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Daily Caffeine Protects Your Brain

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-what-brains-crave dept.

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."

18 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. god damn it by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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...

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    1. Re:god damn it by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.
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    2. Re:god damn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      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 ?!?
    3. Re:god damn it by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

    4. Re:god damn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

    5. Re:god damn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      a bit more exercise would help a world more than changing you diet. Exercise? The cure sounds worse than the disease!
    6. Re:god damn it by raddan · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

    7. Re:god damn it by Hatta · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

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    8. Re:god damn it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who wood eat nothing but stakes or lattice anyway?

  2. How odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  3. How could they possibly know this? by LaughingCoder · · Score: 5, Funny

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

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    1. Re:How could they possibly know this? by solraith · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're dethpicable.

  4. Demented rabbits? by unstable23 · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  5. Thisisgreatnews! by An+anonymous+reader · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  6. Re:Hmm yes by Doc+Ri · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
    --
    617B3B7F7E7C7D7F00EOF
  7. Re:Yeah, yeah... by Sobrique · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

  8. A single factor of many by athloi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    technical writing / development
  9. Re:Caffeine or coffee? by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 5, Funny

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