Coffee News Update: From Pop Culture to the Hallowed Halls of Clinical Research Labs

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Recently, a headline made its way around the global media network in various exclamatory iterations. Composite results from 13 trials undertaken at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine showed that coffee significantly improves performance especially among the nigh-shift crowd.

The headlines were unequivocally upbeat: “Why Caffeine is the Perfect Addiction for a Worker Bee Society;” “Coffee Improves Productivity and Safety at Work;” Coffee Improves Work Efficiency;” “Coffee is Best Perk for Sleepy Workers;” and many, many more. News about coffee is big news---if only because coffee is a $60 billion-plus industry and the world's most widely consumed psyhoactive beverage worldwide.

The scientific community continues to study coffee seriously. One major recent development is the devotion of an entire supplement of The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. This supplement, "Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases," is devoted to exploring how coffee affects the cognitive decline associated with aging and with Alzheimer's disease. There are 22 articles devoted to this topic and related topic, but the quick takeaway is that “moderate amounts of caffeine are inversely associated with the cognitive decline associated with both aging and Alzheimer's disease.”



This issue of JAD is a byproduct of a meeting—entitled “Caffeine and the Brain” held in Lisbon a year ago in June 2009. The meeting, which was sponsored by the Associaci˜ao Industrial e Comercial do Cafe in Portugal, was widely heralded as a breakthrough research moment for coffee in which coffee was identified as a disease-modifying agent for Alzheimer's disease and possibly for an entire group of neurodegenerative diseases that involve an element of cognitive decline.

Coffee is the perfect antidote for the aging brain!

Comments

Alma Schneider said…
Coffee is indeed the antidote for an aging brain and the beauty of old coffee from the morning can be recycled! Please consider cooking with your old coffee-add it to shakes, make cakes, frostings and enjoy it as iced coffee. Thanks, Nicole!
June 3, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Anonymous said…
Nic,

I believe there was also a study where Alzheimers was linked with watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. The results were varied based on whether it was a Gomer or Goober episode. Several of the test subjects died from too much Goober, I believe.

Alma,

I think you may be on to something. Personally, I'm anxious to try bathing in coffee, although I'll miss the bubbles. Perhaps there will be a market for non-dairy creamer/moisturizer.
June 19, 2010 at 12:36 AM
sydferret said…
coffee and cannabis

two great tastes that stimulate brain cell growth.

Jah bless.
July 3, 2010 at 6:09 PM
Anonymous said…
I have been thinking about doing something like that you are saying in this upcoming event of Halloween. Everyone is surely going to be impressed for sure about it.
December 29, 2017 at 8:51 AM
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