Make that a double espresso. A slew of recent findings suggest that caffeine can keep our brains active and prevent age-related decline.

The first hints that caffeine might have special powers appeared when studies showed that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, which is caused by a breakdown in normal brain cell function. Then came hints that caffeine consumption also protects against Alzheimer’s disease. Now researchers think that the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world actually normalizes brain function and prevents neurological degeneration in a variety of ways.

There’s so much new research into the benefits of caffeine that the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has devoted an entire special issue to the subject. Among its conclusions:

• Caffeine improves concentration and sharpens mental focus, mainly by eliminating distractions.
• People who consume higher levels of caffeine are more alert during the day and have significantly faster reaction times.
• Caffeine appears to be particularly effective at counteracting fatigue and sleep loss.
• Caffeine improves mood and boosts cognitive performance, especially in tasks that involve fast reaction time, sustained attention, memory, logical reasoning and simulated driving.
• Most startling of all, preliminary animal studies suggest that caffeine helps keep brain circuitry more nimble, even as animals age.

All this good news follows earlier findings that show that drinking coffee may lower risk of heart disease—in part because coffee beans are rich in antioxidants. Coffee really appears to be good to the last drop.

SOURCE: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2010, vol 20

Tags: Alzheimer's, brain, caffeine, Parkinson's