For the past nine years, September has been designated World Alzheimer’s Month by Alzheimer’s Disease International – in case you missed Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month in June or want to get ahead of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in November. Not exactly something to set off fireworks over, but it’s related to a positive trend, the fact that all over the world, people are living longer. Which means a larger proportion of the earth’s population is over 70 and that means that age-related diseases are increasing, notably dementia, most of it Alzheimer’s. The percentage of the world’s senior population living with Alzheimer’s is growing, very unevenly from one country to another in Japan for example, only 7% of 75-79 year olds have some form of cognitive decline, while in Finland the proportion is over 33%. In the US, 10% of people over 65 and 33% of those over 85 are afflicted with Alzheimer’s and the worldwide total is 56 million. So, Alzheimer’s is a big deal, socially and economically, plus it’s a terrible trauma for families.
But even within that scenario, there’s good news. According to a ton of academic and industry studies (over 19,000 so far) there’s an easy route to preventing or at least slowing down cognitive decline, and it’s as simple as drinking 3-5 cups of coffee a day. Caveat: you must start during the loosely defined period known as “middle age.” If that sounds like your age group, start upping your coffee consumption now because research shows the disease starts in the brain 20 years before any symptoms appear. Alzheimer’s is caused by an accumulation and eventual glomming together of amyloid proteins, which build up over time with all the normal metabolic processes of life, especially ones like smoking, fast food-binging, and lack of exercise. These agglomerations, along with tau tangles (not a new dance fad, but rather twisted fibers caused by tau proteins) cut off oxygen and kill brain cells. Studies also show that once you start to dodder, you can slow down the deterioration, but the existing damage is probably irreversible.
For years, scientific data analysis strongly indicated coffee’s cell-protecting qualities. Coffee is also shown to decrease the risk of diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and multiple cancers. But coffee doesn’t always get the credit it deserves.
You may be aware of a time when medical research actually blamed excessive coffee drinking for high blood pressure and heart and liver disease. Well, meta-analysis of those studies later found that big coffee consumers in those studies were controlled for high consumption of alcohol and cigarettes, and it is hypothesized that they were all Beat Generation novelists (smokers tend to drink more coffee than non-smokers according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). More rigorous subsequent studies of coffee consumption controlled for nicotine and alcohol. Once those were eliminated, the benefits that shone through were largely attributed to caffeine with an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee containing between 80 and 200mg of caffeine and the average estimated caffeine content about 100mg.
Two early studies of both elderly and younger adult subjects found that caffeine improves attention span, psychomotor performance, and cognitive function, as well as feelings of wellbeing in the elderly. The elderly appeared more sensitive to the protective effects of caffeine on declining mental performance over time than younger subjects”
A 2018 paper in Frontiers in Neuroscience stated that “Coffee consumption has been correlated with a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. We hypothesize that compounds found in brewed coffee may elicit neuroprotective effects.” Stats coming from the Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study showed that consumption of caffeinated coffee was significantly related to slower cognitive decline in older women with vascular disorders but other caffeinated products such as tea, cola and cocoa were not. So, what does coffee have that other caffeinated beverages do not?
Coffee contains quite a few neuroactive and antioxidant compounds, including chlorogenic acid, niacin (a B vitamin), potassium, and possibly the most beneficial of all, trigonelline. A potent antioxidant, trigonelline does everything from reduce blood sugar to improve memory and reduce platelet aggregation, one of the causes of Alzheimer’s. Iirc, quinic, and caffeic acids are responsible for many of the other neuroprotective qualities of coffee. So, caffeine is not the be all and end all of coffee’s benefits, but it is still important, especially in combination with the other compounds. In fact, caffeinated coffee contains 60% more chlorogenic acids than decaffeinated coffee.
Caffeinated coffee helps the brain control the bacteria-devouring action of neutrophils. You’d think that anything that scarfs up bacteria would be great. But neutrophils trigger inflammation, the immune system’s go-to response to any kind of microbial attack. Inflammation has its good points, but too much of a good thing can be like flooding your house to put out a fire. This is only one example of how these molecules set off different reactions in the cells, regulate each other’s actions, and step in to interfere with bad actions from various chemicals and components produced in the brain. In short, it’s a constant battle with complex strategies among the active components. The bottom line is the ones contained in coffee have so far proved to be pretty much always on the right side. Yes, roasted coffee does contain the potentially carcinogenic chemical acrylamide, but the US Food and Drug Administration declared acrylamide levels in coffee safe. Instant coffee contains double the amount of acrylamides of brewed coffee.
Scientists identified approximately 1,000 antioxidants in unprocessed coffee beans, and hundreds more that develop during the roasting process. The roasting process also reduces acrylamides. A 6-ounce cup of coffee contains between 200-550mg of antioxidants. That’s more than green tea. The 2012 Nutritional Prevention of Cognitive Decline Congress listed coffee, tea, B vitamins, omega-3 acids, and vitamin D among top beneficial substances.
Some researchers assert that polyphenols and antioxidants are the main health compounds in coffee, not caffeine. This is a never-ending debate. Quercetin, a coffee flavonoid, is also reported to have antioxidant properties which help mitigate inflammation and hypoxia (insufficient oxygen) in the brain. One of the things that can cause Alzheimer’s, is oxidative stress (like hypoxia), which is what antioxidants fight.
Researchers looked at what happens when the brain is starved of oxygen, and how caffeine affects the brain’s response. Oxygen deprivation sends the brain cells into panic mode, similar to what happens to a brain with Alzheimer’s. In response, the brain triggers the release of a chemical called adenosine, which sets off production of harmful enzymes that cause inflammation. Caffeine interferes with this reaction by blocking the cells’ ability to recognize adenosine. This reduces the level of inflammation and helps maintain the brain’s ability to function.
However, one study suggested that roasting may alter the polyphenolic profile of the beans, reducing their antioxidant activity. In 8 out of the 13 varieties in the study, roasting increased free radical scavenging activity. (That’s good.) On the other hand, in 5 of the varieties, roasting reduced the antioxidant activity (bad).
Fortunately, we don’t have to worry our pretty little heads over these complex processes because a multitude of universities and research centers are constantly generating data and coming up with solutions and improvements to varieties and processing. Coffee scientist Joseph Rivera, founder of CoffeeChemistry.com and former director of science and technology at the Specialty Coffee Association of America, says that chlorogenic acid content in arabica has a lot to do with how the coffee is grown, as well as the roasting process. Temperature variations that place stress on the plants increase chlorogenic production, he says. Rivera also notes that the cellular density of the coffee bean’s matrix further preserves chlorogenic acids during roasting. Andrew Salisbury, founder and c.e.o. Purity Coffee and Ildi Revi, director of coffee dedicated their brand to optimizing the health benefits of the coffee, they export. They say their rigorous sourcing is part of how they have managed to increase antioxidant levels in their coffee to up to 50% above average.
All of which bodes extremely well for the future of coffee’s superpowers in fighting Alzheimer’s disease. The world is sure going to need it.
Discovered in 1932, chlorogenic acids (CGA) represent a large family of esterified compounds present in green and roasted coffee. During roasting, CGA’s slowly decompose to form caffeic and quinic acid with about 50% of the original CGA being destroyed in a medium roast.