyped up on caffiene, i want to be able to do it for fifty more years without forgetting how.
I have read that playing chess (or similar games) can also help against Alzheimer's. Supposedly, this is due to requiring the brain to work in a particular manner. :)
I'd guess coffee does not help for the same reason .
Can't even get a fucking topic right. It's "Alzheimer's."
This article says that caffeine may reduce Alzheimers.
However, this article says that alcohol may reduce Alzheimers.
So in other words...the best thing I can do is drink Irish coffee?
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Not only that, but it has been shown to have great effects on Parkinson's disease as well. I know several folks personally where it has had a substantial effect in delaying onset and even reducing symptoms!
Check out this CNN story
Interesting. I've seen studies suggesting that increased brain activity throughout life also correlates with lower incidences of Alzheimers. People who read a lot, do crosswords, basically stay mentall active seem less likely to develop this disease.
I wonder if what is actually happening is the caffeine allows you to do more mental work, which in turn reduces your risk of Alzheimers.
Pure speculation, of course, but it would be interesting if someone could do the experiement to try to validate this theory.
Sailing over the event horizon
Bah, 60%! Having a fatal heart attack reduces your risk of having Alzheimers by 100%! So get back to that high-fat diet! ;)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Oh bother.
Right. Here's how it goes.
"Good morning, Mrs. Smith, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
"Little Johnny? Is that you?"
"No, Mrs Smith, I'm doing a study on coffee and Altzheimers..."
"What did you do with my cat?"
"Uh.. right... anyway..."
"Who are you? Why are you in my room..."
Yah - like I trust the memory of people with Altzheimers.
My grandmother had it. My grandparents would pick me up, and we would head off somewhere. She would ask about 4 times where we were going. She confused me with my dad constantly.
Should we now scrap all that other studies that suggest coffee consumption can be linked to higher blood pressure, which can in turn be linked to higher risk of heart attacks?
By dying earlier of other complications such as hypertension.
Short Term side effects of excessive consumption of caffeine include:
Nervousness, anxiety, irritability, headache, disturbed sleep, and stomach upset or peptic ulcers. In women, it may aggravate the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome
"Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested." (LT 2004)
Given the link between sleep and memory (short-term memory is thought by many researchers to transfer to long-term during sleep, for example) I wonder if there'll be a similar effect among users of modafinil and other sleep-suppression drugs. Or is it something unique to caffeine that has nothing to do with its effect on sleep cycles?
aluminum causes it... so all the jolt that you been drinking dont count. it balances out.
However I beleive that it is only cooking in aluminum that does it... thats why cast aluminum pots are very bad. and aluminum foil. but their not gunna tell you that are they. nope. you buy too much of the stuff as a society for it to be a concern.
thats why i never cook anything in aluminum - and try to avoid anything served in it. like microwave foods.
I read Caffeine Blues by Stephen Cherniske a while back. Before the book, I was a regular coffee and soda drinker, and Penguin Mints were a staple on my desk. Since reading it, I've been caffeine-free for 6 months. And I've felt much better ever since.
The book cites tons of studies, and none of them claim anything beneficial about caffeine consumption. At best, most industry-funded studies showed no harm, and some of the more nuetral studies showed potential problems associated with chronic caffeine intake.
In fact, prior to reading this book, the only good thing I read about caffeine was about 10 years ago on Hyperreal's chemistry archive. I found a tidbit that said some study showed that coffee drinkers were less prone to suicide than non-coffee drinkers. I can;t seem to locate it, though.
I'm not preaching to anyone -- I still sneak in a morning coffee. And I really do miss my regular morning cup. However, if a die-hard (and quite rational) coffee drinker can be turned by this book, then all I'm saying is tread carefully. Thumb through this book while drinking a latte at Barnes and Noble. :)
Method of processing duck feet
Funny, I've got a tin right here, and I don't see Aspartame or Nutrasweet or anything like that listed. Aren't products containing Aspartame supposed to have some warning on them too?
What?
