Coffee helps treat disease

New research shows that drinking two cups of solid coffee a day can slow down the development of Alzheimer's disease and may even improve disease symptoms.

According to Dr Gary Arendash of the University of South Florida, caffeine may be an effective treatment for dementia, not just a preventive therapy.

This is important because caffeine is a safe drug for many people . It easily impacts on the brain and seems to directly affect the course of the disease.

Two cups of solid coffee a day may be a good treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers (Photo: publico.es)

Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disease, the initial manifestations are often forgetful, confused, but when the disease gets worse, patients will suffer from memory loss, language disorders, cognitive disorders . Rate of disease high in people over 65 but there are many cases of young people with this disease.

The disease affects 700,000 people in the UK and until now, scientists have not yet identified the cause of the disease. However, the disease is linked to the adherent mass of an abnormal protein called beta amyloid; This block shapes in the brain and destroys nerve cells. Characteristic brain changes that scientists have noted are a significant reduction in neurons.

However, a majority of the population hardly knows much about brain disease and thinks that the disease can end their lives. According to a sociological study of Alzheimer's disease, half of respondents believe that dementia treatment and 1/3 suggest that the disease is an inevitable thing of old age .

Brain cells are seriously lost because of Alzheimer's disease.

Dr Arendash's team conducted experiments on 55 white mice that transplanted the pathogen. When mice are 18, 19 months old - equivalent to humans in their 70s - they exhibit memory problems and confusion related to dementia.

Scientists give half of the rats a drink of water with caffeine while the rest only drink regular water. The amount of caffeine that the mice absorb for its weight is the same as the one who drinks 5-8 cups of coffee a day. This amount of caffeine is equivalent to 2 cups of concentrated coffee, 14 cups of tea or 20 cans of Cola soft drinks.

After 2 months, mice who drank water with caffeine were much better reflexes in memory and thinking tests than those who only drank plain water . Scientists found that nearly half of the abnormal protein disappeared after two weeks when the mice received caffeine.

Research is good news for people who are participating in the fight against Alzheimer's.A campaign was conducted on the website alz.org and now has more than 1.7 million votes.

Mice that were absorbed in caffeine had lower levels of beta amyloaid in their blood and brain and their memory was also assessed to be twice as sensitive as other healthy mice.

With these promising experimental results, researchers are planning to test the effectiveness of caffeine for dementia in humans.