Last week we reported that coffee can cause hallucinations. This week we have better news for javaholics: a cup of joe may offer powerful protection against age-related mental deterioration.

Danish and Swedish scientists tracked 1,409 middle-aged volunteers for 21 years. During that time, 61 developed age-related dementia, 48 with Alzheimer’s. Reviewing diet surveys conducted at the beginning of the study, the research team found that devoted coffee drinkers—those downing three to five cups a day—were 65 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who averaged only two cups or less.

There are plenty of potential explanations. Previous studies have shown that coffee may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, a disease that damages blood vessels. A Swedish study published in 2004, for instance, which followed 1361 women over 18 years, found that the more coffee the women drank, the lower their odds of developing diabetes. In a study of 17,111 men and women published in the British medical journal The Lancet in 2002, Dutch researchers reported that people who drank seven cups of coffee were half as likely as non-coffee-drinkers to develop diabetes. Lower risk of diabetes might in turn protect blood circulation in the brain and reduce the danger of dementia.

Coffee is also rich in antioxidants, which are believed to protect the circulatory system. A 2004 study conducted by University of Glasgow researchers found that coffee contains levels of antioxidants as high as those in black tea—and that coffee’s antioxidants are actually more easily absorbed into the bloodstream. Indeed, when researchers analyzed the diets of 2,672 Norwegians—among the world’s most avid coffee drinkers—coffee contributed more antioxidants than anything else on the menu.

And in animal studies, caffeine has been shown to protect against the brain plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

“Coffee has two virtues,” an old Dutch proverb says. “It is wet and warm.” If you’re a true coffee lover, you know wet and warm is just the beginning. There’s the nose-filling roasted aroma of fresh-ground beans, the intense yet smooth taste of a fine French roast, the frothy surface of a perfectly made cappuccino, the bittersweet richness of a perfectly balanced mocha. And then, of course, there’s the reviving buzz of caffeine, which can lift the spirit and jumpstart the most sluggish morning.

And now, the evidence shows, coffee possesses an even more important virtue: it can help keep us healthy. It’s good, as the old ad slogan said, to the last drop.

© 2009 PDQhealth

Tags: Alzheimer's, antioxidants, coffee, dementia, type 2 diabetes