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."

Comments

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...

Re:god damn it

[somersault]

Old news flash: most stuff is okay as long as you enjoy it in moderation. If your coffee percolater feeds directly into an IV line then you probably aren't doing your body any good, but one or 2 cups a day and she'll be 'right.

Re:god damn it

[Swizec]

It's the same bloody thing with just about everything we intake these days. The newage crazies versus the scientists versus the governments are in a battle. A battle for brainwashing the living shit out of us. In the end we'll all just have to accept that we believe pretty much anything anyone tells us.

Re:god damn it

[oliverthered]

most cholesterol is produced in you body and has little to do with what you eat e.g. some people can eat stake all day and be fine other can eat nothing but lattice and have a cholesterol problem.

Studies on eggs have show that they make no difference and infact a bit more exercise would help a world more than changing you diet.

Re:god damn it

[morgan_greywolf]

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...

It's the media. They take a single study and purport it to be some kind of fact. Science doesn't work that way. Science only considers something 'known' when independent study after independent study shows the same thing to be true, and no studies which may have been contradictory have been shown to contradict the findings.

These things take time. Looking at one study alone can be interesting, but it's stupid to take that study's findings as gospel truth.

Re:god damn it

[Anonymous Coward]

blocking the damage of cholesterol. (At least in rabbits) This is in addition to the already-known protection against Alzheimer's Disease.

Perhaps then Alzheimer's is caused by cholesterol damage? You know, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then... what was I about to say? Ah, yes, then, perhaps eating too much duck meat is bad for your cholesterol if you are a rabbit?

Who ARE You ?!?

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

[Anonymous Coward]

most cholesterol is produced in you body and has little to do with what you eat e.g. some people can eat stake all day and be fine other can eat nothing but lattice and have a cholesterol problem.

You are entirely correct, sir. If you eat pointy sticks all day, there's no way you will be getting excess cholesterol, whereas eating pastries all day can't be good for you.

Re:god damn it

[aurispector]

This is so unfortunately true. Health fads are all about misinterpretation of the available data, and incomplete data for that matter. Every time there's some news item about the supposed health benefits of something, some idiot takes it to an extreme. Shortly thereafter conflicting data is released and suddenly everything we thought we knew was wrong. Eggs used to be heathy, then they were poisonous, now they're healthy again.

Nobody is going to live forever because of some nutritional change. If you eat a wide variety of fresh unprocessed foods you'll do fine. Everything in moderation.

Re:god damn it

[catwh0re]

I for one will be a willing test subject for a daily caffeine dose. Jokes aside even laying in the sun will convert cholesterol into vitamin D.

the thyroid will convert it into hormones, and most of your body-generated cholesterol gets converted into bile.

Re:god damn it

[tkdtaylor]

Well Stake and Lattice are all fiber anyways ;)
I hope you're not eating the pressure treated kind.

Re:god damn it

[Kingrames]

Most slashdotters are the vampire type, and eating stake would be very bad for their health.

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

[Lumpy]

Either way it's good for your Colon. and high fiber diets are known to reduce Cholesterol.

The pressure treated will give you lots of copper in your diet.. If you get to the chewey center, then it has less of the green stuff in it.

Re:god damn it

[Anonymous Coward]

a bit more exercise would help a world more than changing you diet. Exercise? The cure sounds worse than the disease!

Re:god damn it

[somersault]

Not yet - reduce the daily dosage steadily every 3 days - half a scoop of grounds per day should be manageable - until you're down at about 2 scoops per day. Then comes the tricky part. You should be able to work your way back to mugs, but be careful not to bite down on the rim. Your body will also be used to a steady stream of caffeine, so keep it coming regularly at first - say a cup every half hour, otherwise you get those monkey on your back cravings and may find yourself climbing up the side of your building naked while listening to the 2001 OST and flinging faeces at people. That only happened one time though; I've now learned to be more careful when easing off after a deadline.

Good luck.

Re:god damn it

[raddan]

It is true that most cholesterol is produced in the body, but that does not mean that dietary cholesterol is not important. First of all, the typical American diet is heavily weighted in favor of saturated fats. Saturated fats stimulate the body to release more cholesterol into the blood, of the LDL ("bad") variety. So while eating a food high in cholesterol may not contribute directly to your cholesterol level, typically those high cholesterol containing foods also contain large amounts of saturated fats, and those saturated fats will contribute to your cholesterol level. Steak is definitely a rich source of saturated fat, so you should moderate your intake.

