Fed: Coffee drinking may help prevent Parkinson s Disease

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2000
Fed: Coffee drinking may help prevent Parkinson s Disease

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - Men who drink coffee have lower rates of Parkinson's Disease,
a Hawaiian study has found.

The long term study of 8,000 Japanese-American men has found people who consume caffeine
have lower rates of Parkinson's.

The men were first recruited in the late 1960s aged between 45 and 68 years. Their
consumption of coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolate was recorded when they were recruited,
after six years and after 30 years.

"The coffee drinkers in the study were significantly less likely to develop Parkinson's
Disease and the larger the amount of coffee consumed the greater the effect," the researchers
said.

Non coffee drinkers were two to three times more likely to develop Parkinson's than
coffee drinkers and 10 times more likely than those who consumed large amounts (more than
840ml per day).

Men in the study who didn't drink coffee but consumed some caffeine in other forms
also had lower disease rates but they were not statistically significant - possibly because
of the small number of people in this category.

The benefit of coffee could be that caffeine stimulated the nervous system in a way
that counteracted the degenerative effects of Parkinson's or coffee drinkers could still
get Parkinson's but caffeine might mask the symptoms such as tremor and muscular rigidity.

Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that becomes more common with ageing.

Both genetic and environmental factors can cause it with environmental factors more
important for late-onset of the disease.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant.

AAP eg/cjh

KEYWORD: COFFEE

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.