As readers of my blog know, my objectivity regarding coffee is questionable, given my habit of drinking gallons of the stuff (it’s a Swedish thing). Articles about coffee always catch my eye, and a recent report by Miia Kivipelto and colleagues is no different. It’s fun to note that an awful lot of coffee research is done in Scandinavia….
Coffee--One of the Major Food Groups
The bottom line was that people who were drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day (woosies!) had 65% less risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia later in life.
My only quibble, and quibbling is what I do, is the way the data were interpreted. I’ll have to grab the full article, so I don’t know if this is the researchers’ statement or the the press release author’s, but the release states “midlife coffee drinking can decrease the risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease (AD) later in life.” Okay, students in introductory statistics know that correlations do not causality make. We’re not exactly assigning middle aged people to caffeine versus no-caffeine groups and watching what happens, and until we do, all we know is that people who drink a lot of coffee are less likely to experience dementia.
There are obvious physical differences between people who get jittery just looking at a cup of coffee and people like me, who drink nearly 20 cups of the stuff a day and then sleep like a baby. Any of those differences are just as likely (perhaps more so) as the coffee drinking itself to confer the protection against dementia.
In the meantime, if you enjoy coffee (and are not pregnant or nursing), keep enjoying it.
8 Comments
Mhusband · January 17, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Being a fellow coffee drinker myself, its good to know that I can lower my chances for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia just by drinking coffee! Be sure to keep everyone updated on the latest news on the affects of caffeine.
rsheffel3 · January 17, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Sometimes, life as a student gets hectic. As the quarter progresses, I find myself consuming more and more coffee beverages . I have spent some time considering the long term implications of consuming so much caffeine as I have been known to suffer “withdrawals” from this powerful drug. Headaches and an overall feeling of fatigue can instantly be settled with a jolt of caffeine.
It’s nice to know that my “addiction” to caffeine may have some positive long-term health effects . Very Interesting!
CFrieband · January 17, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I wouldn’t consider my coffee habit to be a large one, in fact I try to drink mainly tea or water throughout the day, but I do know of friends who consume multiple cups per day, every day. Often times they will talk about being overly jittery and if they don’t have any they get pretty terrible head aches. Although it is interesting to see how coffee can have positive benefits, I always wonder if the jittery feeling can be doing more harm than good. I’m sure there will continue to be a lot of research done on the subject and I’m interested to see if coffee’s negative effects out-weigh the positive effects, or vice versa.
krusch · January 19, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Being a college student and having early morning classes I find coffee to be the only thing that gets me through the whole day without taking naps. I am a student who gets about 8 hours of sleep a night, but waking up, getting to class and being ALERT in class would be impossible without my morning cup of coffee. It is encouraging to hear this report of coffee helping reduce your chances of dementia, but like mentioned in the article I would like more information on how the study was conducted and how the stats were made.
msirna · January 19, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Coffee is definitely a favorite of mine, it’s what keeps me functioning on a daily basis. I always have my mom telling me how bad it is that I drink so much, but it’s quite nice to know that there actually is some good that comes of my habit.
raquelart22 · February 5, 2009 at 11:51 am
I think that is a interesting studying because my grandmother drinks everyday has been basically all her life. She is in her seventy’s and her memory is pretty strong. She’ll be pleased to know that her coffee drinks days have paid off.
elliekrump · February 12, 2009 at 11:44 am
As cheesy as it sounds, the effects of caffeine have always mystified me. Unlike most of the people who commented above, coffee does not only wake me up, but also makes me over-stimulated. Some of the negative side-effects that I experience from coffee include hyperactivity, shaking, jitteriness, and sleeplessness. All this being said, although I love the taste, coffee tends to wreak havoc on my body, so I avoid it as much as possible. My mother experiences the same side-effects as well. Interestingly enough, other energy drinks, like Monster and Rockstar, have the reverse effect on my system: I can drink them and take a long nap right afterwards. How bizarre! I won’t be doing this anytime soon though, at least not until I hear about some positive correlational studies involving energy drinks! 🙂
katyupchurch · February 25, 2009 at 3:14 pm
This is interesting information to me considering I just finished the section on caffeine in my Behavioral Effects of Psychoactive Drugs class. In that class, caffeine was portrayed more of a drug than a common drink and something to “stay way from” in a sense because of the chemical reactions to your body. It really made me rethink those cups of coffee that I drink to get me through the day. Its interesting that they have found what could be a positive link to caffeine use and hopefully they’ll find more!
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