Which brings up another point: some people are more susceptible to the effects of high blood cholesterol than others. Unless you know for sure which group you're in (and who really does?), don't you think you should use a little discretion in choosing your diet? Furthermore, by getting your daily fat intake from vegetable sources, you're doing yourself additional favors, because you are probably also increasing your intake of dietary fiber, bioavailable vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants (which also has an LDL-lowering effect).

You're right about the exercise bit, though. If people spent half as much energy worrying about their exercise regimen as they do fretting about whether they should eat carbs or not, people in general would be a lot healthier. Trust me, once you reach a certain level of daily exertion, your body will burn just about anything efficiently.

Re:god damn it

[Hatta]

Interestingly enough, drinking coffee can cause higher cholesterol, even though it contains none. French press coffee contains cafestol 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:god damn it

[springbox]

other can eat nothing but lattice and have a cholesterol problem.

The mathematician's diet.

Re:god damn it

[spun]

No, no, listen. Cholesterol is a type of fat. Fat floats. You know what else floats? Ducks! So you shouldn't eat anything that weighs as much as a duck. And you should dunk your rabbits in coffee before eating them.

Re:god damn it

[Anonymous Coward]

Who wood eat nothing but stakes or lattice anyway?

Re:god damn it

[russotto]

Sun? What is this "sun" you speak of?

Re:god damn it

[Sanat]

No, this is the garden variety diet

Re:god damn it

[raddan]

Your logic is flawed. Eating saturated fats may produce LDL and HDL in a fixed ratio, but that ratio is still not good for you. Trans fats are even worse, as you point out. But the former type, in general, should still be moderated. Your own source says it here, simply:

What is becoming clearer and clearer is that bad fats, meaning saturated and trans fats, increase the risk for certain diseases while good fats, meaning monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, lower the risk. The key is to substitute good fats for bad fats.

Re:god damn it

[2nd Post!]

They own Java, though I didn't know that contained caffeine.

Re:god damn it

[WebCowboy]

If people spent half as much energy worrying about their exercise regimen as they do fretting about whether they should eat carbs or not, people in general would be a lot healthier.

This isn't entirely true. The general public doesn't give enough consideration to their health in general. Neither diet NOR physical activity are given enough attention as we all eat far too many refined carbohydrates and saturated fats AND lead sedentary lives that just aggravate the situation.

I know people who lead physically active lives (typically having physically demanding jobs), are not the slightest bit overweight (quite lean builds in fact) and by outward appearances look physically healthy...but they skip breakfast, and eat cheeseburgers and fries for lunch and supper every day and smoke moderately. They get sick more often and are the types of people who have digestion problems and end up being the people in conversations like "HE had a heart attack? But he looked so healthy!"

Diet certainly IS very important. The problem is that we eat very badly, and when we focus on diet we don't eat balanced diets--we go on "extreme atkins" or try to eat like Jarod or eat carefully, artificially-portioned pre-packaged meals like Nutrisystem so we can lose weight and "look nice".

Diet is JUST AS IMPORTANT as physical activity; you CANNOT say "Oh, I work out every day so I can eat just about anything". Though physical activity provides the most impact on metabolism and many other health factors, it is DIET that has the largest impact on weight. Think about it: It takes mere seconds to a couple of minutes to eat a chocolate bar, which cancels out the calories you expend on 20 minutes of medium-to-intense cardio activity. It's well known that losing weight and/or increasing % of lean body mass has a notable impact on harmful cholesterol...so if you want to lose weight and be more healthy don't use exercise as an excuse to eat those sugar and fat-laden chocolate bars.

Re:god damn it

[aurispector]

Quality of life is a valid reason for drinking coffee, etc.. There are a bunch of poor saps out there starving themselves because of some study showing that mice on a severely calorie restricted diet live 50% longer. Personally I'd prefer laughing from my deathbed while eating an ice cream sundae, but that's just me. Seriously, do these nitwits really believe this finding is directly transferrable from mice to humans? How about at least waiting for a study involving actual primates? How about enjoying your life? Scallops wrapped in bacon anyone?

Coffee is a great example: a while back someone did a meta analysis and found the studies were basically a wash. Do what you want in moderation. I like to roast my own coffee, grind it immediately prior to brewing, french press it nice and strong and drink it with a lot of cream but no sugar. I don't drink every day but when I do I want to really enjoy it.

