In
older women, Caffeine may protect memory
Newswise — Caffeine may
help older women protect their thinking skills,
according to a study published in the August 7,
2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical
journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study found that women
age 65 and older who drank more than three cups
of coffee (or the equivalent in tea) per day had
less decline over time on tests of memory than
women who drank one cup or less of coffee or tea
per day.
The results held up even
after researchers adjusted for other factors
that could affect memory abilities, such as age,
education, disability, depression, high blood
pressure, medications, cardiovascular disease,
and other chronic illnesses.
“Caffeine is a
psychostimulant which appears to reduce
cognitive decline in women,” said study author
Karen Ritchie, PhD, of INSERM, the French
National Institute for Health and Medical
Research, in Montpellier, France. “While we have
some ideas as to how this works biologically, we
need to have a better understanding of how
caffeine affects the brain before we can start
promoting caffeine intake as a way to reduce
cognitive decline. But the results are
interesting – caffeine use is already widespread
and it has fewer side effects than other
treatments for cognitive decline, and it
requires a relatively small amount for a
beneficial effect.”
The study involved 7,000
people whose cognitive abilities and caffeine
consumption were evaluated over four years.
Compared to women who drank one cup or less of
coffee per day, those who drank over three cups
were less likely to show as much decline in
memory. Moreover, the benefits increased with
age – coffee drinkers being 30 percent less
likely to have memory decline at age 65 and
rising to 70 percent less likely over age 80.
Caffeine consumers did not
seem to have lower rates of dementia. “We really
need a longer study to look at whether caffeine
prevents dementia; it might be that caffeine
could slow the dementia process rather than
preventing it,” said Ritchie.
Ritchie said researchers
aren’t sure why caffeine didn’t show the same
result in men. “Women may be more sensitive to
the effects of caffeine,” she said. “Their
bodies may react differently to the stimulant,
or they may metabolize caffeine differently.”
The American Academy of
Neurology, an association of more than 20,000
neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is
dedicated to improving patient care through
education and research. A neurologist is a
doctor with specialized training in diagnosing,
treating and managing disorders of the brain and
nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s
disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and
multiple sclerosis.
