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Coffee Can Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer's

Amenacier writes "Recent studies by Finnish and Swedish researchers have shown that drinking moderate amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people. The reason for this is as yet unknown, although it has been hypothesized that the high levels of antioxidants found in coffee may play a role in preventing dementia and Alzheimer's. Alternatively, some studies have shown that coffee can protect nerves, which may help prevent Alzheimer's. Other studies have shown that coffee may also help to protect against diabetes, another disease which has been shown to have links to Alzheimer's disease. However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations."

28 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Damn.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now where did I put that cup of coffee... ?

  2. Joke. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    An old couple both have Alzheimers. They're watching TV and an advert for a burger joint comes on.

    "Hey," the man says, "burgers would be great! Could you make some? I'd like lettuce, tomatoes and onions on mine. Don't forget! Lettuce. Tomatoes. Onions."

    Wife replies "Lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Got it. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions."

    About 2 hours later she comes out of the kitchen and hands him a plate of bacon and eggs. "You idiot," he cries, "you forgot the toast!"

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  3. Best news ever! by bagboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll be able to remember all of those awesome hallucinations I've been having!

  4. Remembering Hallucinations by bossanovalithium · · Score: 3, Funny

    So if I drink 4 cups a day I won't get Alzheimers and I will hallucinate .... good, cause i want to remember the good ones.

  5. Hurry! by Templar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better drink a whole bunch really fast. Next week, researchers will tell us it's bad again.

  6. Coffee Cans? by bughunter · · Score: 5, Funny

    coffee can reduce the risk of alzheimer's

    coffee can protect nerves

    I rtfa but it didn't say how to apply the Coffee Can!

    (I save them you know. You never know when a coffee can will come in handy. But I didn't expect this!)

    --
    I can see the fnords!
  7. Re:This reminds me... by trolltalk.com · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, you're wrong. ANY alcohol, in moderation, has the same effect.

    The flavinoids in grapes are also benefisial, but any alcohol "just works."

    Teetotalers die younger than those who consume moderate amounts of alcohol.

  8. Re:Seriously..... by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Funny

    (what's the opposite of coffee?)

    In terms of competition for arable land, I guess that would be cocaine. Next we'll hear from the Cocaine Importation Agency (CIA) how bad coffee is for you.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  9. Re:This reminds me... by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Which is great for me. They've been telling me for years that I'm overdoing things. meh Drink a few beers, lower stress levels, drink coffee all day at the keyboard, eat only when I'm hungry. Exercise now and then. Stay away from pharmaceuticals. Normal sorts of stuff. Dreams? Hallucinations? Sleep problems? Not me, and I can sleep anywhere. Dreams are good, hate the recursive ones where you dream you woke up, but it's all good.

    I knew if I waited long enough there would be a study that showed what I do is not only not bad for me, but in all likelihood good for me. Shame that one study about semen preventing cervical cancer if taken orally was fake!

  10. Re:Seriously..... by robthebloke · · Score: 4, Funny

    eeffoc.

  11. Re:These studies are so full of shit by trolltalk.com · · Score: 3, Funny

    I threw coffee on my senile grandfather for years. And all it got me was jail time.

    Idiot! You're supposed to take it out of the can first.

  12. speaking as someone who's experienced brain injury by haaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would much rather have hallucinations than worsening memory loss. Hell, having to re-learn five times in a row that my mother has died was bad enough...

    --
    -- haaz.
  13. Re:How about tea then? by mewshi_nya · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, I think you may have started on the coffee already...

  14. Re:This reminds me... by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If one glass of wine is getting you drunk, you should see a doctor immediately.

  15. I have to point out... by LoyalOpposition · · Score: 4, Funny

    However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations.

    You say that like it's a bad thing.

    -Loyal

    --
    I aim to misbehave.
  16. Re:Seriously..... by MikeDirnt69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    !coffee

    --
    Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
  17. Re:This reminds me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...if only to tell him he's your beeeeeestest frieeeeeeend. Hic.

  18. Re:This reminds me... by saider · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The benefits of alcohol depend on which specialist you talk to. A cardiologist might recommend it because the alcohol tends to reduce plaque build up in the arteries. A gastroenterologist will tell you to avoid it because metabolizing alcohol leads to fatty build-up in the liver. The neurologists tell you that it kills your nerve cells.

    What this all means depends on your body chemistry. If you come from a family with a history of heart trouble, the alcohol might help keep that under control. Sure you'll get some fat build up in the liver, but your body can cope with that. Someone with a history of degenerative neurological disorders might want to shy away from it.

    Most things in medicine are trade-offs and affect people differently.

    --


    Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
  19. Re:This reminds me... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    If one glass of wine is getting you drunk, you should see a doctor immediately.

    No, you should sober up first.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  20. Re:Seriously..... by MoellerPlesset2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When are these "experts" going to make up their freaking mind?!

    It's not for them to say 'coffee is good' or 'coffee is bad'. That's for you to determine.
    It's antithetical to scientific thinking to draw conclusions that aren't relevant or supported by the results. It is, however, something journalists love to do for them.

    But anyway, are you really unable to fathom the idea that something can be good in some ways and bad in others? And that something can be good under a certain set of circumstances and bad under another?

    Besides which, coffee hasn't been shown to be particularly bad for you unless you have a heart condition and need to avoid caffeine for blood-pressure reasons. It also contains some carcinogens - which is one of those sources of journalistic misinterpretation, because there's a big difference between 'contains carcinogens' and 'causes cancer'. Just because something contains a carcinogen doesn't necessarily mean that carcinogen is potent enough and the concentration sufficient to substantially change the risks of cancer, in particular once you take into account how much actually gets taken up into the body.

