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Turns out your coffee addiction may be doing your brain a favor

43 pointsby Bendertoday at 12:52 PM20 commentsview on HN

Comments

jader201today at 2:44 PM

Actual study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/28447...

”After adjusting for potential confounders and pooling results across cohorts, higher caffeinated coffee intake was significantly associated with lower dementia risk (141 vs 330 cases per 100 000 person-years comparing the fourth [highest] quartile of consumption with the first [lowest] quartile; hazard ratio, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.76 to 0.89]) and lower prevalence of subjective cognitive decline (7.8% vs 9.5%, respectively; prevalence ratio, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.78 to 0.93]).”

So about 18% relative reduction. But if your risks are already low (e.g. active and healthy diet) the relative reduction is less impactful (e.g. 4% to 3.28%).

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rf15today at 1:54 PM

Is that right? Isn't it more related to the fact that people in education/etc. actually drink more coffee for culture reasons but also use their brain more? could that be the actual reason? Because I don't see how all the coffee zombies in my workplace would last longer long term when they're already useless and aggressive today (until they had their coffee)

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trollbridgetoday at 3:19 PM

Coffee, like other beans, is loaded to the hilt with antioxidants, particularly once it’s hyper-concentrated, and the roasting and brewing process eliminates all the mechanisms beans normally use to avoid animals wanting to eat them.

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cineticdaffodiltoday at 2:16 PM

Then again if you have dementia, you are highly likely to lesve the office environment and any study, thus reversing causality.

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storustoday at 3:12 PM

Isn't this all about brain hypoperfusion coming from some sort of dysautonomia and/or mitochondrial dysfunction and worse blood vessels as we age? We know that medication that helps blood flow and endothelium improves brain long-term, like sildenafil.

steve_taylortoday at 2:19 PM

Only a few years ago, there was a study showing that regular caffeine use reduces blood flow to the brain by up to 30%, leading to lower brain volume and increased risk of dementia.

qwertyuiop_today at 3:12 PM

Does decaf have the same effects ?

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