Is Increased Coffee Consumption Linked to Cognitive Decline?

A consistent intake of moderate amounts of coffee (1 to 2 cups daily) was associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in older adults exhibiting normal cognitive function, while those who increased coffee consumption later in life had greater risk of MCI development, according to a recent study.

In the past, researchers have estimated that coffee consumption could protect against dementia and cognitive impairment.
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In their recent study, researchers set out to estimate whether that protective benefit was present in all levels of coffee consumption, including those that changed over time.

After evaluating 1445 older adults (aged 65 to 84 years) from an Italian population-based sample with a 3.5-year follow-up, researchers found that cognitively normal participants who drank 1 to 2 cups of coffee a day had a lower MCI incidence than those who rarely or never had coffee, and that there was no significant link between higher coffee consumption (>2 cups per day) and MCI incidence.

Further, “for cognitively normal older subjects who changed their coffee consumption habits, those increasing coffee consumption (>1 cup of coffee/day) had higher rate of the incidence of MCI compared to those with constant habits (up to±1 cup of coffee/day) (HR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.92) or those with reduced consumption (<1 cup of coffee/day) (HR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.16 to 4.0,” researchers noted

"Larger studies with longer follow-up periods should be encouraged, addressing other potential bias and confounding sources, so hopefully opening new ways for diet-related prevention of dementia and Alzheimer's disease," they concluded.

The complete study is published in the July issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:
Solfrizzi V, Panza F, Imbimbo BP, et al. Coffee consumption habits and the risk of mild cognitive impairment: the Italian longitudinal study on aging. J Alzheimers Dis. 2015 July [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.3233/JAD-150333.