KOMPAS.com - Consumption of coffee each day may help delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study on the issue of the Journal of Azheimer's Disease, the online edition. Drinking coffee has previously been associated with decreasing risk of developing Alzheimer's. Some researchers from the University of South Florida examined 55 mice that had been genetically engineered to develop symptoms of madness similar to symptoms of Alzheimer's when the animal is elderly.
Alzheimer's occurs when a piece of sticky protein abnormalities in the brain called "beta-amyloid" piled up to form plaques, thereby damaging kofnitif function.
Half the animals were given a daily dose of caffeine in the drinking water, while the other half continued to drink plain water.
At the end of two months of the study, all rats that drank caffeine showed the results are much better than the memory and the ability berfikirnya mice given plain water. Animal memory is as sharp as the older healthy mice without the madness.
The study found that caffeine cut by half the excessive blood and the "beta amyloid" in the rat brain.
"The new findings provide evidence that caffeine can be 'therapy' is active for Alzheimer's disease, which has been attacked, and not just as a protection strategy," said lead researcher, Gary Arendash, a neuroscientist from the University of South Florida.
"That's important because caffeine is a drug that is safe for most people. These substances are easily enters the brain. And that seems to directly affect the disease process," Arendash said as reported by China's official news agency, Xinhua.
The researchers hope that caffeine may be a treatment that is safe and inexpensive for dementia and to perform experiments on human patients as soon as possible.
One study in 2002 found that people who consume caffeine in the middle ages they have 60 percent less risk for developing the disease.