Consumed in moderation, coffee is said to be good for the heart, prolong life expectancy and even prevent chronic disease and liver disease. If its multiple benefits are no longer to be proven, a new one has been added to the (already) long list. A team of researchers from the Brain Institute and Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris has just proven its efficacy in relieving symptoms of dyskinesiaa rare genetic disease which manifests itself by tremors of the head, legs and arms and which today affects several hundred people in the world.
And the story of this discovery is quite original. Three years ago, doctors on the same team prescribed two cups of coffee a day to an 11-year-old patient with dyskinesia. His tremors quickly disappeared and he was able to walk and write again. It was when her mother made a mistake and bought her decaffeinated coffee that the tremors returned.
To confirm their intuition, the researchers then launched a clinical trial on 30 patients carrying the ADCY5 gene, responsible for dyskinesia. And the results of this study were published on April 5, 2022: caffeine was generally well tolerated in patients, even children, and 87% of them reported an improvement in their tremors. Indeed, caffeine is fixed in the brain and comes to correct the dysfunctions related to the genetic mutation.
Consider caffeine as a first-line treatment option
“Caffeine reduced the frequency and duration of paroxysmal movement disorders, but also improved baseline movement disorders and some other motor or non-motor characteristics, with consistent improvement in quality of life“, notes the study. Only three of the patients in the study noted worsening of their tremors.
Caffeine would therefore provide a solution to this disease which remains without treatment until today. It should therefore be considered more as a first-line treatment option in ADCY5-related dyskinesias. Be careful, however, to do not exceed four cups of coffee per day : beyond that, caffeine can affect the brain or even cause migraines.
Source :
- Efficacy of caffeine in ADCY5-related dyskinesia: a retrospective study, Movement DisorderApril 5, 2022
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