Drinking coffee may slow down Parkinson’s disease, according to the latest research from Canada.
Coffee has shown much health benefits lately and is a huge part of the American lifestyle. According to Harvard research, 54 percent of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every day.
The beverage used to be very controversial, as some believed that it caused cancer. In June of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) finally stated that coffee does not cause cancer.
Drinking coffee may slow down Parkinson’s
In the United States, 50,000-60,000 new cases of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are diagnosed each year, which adds to the one million people who already have it. While the disease itself is not fatal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks complications from Parkinson’s as the 14th leading cause of death in America.
Studies have shown that in Parkinson’s patients, proteins clump together in the brain called Lewy bodies. These protein clumps destroy the cells that produce dopamine in the region of the brain called substantia nigra, which is responsible for movement.
This reduction in dopamine is responsible for the loss of motor control in Parkinson’s.
Most of the drugs used to combat Parkinson’s increase dopamine production in the remaining nerve cells, “but this is effective only as long as there are still enough cells to do the job,” co-author of the study Jeremy Lee, of the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine in Canada notes.
The researchers tried a different approach, by attempting to find ways to protect dopamine-producing cells from the protein clumps.
They created molecules using caffeine compounds, and applied them to a lab model of Parkinson’s disease. They found that these molecules, called bifunctional dimers, prevented the proteins from forming clumps.
According to Lee:
“Our results suggest these novel bifunctional dimers show promise in preventing the progression of Parkinson’s disease.”
The study showing that drinking coffee may slow down Parkinson’s disease was published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
Note: None of the information in our website is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any illness or disease. The content on our website is for educational purposes only.
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REFERENCES:
1. “Carcinogenicity of Drinking Coffee, Mate, and Very Hot Beverages.” The Lancet Oncology. The Lancet, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
2. “IARC Monographs Evaluate Drinking Coffee, Maté, and Very Hot Beverages.” IARC. International Agency for Research on Cancer, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
3. “How Caffeine Could Help Slow Parkinson’s Disease.” Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
4. “Novel Dimer Compounds That Bind α-Synuclein Can Rescue Cell Growth in a Yeast Model Overexpressing α-Synuclein. A Possible Prevention Strategy for Parkinson’s Disease.” ACS Chemical Neuroscience. ACS Publications, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
5. “Caffeine-Based Compounds Show Promise Against Parkinson’s Disease.” Newswise. University of Saskatchewan, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
6. “Coffee by the Numbers.” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