Besides, whats the point of indulging if you dont indulge? Diet ice cream? Give me a break!

How odd

[Anonymous Coward]

That's funny, because the more cups of coffee I drink, the crazier everyone else says I am. I must just be the only sane one, sitting here rearranging my pencils after my eighth cup this morning.

Re:How odd

[Kamineko]

Here's a challenge. Try to arrange six pencils of the same length so that they're all touching every other pencil.

Without snapping or disintergrating them.

How could they possibly know this?

[LaughingCoder]

Surely the number of rabbits who enjoy a daily cup of coffee is such a small population as to be statistically insignificant.

Re:How could they possibly know this?

[loftwyr]

Yes, but the number of rabbits with dementia is huge based on my cartoon viewing. So at least they have a good sized population to test it with.

Perhaps we should start testing with ducks next. I've never seen a non-demented duck.

Re:How could they possibly know this?

[solraith]

You're dethpicable.

That's as maybe but....

[pandrijeczko]

...anyone who goes into Starbucks and pays £2.50 for a cup of ground beans in a bit of hot water and hot milk, must have a screw loose!

Caffeine or coffee?

[lixee]

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

Re:Caffeine or coffee?

[aadvancedGIR]

Shut up and buy what the study sponsor wants to sell you.

Re:Caffeine or coffee?

[Nibbler999]

The study was with caffeine supplements, not coffee.

Yeah, yeah...

[SimonGhent]

This week coffee's good for you, next week it's bad for you.

This week a glass of wine a day prevents altzheimers, last week that was classed as binge drinking and caused high blood pressure.

This week sausages cause cancer, no doubt next week they'll help prevent MS.

It's all a load of old cock. And no doubt a load of old cock either causes or prevents heart disease (depending which week you take your old cock).

Re:Yeah, yeah...

[pandrijeczko]

This week sausages cause cancer, no doubt next week they'll help prevent MS.

If eating a pack of Bratwurst's will, in any way, stop the adoption of Windows Vista, then you can definitely count me in.

Re:Yeah, yeah...

[Sobrique]

It is entirely possible that a glass of wine can both prevent altzheimers, and cause high blood pressure. Just because some of the effects of something are beneficial, and some are negative doesn't mean that one precludes the other.

Most medicines, after all, include side effects.

Re:Yeah, yeah...

[SimonGhent]

Yup, agree entirely, but I was trying to get across a point (albeit flippantly) about the way the media report these kind of stories.

For example, the front page of this Monday's Metro (a free morning paper distributed across the UK) was "A Sausage a Day Increases cancer Risk by 20%". It wasn't just sausages, but all processed meat (bacon, salami, etc.). There was no mention of what the % risk of getting stomach cancer is, but I think that a fair few members of the general public would read that as the risk increases from, say, 5% to 25%, rather than the 5% to 6% increase that it really is.

Food, drink and drug "scare stories" are a weekly occurrence here, particularly pushed by a section of the UK press (Express and Mail being the worst) and breakfast TV. It just has the result that people switch off. Pregnant women have recently been advised not to drink at all, whereas the previous advice was "one or two glasses of wine is fine". The evidence hasn't changed, but because of the "binge drinking epidemic" the advice has and it's top of the news programmes and on the front pages.

Demented rabbits?

[unstable23]

How do they know?

As anyone who's ever owned a rabbit will tell you, they're pretty demented to begin with.

And a rabbit on caffeine is just plain scary.

Thisisgreatnews!

[An anonymous reader]

Caffeineisthebest!NowIdonthavetoworryaboutdementiaoralzheinersdiseases.Ivolunteertobethefirsthumantestsubject!AsamatteroffactIjusthadtwelvecupsofcoffeerightbeforeipostedthis!:-)Nowiamgoingtovacumthefloorsinmyoffice,Ihatedirtyfeet!Haveagreatdayeveryone!

Re:Forgot the difference

[SimonGhent]

Alzheimer's is a specific disease.

Dementia is just a general term for (usually) old-age brain rot.

for the scientifically minded

[puck01]

Here's a link to the actual article:

http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/5/1/12

I think its safe to say I wouldn't read much into this yet. How many times has medicine been burned by animal studies and other type of non-randomized lower quality studies in the past, only to have well done follow-up studies disprove the originals.

A ha!

[invisibleairwaves]

The secret to the energizer bunny's longevity revealed!