So perhaps those who drink lots of caffeine don't live long enough to develop Alzheimer's?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Retrospective studies like this are too susceptible to confounding. One obvious issue would be that more intelligent/better off people might drink more coffee, and take longer for the disease to show up. There are a lot of variables that go into Alzheimer's disease. Dementia is usually the sum of a lot of different "insults" to the brain. So start at your baseline intelligence, then take away the brain that died with any damage done. Little strokes ("vascular dementia") are a big contributor, and smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol all promote them. (Folic acid and vitamin B6 are showing promise at reducing/preventing this problem.) Shear damage to neuronal axons, like with a fall off a horse (President Reagan) or boxing or football will take you down a notch. This makes the dementia more obvious. Dementia can be rated by several scales, but the most common is the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE). As dementia progresses, it can be treated with some novel medications that (simplisticly) amplify the signals through the damaged brain. In spite of the pun in my "subject", dementia is no laughing matter, and would be a fate worse than death in many people's minds. People with dementia usually don't have insight into the problem, though. They continue blissfully unaware of their forgetfullness. It is most stressful for their family. I am a doctor, (IAAD?) btw. Regards.
"Ignorance is not innocence, but sin." --Robert Browning
Assumtion is the mother of all fuckups. - Under Siege 2
Please post any and all information you can. People always bitch about how the government engages in "disinformation", because people "have the right to know". Well, don't do yourself on accident what you don't want them doing on purpose.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Now where did I put those Penguin Mints?
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
"PLEASE MOD PARENT UP"
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
I drink like 4 coffees a day and a bottle of cola.
Interesting theory. Moderate doses of caffeine have long been known to have positive effects on learning and memory, at least in rats running mazes -- which seems similar enough to programmers navigating cubicle farms that we can be confident the results should generalize ;-)
"Biped! Good cranial development. Evidently considerable human ancestry."
There are a slew of other chemicals in coffee so perhaps one of these or a combination of many might be the key. There really isnt a way to test this though.
Javaheads, Rejoice! I mean coffee drinkers, not Java programmers. While the people who tell is coffee is bad for us will lose their minds, and and be drooling on themselves by age 60, we will still have our minds. Make that a triple espresso!
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
You bastard! Now you got me wondering what Jon Katz is going to be like lecturing his grandkids:
"Ah, yes, I still remember where I was when I watched the two towers come down on 9/11. That was a life changing event, I tell you. Back in my day, people actually tried to help each other out instead of withdrawing into these confangled virtual reality contraptions you kids play with these days. Hey, sit down Jeffery and listen. I ain't done with my story yet. Maybe you'll learn somethin'. Now where was I? Oh yes, that Coumbine shooting was a life changing event, I tell you. Did I ever tell you about that? I did? Well, I'm gonna tell you again so quit your squirming an' listen up. Now the important thing was that I was wearing an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. We did it to protest the growing threat of globalism..."
GMD
watch this
Ah, I just did a little bit of research, and the offending ingredient is "Acesulfame K" which is not exactly Aspartame, but similar, and just as bad for you in similar ways. It has a brand name of "Sweet One".
Those looking for some good info on these and other artificial sweeteners should look here. It also states that Stevia is about the only sweetener that is safe for diabetics (I've tasted it, it's quite gross, but better than nothing.)
What?
Yeah, it'll save you from Alzheimers, but what about that heart attack at the age of 28 ?!
I suppose my grandfather was the other fourty percent. Although he drank alot of coffee, I still watched his condition deteriorate over five years, until his life finally ended (though rather abruptly, however welcomed due to his current state of mind) due to pneumonia.
I watched him completely forget his surroundings, even forget who his own family was. I remember the last Christmas I spent with him; he was just a mindless body confused and frustrated by the fact that he could not understand anything that went on around him.
So I guess that coffee might help, but watching my grandfather experience Alzeihmer's even as a coffee drinker leaves me a bit skeptical (I know, I know, other factors play into it as well, such as genetics and other lifestyle factors, but still...)
void women (int money, time_t time);
I suffer from a chemical imbalance that causes an anxiety disorder. Because of this, I can't really tolerate coffee. I drink tea, about 3 cups a day, which is about the equivalent of one cup of coffee. I'm screwed. I can handle the coffee just fine with valium, so I guess I just need to get my doctor to give me enough valium to support drinking 3 cups of coffee a day :-)
If 3 cups a day == 60% reduction, then my 6 cups a day must mean 120% reduction! Not only will I not forget things, I'll remember things I never learned in the first place!
