Study coffee as an active ingredient against Alzheimer's

Study: Effect of Caffeine on Alzheimer's

08/04/2014

The German favorite drink, the coffee, has long been classified as predominantly harmful to health. But the caffeine it contains may not only help in the short term against fatigue, but also in the long term against Alzheimer's. The results of a Franco-German study hope for that.

Caffeine could help in the long term against Alzheimer's
The most popular drink of the Germans, the coffee, is regarded as a concentration-enhancing and faster wake-up agent. However, the caffeine it contains not only helps in the short term against tiredness, but possibly also in the long term against Alzheimer's. A team of researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Lille (France) found that a caffeine-like substance in laboratory experiments with mice inhibits deposits of the so-called tau protein in the brain.

Two main indicators of Alzheimer's disease
Such tau deposits are one of the two main indicators of Alzheimer's disease. In the other indicator, clumps of amyloid beta protein, the positive effect of caffeine in mice was already proven. For the first time, the research team headed by the Bonn-based professor Christa Müller and her research colleague David Blum from Lille confirmed the effect on the tau protein. The scientists published initial results in the online edition of the journal „Neurobiology of Aging“.

Extremely promising approach
Caffeine thus blocks certain receptors in the brain, which are otherwise activated by the messenger adenosine. Preliminary studies suggest that this blockade affects amyloid beta damage. This reduces the amount of harmful clumps and provides a protective effect through caffeine. As the current study shows, the effect also helps against the tau deposits. Werner Hofmann, former President of the German Society for Geriatrics, spoke of one „very promising approach“ the study. „The way is still very far.“ In addition, the scope of the project is rather small: „The volume of research funding is quite modest.“ So received Professor Müller from the nonprofit association „Alzheimer's Research Initiative“ (AFI) 30,000 euros and her colleague from Lille researched with just under 50,000 euros of the French sister organization of AFI.

Further experiments are necessary
In a statement on Monday, Müller spoke of „a good step ahead“. It had been shown that the new approach „indeed very positive effects in an animal model very similar to the disease“ with minor side effects. Before the first clinical trials should be made, further experiments with animals would have to follow. A few years ago, researchers from the German Research Center Jülich came to the conclusion in a scientific study that drinking coffee regularly could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, because the caffeine contained in it affects those areas of the brain that have Alzheimer's disease are involved. Although this finding had already been made in earlier studies, the Jülich scientists were able to localize for the first time where the active substance caffeine in coffee acts in the human brain. The substance not only contained in coffee, but also in black tea and chocolate. (Sb)