Parkinson's
is a degenerative brain disease that causes tremors, difficulty with walking,
movement and coordination. The condition most commonly develops in adults over
50, and occurs when nerve cells in the brain that make the muscle-controlling
neurotransmitter dopamine are slowly destroyed, leading to loss in muscle
function. The cause of the disease remains unknown.
The study, published August 1 in the online issue of Neurology, tracked 61
people with Parkinson's who were exhibiting symptoms of daytime sleepiness.
Participants were assigned to receive either a placebo pill twice per day or a
100 milligram-caffeine pill twice per day for three weeks. After three weeks,
those in the caffeine group were given a 200 milligram caffeine pill twice per
day, about the caffeine equivalent found in two to four cups of coffee.
Six weeks
into the study, people taking the caffeine pills averaged a five-point
improvement on a ratings scale of Parkinson's symptom severity compared to
those who took placebos. Researchers called this a modest improvement, but one
that might provide benefits to people with the disease.
The
researchers also found those in the caffeine group averaged a three-point
improvement in the speed of their movements and the amount of stiffness they
experienced, compared to their caffeine-free counterparts.
"Studies have shown that people who use caffeine are less
likely to develop Parkinson's disease, but this is one of the first studies in
humans to show that caffeine can help with movement symptoms for people who
already have the disease," study author Dr. Ronald Postuma, a
neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, said in a press release.
Oddly
enough, caffeine did not appear to help improve the patients' daytime
sleepiness problems.
Postuma
said in light of his findings, a longer study was needed to determine whether
the effects of caffeine would wear off over time.
"Does it really make a difference over years of Parkinson's
disease? I don't think we know," he told Reuters. Postuma added that the main drug given to
patients with Parkinson's, levodopa, would provide benefits up to four times
greater than what his team saw in people taking caffeine pills.
In an accompanying editorial in
the same journal issue, Dr. Michael Schwarzschild, associate professor of
neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, wrote that caffeine seems to
block a malfunctioning brain signal in Parkinson's disease that may explain
these benefits in patients. However, he stopped short of recommending coffee or
caffeine as a treatment.
"Although
the results do not suggest that caffeine should be used as a treatment in
Parkinson's disease, they can be taken into consideration when people with
Parkinson's are discussing their caffeine use with their neurologist,"
Schwarzschild wrote.
Recent studies have found drinking coffee could help stave off Alzheimer's in older adults, reduce risk for the most common
form of skin cancer, decrease a person's odds of developing heart failure and even lower their overall risk of premature death by 10 percent.
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The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers
and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the
same time. Join up, become a member,
comment and have fun! You can find the
Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users
would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553. Just copy and paste to your browser. You can also find us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster. And on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to
order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.
You know you’re a
coffee fiend when you can jump-start your car
without cables! So
enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian
cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!
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