It was once believed that having a cup of coffee every morning will help people ease into a highly productive day. But recent studies have shown that indulging in excessive amounts of coffee will increase the risk of MCI (mild cognitive impairment).
Scientists have studied relationships between the consumption of coffee & various medical conditions. You should know that coffee is acidic and its caffeine content has a stimulating effect. Increased coffee consumption may just lead to MCI apparently. This is an early stage in Alzheimer’s disease & dementia, both associated with people losing their memories.
Vincenzo Solfrizzi, PhD, MD & Francesco Panza, PhD, MD released a statement which said that the finding suggested that cognitively normal old individuals who had never or only rarely had coffee had a lower risk of developing MCI as compared to those with increased coffee consumption. This showed that coffee in regular or moderate amounts may just have neuroprotective effects against MCI confirming earlier studies regarding the long term effects of tea, coffee and caffeine.
The National Institutes of Health, Health Study and AARP Diet have focused on the relationship between mortality and coffee drinking only to discover that the more coffee a person drank, the higher their risk of death.
But, it was also found that people that didn’t have any cognitive problems and continued having a single cup of coffee on a daily basis, had twice the risk of getting MCI when they increased their coffee consumption gradually. But when it came down to inconsistent coffee drinkers who only had a maximum of 2 cups of coffee every day, they had one & a half times the chances of getting MCI.
Conflicting reports may be currently doing rounds but the conclusion here is that regular or moderate consumption may just have neuroprotective effects against MCI. This will hopefully help find new ways of preventing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
David Findley
