Category: Dementia

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.

Drinking higher amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, research suggests.

Coffee was linked to reduced levels of amyloid plaques in the brain — these are thought to be key to Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.

People who drank coffee also had higher levels of cognitive function.

Another recent study found that drinking tea or coffee may reduce the risk of stroke and dementia by around one-third.

Dr Samantha Gardener, the study’s first author, explained:

“We found participants with no memory impairments and with higher coffee consumption at the start of the study had lower risk of transitioning to mild cognitive impairment—which often precedes Alzheimer’s disease—or developing Alzheimer’s disease over the course of the study.”

Drinking coffee could be an easy way to delay Alzheimer’s disease, Dr Gardener said:

“It’s a simple thing that people can change.

It could be particularly useful for people who are at risk of cognitive decline but haven’t developed any symptoms.

We might be able to develop some clear guidelines people can follow in middle age and hopefully it could then have a lasting effect.”

Increase to two cups

The study suggests that for a person drinking one cup of coffee a day, it may be worth increasing to two cups a day.

Dr Gardener said:

“If the average cup of coffee made at home is 240g, increasing to two cups a day could potentially lower cognitive decline by eight percent after 18 months.

It could also see a five percent decrease in amyloid accumulation in the brain over the same time period.”

However, the study wasn’t able to determine the maximum number of cups of coffee that is beneficial or whether caffeination or adding milk make any difference.

Dr Gardener said:

“We need to evaluate whether coffee intake could one day be recommended as a lifestyle factor aimed at delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Gardener et al., 2021).

This pursuit slows and can even reverse age-related physical and mental decline.

Dancing keeps your brain young, research finds.

Compared with exercise like cycling and Nordic walking, dancing has more profound effects.

Dr Kathrin Rehfeld, lead author of the study, said:

“Exercise has the beneficial effect of slowing down or even counteracting age-related decline in mental and physical capacity.

In this study, we show that two different types of physical exercise (dancing and endurance training) both increase the area of the brain that declines with age.

In comparison, it was only dancing that lead to noticeable behavioral changes in terms of improved balance.”

Hippocampus boost

People in the study had an average age of 68.

For 18 months, they either went to weekly dance classes or they had endurance and flexibility training.

Brain scans revealed the exercise was beneficial for both groups, but the dancing gave a bigger boost.

The hippocampus — the area linked to memory — increased in size.

The endurance program was quite repetitive, with a lot of Nordic walking and cycling.

Dr Rehfeld said the dancing was different:

“We tried to provide our seniors in the dance group with constantly changing dance routines of different genres (Jazz, Square, Latin-American and Line Dance).

Steps, arm-patterns, formations, speed and rhythms were changed every second week to keep them in a constant learning process.

The most challenging aspect for them was to recall the routines under the pressure of time and without any cues from the instructor.”

Dancing is challenging

The extra challenge linked to learning to dance is thought to be the cause of the extra benefit.

Dr Rehfeld said:

“Right now, we are evaluating a new system called “Jymmin” (jamming and gymnastic).

This is a sensor-based system which generates sounds (melodies, rhythm) based on physical activity.

We know that dementia patients react strongly when listening to music.

We want to combine the promising aspects of physical activity and active music making in a feasibility study with dementia patients.”

Dr Rehfeld concluded:

“I believe that everybody would like to live an independent and healthy life, for as long as possible.

Physical activity is one of the lifestyle factors that can contribute to this, counteracting several risk factors and slowing down age-related decline.

I think dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Rehfeld et al., 2017).