Drinking coffee can reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease

TORONTO – Every year around 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide.

A new study by the Krembil Brain Institute, which is part of the Krembil Research Institute, suggests that the morning's jolt of good could not be reduced to renewed energy and attention. Drinking coffee can also protect you from the development of both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

"Coffee consumption seems to be linked to a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease," says Dr. Donald Weaver, co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute. "But we wanted to know why: what compounds are involved and how they can affect cognitive decline related to age."

Dr. Weaver called on Dr. Ross Mancini, a medicinal chemistry researcher, and Yanfei Wang, a biologist, to help. The team chose to look at three types of coffee: roasted coffee, roasted coffee and roasted decaffeinated coffee.

"The black caffeinated and decaffeinated roasts both had similar potency in our first experimental tests," says Dr. Mancini. "So we found early on that its protective effect could not be due to caffeine."

Dr. Mancini then identified a group of compounds called phenylindans, which result from the roasting process of coffee beans. Phenylindans are unique in that they are the only compound studied in the study that prevents – or rather inhibits – both amyloid beta and tau, two common protein fragments in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. ,. "Phenylindans are therefore a double inhibitor, very interesting, we did not expect that." said Dr. Weaver.

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 anyone has studied how phenylindans interact with the proteins responsible for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease," says Dr. Mancini. "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."

The fact that it is a natural compound versus a synthetic compound is also a major benefit, says Dr. Weaver.

"Mother Nature is a much better chemist than us, and Mother Nature is able to make these compounds, and if you have a complex compound, it's better to grow it in a crop, harvest it, grind it, and grow it." extract rather than try. " to do it. "

But, he admits, there is still a long way to go before this research translates into potential therapeutic options.

"What this study does is take epidemiological evidence and try to refine it and demonstrate that there are actually components in coffee that are beneficial to ward off cognitive decline." interesting, but do we suggest that coffee is a cure? Absolutely not. "