Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day is associated with a lower risk of dementia in women 65 and older, according to one study.
Drinking coffee to fight dementia: the link has already been highlighted in the scientific literature, but it is once again demonstrated. A study published in the journal The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences examines the benefits of coffee at the brain level in older women.
The authors reviewed data from 6,467 women aged 65 and over, included in a large American cohort. The follow-up, spread over ten years, made it possible, on the one hand, to assess the participants’ caffeine consumption and, on the other hand, to establish that 338 women were diagnosed with dementia or cognitive impairment.
Risk decreased by 36%
However, according to the results of this study, women who consumed a lot of coffee (261 milligrams per day, or two or three cups) had a 36% lower risk of having this diagnosis, compared to women who consumed little coffee. (less than 64 milligrams per day.
This observation remained valid after ruling out the confounding factors – age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, depression, blood pressure, quality of sleep and cardiovascular disease.
The authors point out that their study does not establish a causal link between coffee and dementia, nor does it extrapolate the results to men. However, they believe that these results are worth exploiting because if they are proven by other work, they would allow to develop a relatively simple preventive strategy. The study was funded by the US Department of Health.
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