  21. Re:This reminds me... by trolltalk.com · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The worst part is that we've had several generations of misinformation about the "evils of drink" because of religious zealots who accepted the backing of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

    We still see their effect today with churches that use grape juice instead of wine for communion:

    Although many times the WCTU was very involved in religion in a positive manner, they did not agree that wine should be used in their ceremonies. They asked the Church to stop using wine in their ceremonies during an Episcopal convention, and to use un-fermented grape juice instead. Their direct resolution stated that they wanted the church to use grape juice because wine contained "the narcotic poison, alcohol, which cannot truly represent the blood of Christ."

  22. One of many. Others are... by sgt+scrub · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hard drugs.
    Hard liquor.
    Smoking.
    Jumping off tall buildings.
    Stepping out in front of a bus.

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  23. Re:Seriously..... by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 4, Funny

    But anyway, are you really unable to fathom the idea that something can be good in some ways and bad in others?

    What is this of which you speak?

    This is /.

    Windows is 100% evil.
    Linux is 100% good.

    The US Government is 100% evil.
    RMS is 100% good.

    There seems to be some disagreement about Java, however, where some say it's 100% evil, and some say it's 100% good.

    Wait......Java.....coffee.....

    Hey!!

    I totally understand what you mean, now!

    --
    "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  24. Re:This reminds me... by lysergic.acid · · Score: 3, Informative

    that's certainly a plausible explanation. i think the only way to know for sure is to determine the exact pharmacokinetics of the various active compounds found in alcoholic beverages. otherwise, you're just identifying health correlations of various lifestyle choices, which, of course, can be caused by any number of a vast and complex set of factors.

    this is somewhat similar to the misconceptions held by a large segment of the public and medical community regarding the health effects of narcotics like heroin. heroin/diacetylmorphine is an exogenous opioid just like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. in potency it has a MEDD factor of somewhere between morphine and oxycodone (the active ingredient of OxyContin). and while the process of psychological addiction is highly complex, and there is still much to be learned about it, the general pharmacology and mechanism of action of opiates like morphine and diacetylmorphine are well understood.

    however, after drug prohibition went into effect and the opiate-using demographic shifted from well to do upper-class whites like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas De Quincy, and Edgar Allen Poe, as well as other normal everyday people, to lower-class minorities and the poor/homeless, people began associating opiate usage--and especially heroin abuse--with a wide variety of detrimental health effects, including weight-loss, tooth decay, anemia, and general poor health.

    this public perception was shaped by prohibitionist propaganda, what was portrayed in the media, and reinforced by the masses of drug addicts living in the streets. however, when physicians actually conducted research into the health effects of heroin use, they found that it caused none of these effects in normal healthy individuals. instead, they discovered that almost all of the negative health effects commonly attributed to heroin use was caused by concurrent use of other more physically harmful substances (like crack/cocaine/meth) or some other lifestyle factor, such as homelessness, poverty and years of living on the streets--and the resultant malnutrition, poor dental hygiene, and lack of medical care.

    through empirical research it was discovered that heroin, just like any other opiate, has very little toxicity and isn't particularly harmful to one's body. it's not neurotoxic like alcohol, PCP, and stimulants such as cocaine & meth; it's not cardiotoxic like cocaine, meth, caffeine and other stimulants; and it's not hepatotoxic (liver-damaging) like alcohol and OTC painkillers such as APAP/acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol)--which is the leading cause of liver damage & acute liver failure in western nations.

    in fact, as a CNS depressant and hypotensive, heroin actually lower's one's blood pressure and can be therapeutic (or at least attenuate the cardiotoxicity of stimulants). instead of making people age faster the way that meth/coke/crack does, heroin abuse actually slows down aging, and oftentimes chronic users who start using at a young age can look like they haven't hit puberty even as they reach adulthood.

    of course, since it's not socially acceptable like tobacco or alcohol use, and opiate dependence is considered a crime in our society, those that can lead functional lives on opiates keep their habit to themselves. so even though there are many doctors who are closet morphine addicts, or businessmen and lawyers who are pill poppers, it's generally the stereotypical gaunt & destitute-looking homeless heroin addicts that are the most visible to the public and consequently receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, leading to erroneous conclusions being drawn about the effects of chronic opiate use.

  25. Damned if you do, Damned if you don't by DesScorp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now I'll be able to remember all of those awesome hallucinations I've been having!

    Forget the hallucination stuff. Look at the spider web studies.

    Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you, and I think most people would be shocked at how extremely the spiders were affected by caffeine, which you can see in this photo.

    My wife's mother has Alzheimer's, and she lives with us, so I'm acutely aware of what it does to people, and heavy doses of caffeine is definitely the lesser of two evils here. But it will still be nice to have a treatment that doesn't have it's own harsh side effects.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:Damned if you do, Damned if you don't by Smauler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Various studies have been done giving drugs to spiders, and using their webs as evidence of the effects. My family doctor has a poster of these webs in his offices to show patients what these substances can do to you,

      I'd agree with that. I had a couple of cups the other day, and my web turned out completely crap - didn't catch any flies either. You know, not all of us have been bitten by a radioactive spider or are in any other way closely related to spiders. You'd be better off warning people off chocolate by showing pictures of dead dogs - at least they're mammals.

    2. Re:Damned if you do, Damned if you don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You should have linked to the video version instead.

  26. caffeine stimulates the mind/brain by opypod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    has it occurred to anyone that it may have nothing to do with chemical interactions at the level they're describing it? there's a fairly well known study with old nuns, where it was shown that active minds are less likely to get alzheimers. could it be that the stimulated brains of coffee drinkers is the real protective effect? if so, perhaps soda-fueled developers will also have lower rates of alzheimers.