Those who know me, know that I am a coffee-aholic. Which explains why this writing might not make much sense. We have been out of coffee for a few days.
After months of staying away from Starbucks, we did venture out this week only to find that our cups of craved caffeine were lacking. Hence, we are still without coffee and I am still insane. That rant out of the way, I was relieved today when I saw news of a study that shows the positive effects of coffee.
A study out of the University of South Florida found that Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease. The Scientists found that testing in 55 mice confirmed this theory.
First the researchers used tests to confirm the mice were exhibiting signs of memory impairment when they were aged 18 to 19 months, the equivalent to humans being about 70. Then they gave half the mice caffeine in their drinking water. The rest were given plain water.
The mice were given the equivalent of five 8 oz (227 grams) cups of coffee a day - about 500 milligrams of caffeine.
When the mice were tested again after two months, those who were given the caffeine performed much better on tests measuring their memory and thinking skills and performed as well as mice of the same age without dementia.
Those drinking plain water continued to do poorly on the tests. Goodbye water bottles! Just Joking!
I think this is something that humans already know and the reason why we all go for our cup of Joe every morning. We function better with caffeine. Is that a good thing? Probably not as far as health concerns are weighed, but how amazing would it be if this simple drug of coffee could bring some of our loved ones back to us?
Still the jury is out if this will work in humans or not, but they did see a reversal effect in mice. Of course, high blood pressure could be dangerous mixed with the caffeine. For now, more studies need to be completed.
As for me, I am going to keep drinking that coffee. After all, now I have an excuse. I want to protect against alzheimer's.
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