Here is another good reason not to deprive yourself of your morning black! According to a brand new scientific study that will be presented at the annual meeting of theAmerican Academy of Neurology (Washington), the daily consumption of coffee at the rate of at least 4 cups per day would have beneficial effects on the brain. Already associated with reduced risk of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes or even of melanomacoffee could also protect us from multiple sclerosis (MS).
To achieve this result, Dr Ellen Mowry, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA) and her team followed 1,629 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 2,807 healthy controls participating in a Swedish study, as well as 1,159 subjects with MS and 1,172 healthy subjects participating in an American cohort. Coffee consumption data had previously been recorded 5 to 10 years before the onset of the first symptoms of the disease in sick people as well as in healthy people. To avoid bias, the researchers also took into account other factors that could influence the results, such as age, sex, smoking, BMI and sun exposure.
Hope for treatment in the face of a debilitating disease
The analysis reveals that, for the two American and Swedish cohorts, people drinking at least 4 cups of coffee per day would have 1.5 times less risk of developing multiple sclerosis than those who drink less or no coffee at all.
Compared to people consuming at least 6 cups of coffee a day during the year preceding the onset of the first symptoms, those who do not consume it at all have a 50% increased risk.
Overall, the consumption of large amounts of coffee in the previous 5 to 10 years provides significant protection against multiple sclerosis, according to the study results.
For scientists, this study is all the more encouraging since multiple sclerosis is proving to be one of the leading causes of disability in young adults. Moreover, there is currently no treatment capable of completely eradicating the disease.
The multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease, where the overactive immune system goes against the tissues of the body. Its clinical manifestations are linked to demyelination (myelin being what protects nerve fibers) of neurons in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve. It attacks the central nervous system and causes lesions that give rise to motor, sensory and cognitive difficulties. The disease progresses in flare-ups and can become very debilitating. In France, it is estimated that multiple sclerosis affects approximately 80,000 people, with an incidence of 4,000 new cases of inflammatory demyelinating events each year.
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