Offtopic, I admit, but...

[pjt33]

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

Re:Hmm yes

[Doc Ri]

A glass of wine is good, too. A bottle? Perhaps not.

This is why I own glasses that can hold the entire content of a bottle.

A single factor of many

[athloi]

Coffee helps protect against dementia.

But, it leeches calcium from your bones.

Still, it avoids erectile dysfunction.

However, it destroys a good night's sleep.

Yet it can keep you thin.

But, it might make you take up smoking...

And so on, forever and ever, until people admit that even scientists recognize the world is more complicated than a single factor at a time.

Re:Hmm yes

[CastrTroy]

Does it annoy anybody else that a cup of coffee is a standard in and of itself? A 12 cup coffee maker only makes 12, 5 oz. cups. Since when is 5 oz. equal to a cup? A measuring cup is 8 oz. the and cup that most people use for coffee is probably around 10-16 oz. So, in this study, do they mean the 5 oz. cup, the 8 oz. cup, or the 16 oz. cup?

The world is not black and white

[__aailob1448]

Opium was used as a treatment for disentery, arsenic for leukemia, nitroglycerin for some heart problems.

The bottom line is everything can potentially be a cure or a poison depending on proportion (Even water can be a mortal poison).

The truth is that we still suck when it comes to nutritional science. Mostly because it's hard to do proper science when your subject lives as long as you do.

exercise

[dpilot]

There is in fact a body of knowledge that says that exercise itself is good for the brain's health, and preventing dementia.

Back on the "all things in moderation" kick, exercise certainly seems to be one of them, but in this case I think "moderation" for exercise is indeed a higher dose than most of us consider. I've heard that marathons are actually hard on the body, and shouldn't be done too often, and I suspect that hard-core bodybuilding is a bit much, but most of us never really approach excessive exercise.

Re:exercise

[Mister Whirly]

"There are lower-impact sports, such as cycling"

Ah, but the trade-off there is that you have to wear those fruity little pants. No thanks, I'll risk the knee injuries.

Re:exercise

[TigerNut]

Runner's World says (and an increasing number of over-60 runners bears this out) that Running Is Good For You. Good for your bones, because your bone density doesn't reduce as much. Good for your muscles, because if you don't use them, you lose them. Good for your joints, because the impact of running (in moderation) keeps things lubricated. And also good for your brain because exercise releases endorphins and other hormones that keep things in balance.

The problem is that folks generally have this view that they could never run a marathon, so why run at all (extend that to any given sport)? The answer is to recognize that pretty much anyone can improve their fitness from where it's at today, and it's amazing to see how quickly the body can become accustomed to an increased level of activity, so long as the increase is kept within reasonable bounds. Being more fit makes just about every daily activity more fun and less stressful, and it amazes me that in so many of the 'self-help' TV shows that are on the tube these days, they turn to surgery for what is really just a lack-of-exercise problem.

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.

Re:exercise

[tixxit]

Marathon running can definitely mess up your knees, but there is a big difference between doing 30+km runs, and 5km runs. Pretty much any exercise in that amount of excess is going to be bad for you. We just weren't made for it. Going for a 30min jog a few times a week is just fine. Just stick to soft surfaces, and keep a comfortable pace.

BUNNIES SCIENTIFIC FACTS

[The Redster!]

*looks at coffee cup*

...

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

(Bunnies can't do scientific research)

(but - THEY - CAN - DANCE)

Recommended daily allowance?

[Samedi1971]

I thought my rabbit was going to be perfectly healthy on a diet of hay and fresh greens. How many cups of coffee should he be drinking daily to be safe?

Adopt a rabbit!

Re:I don't think I buy it

[spikedvodka]

Let me tell you, I love my aeropress - easy, fast, and makes the best damn coffee I've ever had.

it uses more grounds than drip, but day-amn it's worth it

Re:You wrecked it! ;)

[Kozz]

Please be makink komments on Digg, kthnx'ink ;)

Pitr, is that beink you?

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.

I eat nothing but cardboard boxes...

[AioKits]

...and have coffee in the morning, water in the afternoon and vodka in the evening! I'm healthy as a horse! Save for the fact I now get erections when I walk by cardboard boxes...

Re:Makes a kind of sense.

[dotancohen]

My 82 yr old dad suffers from dementia and Alzheimer's, and I can't recall him being a coffee drinker. If you can't recall it, maybe you've proved the genetic link.