Coffee Helps Fight Parkinson’s Disease

by Djulia Montana ‘tahna’ de Veyra

Coffee has been found to help decrease the risk of acquiring Parkinson’s disease. This is yet another reason for you to feel less guilty every time you drink your favorite cup of jolt juice.

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by problems in the central nervous system, with symptoms manifesting in the form of tremor or shakiness, unstable posture, difficulty walking, slowed body movements and rigidity or muscle stiffness. The disease is an effect of the degeneration of neurons in the substantia negra (a part of the brain that controls movement). These neurons produce dopamine, the chemical responsible for relaying messages between parts of the brain controlling body movement. Needless to say, the degeneration of these cells results to reduced levels of dopamine. The sufferer then finds it difficult to control muscle movement and muscle tension.

Coffee Helps

According to a research published on the Journal of the American Medical Association, the caffeine component of coffee helps lower the risk of acquiring Parkinson’s disease. This study was an offshoot of a long-term study conducted by the Honolulu Heart Program. The research followed 8,004 Japanese-American men for a period of 30 years. 102 of the subjects developed the disease.

The study showed that the men who drank 3-4 cups or more of coffee (28ounces), were one-fifth less susceptible to the disease. Those who did not drink java were 3 times more vulnerable to Parkinson’s disease.

Another research conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH) links consumption of caffeine to a reduced risk of acquiring Parkinson’s disease. The study involved 88,000 women and 47,000 men who were Parkinson’s disease negative. The subjects responded to comprehensive dietary and lifestyle questionnaires at the beginning of the research. They were required to turn in updated responses every 2-4 years. 288 of the participants were later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The data showed that women who drank 1-3 cups of caffeinated coffee (per day) were half less likely to acquire the disease compared to women who consumed less than a cup of the beverage. As for the men, those who consumed 4-5 cups of caffeinated coffee were less likely to develop the disease than those who hardly drank coffee at all.

Yet another research conducted by the scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)—a Harvard Medical School affiliate—revealed positive results on the effects of caffeine. After running a series of tests on a mouse model, the scientists (under the leadership of Michael A. Schwarzschild, assistant professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School) found that caffeine helps prevent the reduction of the levels of dopamine.

Cheers coffee-lovers!