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Caffeine as a Protective Factor in Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

Issue title: Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

Guest editors: Rodrigo A. Cunhax and Alexandre de Mendonçay

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Eskelinen, Marjo H.a; * | Kivipelto, Miiab; *

Affiliations: [a] University of Eastern Finland, School of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine – Neurology, Kuopio, Finland | [b] Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden | [x] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of Coimbra and Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal | [y] Institute of Molecular Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Marjo Eskelinen, MSc, University of Eastern Finland, School of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. Tel.: +358 40 355 2019/ +358 50 36 34 625; Fax: +358 17 16 2048; E-mail: [email protected]. Miia Kivipelto, MD, PhD, Aging Research Center, NVS, Karolinska Institutet, Gävlegatan 16, 113 30 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 73 99 409 22; Fax: +46 8 690 5954; E-mail: [email protected].

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, caffeine, coffee, dementia, epidemiology

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2010-1404

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 20, no. s1, pp. S167-S174, 2010

Published: 14 April 2010
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Abstract

Caffeine has well-known short-term stimulating effects on central nervous system, but the long-term impacts on cognition have been less clear. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are rapidly increasing public health problems in ageing populations and at the moment curative treatment is lacking. Thus, the putative protective effects of caffeine against dementia/AD are of great interest. Here, we discuss findings from the longitudinal epidemiological studies about caffeine/coffee/tea and dementia/AD/cognitive functioning with a special emphasis on our recent results from the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study. The findings of the previous studies are somewhat inconsistent, but most studies (3 out of 5) support coffee's favorable effects against cognitive decline, dementia or AD. In addition, two studies had combined coffee and tea drinking and indicated some positive effects on cognitive functioning. For tea drinking, protective effects against cognitive decline/dementia are still less evident. In the CAIDE study, coffee drinking of 3–5 cups per day at midlife was associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD by about 65% at late-life. In conclusion, coffee drinking may be associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD. This may be mediated by caffeine and/or other mechanisms like antioxidant capacity and increased insulin sensitivity. This finding might open possibilities for prevention or postponing the onset of dementia/AD.

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