Caffeine from two to four daily cups of coffee may reduce Parkinson's disease symptoms

photo courtesy flickr user chichacha

(CBS News) Should doctors start prescribing coffee?

In the latest study to tie coffee to health benefits, new research finds a daily caffeine boost may ease symptoms of Parkinson's disease in sufferers.

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Study: Drinking coffee reduces overall death risk

Parkinson's is a degenerative brain disease that causes tremors, difficulty with walking, movement and coordination. The condition most commonly develops in adults over 50, and occurs when nerve cells in the brain that make the muscle-controlling neurotransmitter dopamine are slowly destroyed, leading to loss in muscle function. The cause of the disease remains unknown. 

The study, published August 1 in the online issue of Neurology, tracked 61 people with Parkinson's who were exhibiting symptoms of daytime sleepiness. Participants were assigned to receive either a placebo pill twice per day or a 100 milligram-caffeine pill twice per day for three weeks. After three weeks, those in the caffeine group were given a 200 milligram caffeine pill twice per day, about the caffeine equivalent found in two to four cups of coffee.

Six weeks into the study, people taking the caffeine pills averaged a five-point improvement on a ratings scale of Parkinson's symptom severity compared to those who took placebos. Researchers called this a modest improvement, but one that might provide benefits to people with the disease.

The researchers also found those in the caffeine group averaged a three-point improvement in the speed of their movements and the amount of stiffness they experienced, compared to their caffeine-free counterparts.

"Studies have shown that people who use caffeine are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, but this is one of the first studies in humans to show that caffeine can help with movement symptoms for people who already have the disease," study author Dr. Ronald Postuma, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, said in a press release.

Oddly enough, caffeine did not appear to help improve the patients' daytime sleepiness problems.

Postuma said in light of his findings, a longer study was needed to determine whether the effects of caffeine would wear off over time.

"Does it really make a difference over years of Parkinson's disease? I don't think we know," he told Reuters.

Postuma added that the main drug given to patients with Parkinson's, levodopa, would provide benefits up to four times greater than what his team saw in people taking caffeine pills.

In an accompanying editorial in the same journal issue, Dr. Michael Schwarzschild, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, wrote that caffeine seems to block a malfunctioning brain signal in Parkinson's disease that may explain these benefits in patients. However, he stopped short of recommending coffee or caffeine as a treatment.

"Although the results do not suggest that caffeine should be used as a treatment in Parkinson's disease, they can be taken into consideration when people with Parkinson's are discussing their caffeine use with their neurologist," Schwarzschild wrote.

Recent studies have found drinking coffee could help stave off Alzheimer's in older adults, reduce risk for the most common form of skin cancer, decrease a person's odds of developing heart failure and even lower their overall risk of premature death by 10 percent.

[RH_]

While this is a HOPEFUL sign, this news MUST be regarded with a healthy dose of doubt, and suspicion, for many reasons. Here are a few:

1.) TINY STUDY:
The study only involved 61 people -- only half getting "treated." That's a TINY sample. Data from such a small sample is arguably NOT reliable -- especially since apparent results were small. More significant studies, noted below, involving THOUSANDS of participants, got less attention.

2.) Caffeine and coffee are DIFFERENT.
This report (and others) too-casually dismisses the difference between caffeine and coffee, as if they were the same thing. They're NOT. There are additional chemicals, in varying amounts, in coffee. Caffeine tablets (tepid, solid) are not served the same as coffee (hot, liquid); some studies show varying results from coffee depending upon temperature -- e.g.: higher rates of throat and esophageal cancer from drinking very hot coffee. It's NOT clear whether this study is applicable using coffee (rather than caffeine pills), nor tea or cola (both with caffeine). Users might get wildly varying results (positve OR negative consequences) on this basis alone.

3.) GENETICS are an issue in Parkinson's, apparently --
-- and may affect the impact of coffee and/or caffeine in Parkinsons treatment or prevention. Haydeh Payami of the New York State Dept. of Health, reported to the World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Sept.2010, that a gene (GRIN2A) appeared to protect coffee-drinkers from developing Parkinson's, but only "about 25% of people have the gene variant that boosts the protective effect of coffee" -- indicating the rest might have different outcomes (or none) from coffee and/or caffeine. She urged that studies take this genetic effect into account.

See:

"Gene explains coffee's effects on Parkinson's: study", Reuters, by Reuters, Sep. 29, 2010, online at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/29/us-parkinsons-coffee-idUSTRE68S4ZC20100929


4.) WOMEN may have sharply different (even OPPOSITE) Parkinsons effects from coffee/caffeine -- if they are (or are not) involved with hormone-replacement therapy (HRT). It appears, in some research, that -- while EITHER use of HRT, OR use of coffee/caffeine, may help REDUCE the risk of Parkinson's -- the OPPOSITE happens when the two are COMBINED, actually INCREASING the risk of getting Parkinson's.

See:

"New Findings About Parkinson's Disease: Coffee and Hormones Don't Mix"
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Nat'l Inst. of Neurological Disorders & Stroke
Nat'l Institutes of Health
online at: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_parkinson_caffeine_hrt.htm

...which says:


<blockquote>

----

Several large studies have shown that caffeine intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD) in men, but studies in women have been inconclusive. A new study shows that hormone therapy is a possible explanation for the different effects of caffeine on PD risk in men and women.

"We hoped to find something that would explain the effect of caffeine on PD risk in men and the lack of an effect in women," says lead author Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health. "Hormones seemed like a possible factor in this case."

