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04 Apr 2008
Drinking a daily cup of coffee could help to prevent illnesses linked to dementia such as Alzheimer's disease, latest research suggests.
US researchers found that caffeine equivalent to just one cup of coffee per day may help to block the damage to the body caused by high cholesterol.
The study, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation, gave 3 mg of caffeine daily to a group of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet.
After 12 weeks their vital blood-brain barrier (BBB) was significantly more intact than other rabbits not given the caffeine.
Filtering the bloodstream, the BBB helps to protect the central nervous system from potentially harmful blood contamination.
"Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky," Jonathan Geiger from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, which carried out the study, said.
This leakage can make the brain vulnerable to damage which researchers believe can trigger or contribute to dementia.
"Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders," researchers concluded.
Recent studies have linked caffeine intake to protective properties in memory loss in ageing and in Alzheimer's disease.
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