Drinking coffee "reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's"

Drinking coffee could protect against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, according to a new study by the Krembil Brain Institute.

Researchers looked at three types of coffee: roasted coffee, roasted coffee and roasted decaffeinated coffee.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Donald Weaver, said, "Coffee consumption seems to be linked to a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. But we wanted to know why: what compounds are involved and how they can affect cognitive decline related to age. "

"The black roasts containing caffeine and caffeine both had the same power in our first experimental tests. We therefore found early on that its protective effect could not be due to caffeine. "

The researchers then identified a group of compounds called phenylindans, from the roasting process of coffee beans. Phenylindans are unique in that they are the only compound studied in the study that inhibits beta-amyloid and tau, two common protein fragments in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Since roasting leads to higher amounts of phenylindans, dark roast coffee appears to be more protective than light roast coffee.

"This is the first time that we have studied the interaction of phenylindans with the proteins responsible for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The next step would be to determine how beneficial these compounds are and whether they have the ability to enter the bloodstream or cross the blood-brain barrier. "