Gaby
An international team of researchers has found that drinking coffee is linked to a lower chance of developing Parkinson’s disease.
The authors of this extensive study analyzed data from 184,024 volunteers across several countries over two decades. They found that coffee drinkers were less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who didn’t drink coffee.
What the Researchers Discovered
During the study, the scientists measured levels of primary caffeine metabolites, including paraxanthine and theophylline, in participants’ blood. They found an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
Among the top 25 percent of coffee drinkers, the likelihood of developing the disease was 40 percent lower than for people who avoided coffee entirely. Across the group of participants who consumed coffee, the measured reduction in risk ranged from 5 to 63 percent, depending on various factors.
“This study showed an inverse relationship between caffeine consumption and the risk of Parkinson’s disease in one of the largest longitudinal cohorts in the world over more than 20 years of observation,” the scientists wrote in their report.
This isn’t the first study to link coffee and Parkinson’s disease, as reported by Science Alert. But the authors of this new research went further than previous studies by examining biomarkers of caffeine consumption several years before a diagnosis.
Researchers don’t yet know why the association exists, but something in caffeine appears to protect the brain.
Previous studies suggest caffeine may help deliver dopamine to the brain. Parkinson’s disease involves a drop in dopamine because dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra are lost.
Given caffeine’s effects on neurons, a connection between caffeine and neurodegenerative diseases isn’t surprising.
The team continues to investigate what triggers Parkinson’s disease, what influences the risk of developing it, and how its progression can be halted. In the United States alone, about one million people live with Parkinson’s disease, which causes tremors, limb stiffness, and problems with movement and balance.
The results of the study were published in the journal Neurology.