...usage can reduce the risk of Alzheimers, geek caffiene intake must be able to reverse it. Some geeks consume enough caffeine to not only prevent their own Alzheimers, but to cure anyone within three hops from them.
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
Wow, without Alzheimers I'll have all of my senses in peek performance for my experiences with ulcers, heart disease, mood swings, and blood coming out of my butt at 75. Bring it on ;)
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
In an effort to improve my health I haven't had any coff... damn I forgot what I was going to type.
My mother-in-law was a waitress for most of her adult life and a total caffine addict, 3-4 POTS of coffee a day, she got headaches if she didn't get enough caffine. When she couldn't have coffee she'd have Mountain Dew or really, really strong tea.
Now she has rapidly-advancing Alzheimer's and it's not a pretty sight. She's in perfect physical health, strong heart & lungs and may last another 5 years until her brain deteriorates to the point where it forgets how to breathe.
She's only been diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the last 2 years and she's already forgotten her children, husband, and grandchildren. She can't dress herself, can barely feed herself (you have to keep reminding her to pick up the spoon and eat) and will sometimes hold animated, rambling, incoherent conversations with inanimate objects. Yet somehow she still remembers her dog, who stays loyally by her side, her constant companion.
It's a sad, sad disease and reminds me of what my grandmother once told me when I was small, "There are things worse than death and scarier, too." I didn't understand then, but I do now.
They may be onto something, but I'll be a bit sceptical until they do more research. And I'll still have another cup of coffee or two. Not necessarily because I believe it will help (My aunt has Alzheimer's as well, she's always in a fetal position and totally unresponsive now.) but because I enjoy it. (And some days I NEED it. Sleep? What's that?)
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I found out the hard way that too much caffeine does *not* reduce unemplplplplplployment.
Table-ized A.I.
My mom had Alzheimer's at age 55 and she drank about 3-4 cups of coffee every day her whole life.
If you are intelligent note this in the article:
"The UK Alzheimers Society urged caution in interpreting the findings, saying studies examining the link between dementia and diet and lifestyle could give a clearer understanding."
I don't have a link to PubMed or anything handy, but I thought the aluminium connection has been discarded. The story I heard was that the fixing solution that the original researchers used for preparing tissue sections for microscopy was contaminated with aluminium. Hence a noticeable concentration of aluminium was detected in the protein plaques on the microscope slide.
Like I said...I don't have a link to back this up with at the moment...I'll take a look around.
New research shows that healthy elderly people, with no signs of the brain disease, had consumed an average of three to four cups a day since the age of 25. However, those with the debilitating illness drank, on average, just one cup of coffee each day.
There are hundreds of uncommon chemicals in coffee. The article doesn't present any evidence that it's the caffeine in coffee that is producing the beneficial effect, just that there's a correlation between coffee and reduced alzheimers.
The article goes on to state:
Scientists found people with alzheimers drank 74mg of caffeine a day - the equivalent of one cup of coffee or two to three cups of tea. Those without the disease averaged 200mg a day.
but these measurements are clearly bogus, since this is a retrospective study which never actually measured the caffeine content of the coffee the users have ingested over the years. They're simply taking the average caffeine content of a cup of coffee and doing a bit of multiplication.
Of course, to really find out, you'd have to do a study of regular coffee drinkers vs. decaf drinkers, and decaf hasn't been available long enough to properly do such a study. Even then, most decaffeination processes use nasty chemicals or excessive heat, which will alter the whole chemical balance anyhow. So, you'd really have to do a long term study of straight caffeine supplementation vs. null, and, my, science is hard.
I, of course, don't receive the European Journal of Neurology, but this really sounds like, "Coffee is beneficial, it must be the caffeine, yay!, we don't have to feel bad about being addicts."
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
From what I have heard, a LOT of the current alzheimers cases have been tracked back to the aluminum in our cooking pots and pans as opposed to the old days when they were made of iron.
The reason why there are more alzheimers cases now than there were 50 years ago is not because of aluminum, but because people live longer. According to my sister, a nurse at an alzheimers care facility, most patients are over 85. When you get that old, your brain just goes to shit.
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.