On Tuesday, the world celebrates International Coffee Day, a recent study indicating that drinking it may reduce the risk of dementia.
On October 1, International Coffee Day is celebrated by 77 member countries of the International Coffee Organization and dozens of coffee associations from all over the world.
A recent study found that drinking coffee and tea may reduce the risk of dementia.
Researchers at Ningxia Medical University in China found that some coffee or tea drinkers have a reduced risk of dementia. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
But the researchers found that the benefit was more likely for people with high blood pressure who drank a certain number of cups per day. The type of coffee they drank also seemed to matter.
The results come from health data on more than 450,000 participants in the UK Biobank, who were followed for an average of 15 years. Nearly half of them were diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Half a cup to a cup of coffee
Coffee drinkers with high blood pressure who said they consumed half a cup to one cup a day were less likely to develop any form of dementia, compared to those most at risk, who drank 6 or more cups a day.
Meanwhile, tea drinkers with high blood pressure, who drank 4 to 5 cups a day, were less likely to develop dementia, compared to those most at risk, who did not drink tea at all.
This means that drinking coffee in moderation, and not excessively, is linked to a reduced risk of dementia.
Medical scientist Bo Wang and his colleagues chose to screen participants with high blood pressure because it is believed to accelerate cognitive aging and increase the risk of dementia.
“In this study, individuals with high blood pressure had a higher likelihood of developing dementia compared to the population without high blood pressure,” the researchers wrote.
“The statistically significant association between coffee and tea consumption and dementia risk was more likely in people with high blood pressure than in people without high blood pressure,” they added.
By managing modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure, some scientists estimate that dementia cases could be reduced by up to 45%.
Coffee and tea – two of the world’s most popular drinks – may be one way to achieve this, but the new findings suggest that dosage is crucial.
Ground coffee
Ground coffee, unlike decaffeinated coffee, was associated with the lowest risk of dementia.
“A likely reason for this is that different types of coffee contain different levels of caffeine, with ground coffee having the highest caffeine content, instant coffee the second highest, and decaffeinated coffee the lowest,” the authors suggest.
Some animal studies have found that caffeinated drinks can reduce the risk of high blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and maintain the blood-brain barrier, which keeps the central nervous system safe from toxins and pathogens.
Both coffee and tea share similar bioactive compounds, which can have anti-inflammatory or antioxidant effects. Furthermore, these drinks are associated with a lower risk of developing heart and metabolic diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure, which may in turn reduce the chances of developing dementia later on.
“These benefits may slow the progression of vascular inflammation, blood-brain barrier leakage, and beta-amyloid deposition in microvasculature in hypertensive patients, which may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers said.