Alzheimer's: Can drinking coffee reduce risk? - Medical News Today

It causes complex brain changes that can lead to memory loss and cognitive decline.

A new study in Australia has uncovered evidence to suggest that there is a link between the amount of coffee people drink and their rate of cognitive decline.

Previous research has suggested that coffee might reduce the incidence of cognitive disorders.

The study involved 227 adults aged 60 years or over, who did not have cognitive decline at the start of the study.

Analysis of the data showed that habitual coffee drinking was positively associated with the cognitive areas of executive function, attention, and the PACC score.

Drinking higher amounts of coffee was associated with slower cognitive decline in these areas over the course of the study.

There did not seem to be a link between coffee intake and brain volume atrophy in this study.

The observed results suggest that increasing coffee intake from 1 to 2 cups per day could potentially reduce cognitive decline by up to 8% after 18 months.

Gardener told MNT, “[h]igher coffee intake was associated with slower accumulation of the sticky protein called beta-amyloid, which clumps together in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease.”.

“This was really interesting to us to establish a potential mechanism, especially as the recently approved medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, Aduhelm [aducanumab], also works by targeting this protein to reduce its buildup but has been quite controversial and hasn’t shown effects on reducing cognitive decline, which coffee intake has.”.

Participants only reported coffee consumption at the start of the study, so it’s not clear how relevant the findings are to long-term brain health.”.

“Our study did not have data on midlife coffee consumption — consequently, potential positive or negative effects of coffee intake at midlife cannot be assessed in the current study.”