Ascherio and his colleagues found combining coffee and hormones significantly increases women's risk of developing PD, even though each factor alone has previously been found to protect against PD. The study shows that postmenopausal women who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and drank more than five cups of coffee per day (heavy coffee drinkers) were one and a half times MORE likely to develop PD than heavy coffee drinkers who didn't take HRT.

----

</blockquote>


IN SUMMARY, then, THIS study should be regarded with doubt -- and readers should be warned there may be unidentified risks and negative consequences (perhaps even OPPOSITE consequences) from casually believing this study, and using it as a guide to personal decisions and actions.

While it MAY hold a hint of SOME relief for SOME people who suffer from Parkinson's, the study is apparently of VERY limited quality, certainty or significance, and should NOT result in a sudden dash for the coffee pot. Indeed, there may be DANGERS greater than the benefits suggested, and in some people, the results may be the exact OPPOSITE (making their Parkinson's risk/illness worse).

This article is a very typically BAD report on a health study, all-too-common in today's media, because
- It gives great publicity to a very poorly tested theory,
- Does not make clear the extent to which this study is flawed and limited.
- Does not adequately report the risks that may exist by carelessly assuming its validity and applicability to individuals in the public.

This is not just a failure of the reporter, but especially the editor, and CBS editorial policy -- common throughout modern media.

[RH_]

While this is a HOPEFUL sign, this news MUST be regarded with a healthy dose of doubt, and suspicion, for many reasons. Here are a few:

1.) TINY STUDY:
The study only involved 61 people -- only half getting "treated." That's a TINY sample. Data from such a small sample is arguably NOT reliable -- especially since apparent results were small. More significant studies, noted below, involving THOUSANDS of participants, got less attention.

2.) Caffeine and coffee are DIFFERENT.
This report (and others) too-casually dismisses the difference between caffeine and coffee, as if they were the same thing. They're NOT. There are additional chemicals, in varying amounts, in coffee. Caffeine tablets (tepid, solid) are not served the same as coffee (hot, liquid); some studies show varying results from coffee depending upon temperature -- e.g.: higher rates of throat and esophageal cancer from drinking very hot coffee. It's NOT clear whether this study is applicable using coffee (rather than caffeine pills), nor tea or cola (both with caffeine). Users might get wildly varying results (positve OR negative consequences) on this basis alone.

3.) GENETICS are an issue in Parkinson's, apparently --
-- and may affect the impact of coffee and/or caffeine in Parkinsons treatment or prevention. Haydeh Payami of the New York State Dept. of Health, reported to the World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Sept.2010, that a gene (GRIN2A) appeared to protect coffee-drinkers from developing Parkinson's, but only "about 25% of people have the gene variant that boosts the protective effect of coffee" -- indicating the rest might have different outcomes (or none) from coffee and/or caffeine. She urged that studies take this genetic effect into account.

See:

"Gene explains coffee's effects on Parkinson's: study", Reuters, by Reuters, Sep. 29, 2010, online at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/29/us-parkinsons-coffee-idUSTRE68S4ZC20100929


4.) WOMEN may have sharply different (even OPPOSITE) Parkinsons effects from coffee/caffeine -- if they are (or are not) involved with hormone-replacement therapy (HRT). It appears, in some research, that -- while EITHER use of HRT, OR use of coffee/caffeine, may help REDUCE the risk of Parkinson's -- the OPPOSITE happens when the two are COMBINED, actually INCREASING the risk of getting Parkinson's.

See:

"New Findings About Parkinson's Disease: Coffee and Hormones Don't Mix"
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Nat'l Inst. of Neurological Disorders & Stroke
Nat'l Institutes of Health
online at: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_parkinson_caffeine_hrt.htm

...which says:


<blockquote>

----

Several large studies have shown that caffeine intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD) in men, but studies in women have been inconclusive. A new study shows that hormone therapy is a possible explanation for the different effects of caffeine on PD risk in men and women.

"We hoped to find something that would explain the effect of caffeine on PD risk in men and the lack of an effect in women," says lead author Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health. "Hormones seemed like a possible factor in this case."

Ascherio and his colleagues found combining coffee and hormones significantly increases women's risk of developing PD, even though each factor alone has previously been found to protect against PD. The study shows that postmenopausal women who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and drank more than five cups of coffee per day (heavy coffee drinkers) were one and a half times MORE likely to develop PD than heavy coffee drinkers who didn't take HRT.

----

</blockquote>


IN SUMMARY, then, THIS study should be regarded with doubt -- and readers should be warned there may be unidentified risks and negative consequences (perhaps even OPPOSITE consequences) from casually believing this study, and using it as a guide to personal decisions and actions.

While it MAY hold a hint of SOME relief for SOME people who suffer from Parkinson's, the study is apparently of VERY limited quality, certainty or significance, and should NOT result in a sudden dash for the coffee pot. Indeed, there may be DANGERS greater than the benefits suggested, and in some people, the results may be the exact OPPOSITE (making their Parkinson's risk/illness worse).

This article is a very typically BAD report on a health study, all-too-common in today's media, because
- It gives great publicity to a very poorly tested theory,
- Does not make clear the extent to which this study is flawed and limited.
- Does not adequately report the risks that may exist by carelessly assuming its validity and applicability to individuals in the public.

This is not just a failure of the reporter, but especially the editor, and CBS editorial policy -- common throughout modern media.

[xpious]

I know aman who drinks about 25 cups a coffee a day can this much coffee be bad for him ? He sleeps fine he drinks coffee before he goes to bed .But he does have high blod pressure I am wondering if coffee is doing this to him ?