Close to 80 percent of American adults consume caffeine every day, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Caffeine is found naturally in more than 60 plants, including the beans that make your morning cup of coffee. Caffeine is best known for its ability to keep you alert, but it also contains antioxidants and other properties that may help to fight inflammation in your brain.
Significance
Inflammation is ordinarily a beneficial process your body uses to produce fevers to fight infections and also to repair sunburns and wounds. But inflammation can also turn against your body, as in the case of autoimmune disorders. Acute inflammation in the brain is caused by infections, but a type of low-grade chronic inflammation is believed to play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS and multiple sclerosis.
Caffeine and Brain Inflammation
Researchers at Ohio State University investigated caffeine's effects on chronic brain inflammation. Their report, published in August 2010 in "Neuroscience Letters," was founded on previous research that caffeine consumption reduces the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The studies used young rats with induced brain inflammation and elderly rats that already had brain inflammation and showed that caffeine was able to reduce the inflammation in both younger and older animals within two to four weeks.
Caffeine and Alzheimer's Disease
Two studies on older mice with Alzheimer's symptoms gave the mice the equivalent of five cups of coffee per day. The results of both studies, published concurrently in 2009 in the "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease," showed that the caffeine caused a 50 percent reduction in levels of beta amyloid, sticky plaques in the brain that are linked to inflammation and Alzheimer's. At the end of the two-month study, the mice given caffeine performed as well as normal, healthy mice on tests of memory and thinking skills.
Considerations
A moderate amount of caffeine is the equivalent of three 8 oz. cups of coffee per day, which provides about 250 mg of caffeine. Consumption of 10 8 oz. cups or above daily is considered to be excessive. High amounts of caffeine can cause insomnia, a fast heart rate, tremors and anxiety and can contribute to fibrocystic breast disease and menstrual disorders. If you are pregnant or have coronary heart disease or peptic ulcers, you should limit or avoid caffeine intake.
References
- "Life Extension Foundation Magazine"; Inflammation and the Aging Brain; Dale Kiefer; September 2003
- "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease"; Caffeine Reverses Cognitive Impairment and Decreases Brain Amyloid-Beta Levels in Aged Alzheimer's Disease Mice; G.W. Arendash, et al.; 2009
- "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease"; Caffeine Suppresses Amyloid-Beta Levels in Plasma and Brain of Alzheimer's Disease Transgenic Mice; C. Cao, et al.; 2009
- "Neuroscience Letters"; Caffeine Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation; H.M. Brothers; August 2010
- Drugs.com; Caffeine Side Effects; 2009
- MedlinePlus; Caffeine in the Diet; David C. Dugdale, III, M.D.; May 2009
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