According to two new studies, caffeine and insulin were the found to be effective in reducing the potential impact of Alzheimer’s disease. Insulin treatment reduced and even prevented the process of memory loss from Alzheimer’s, which is caused by toxic proteins that affect the hippocampus.

 

For the first study, scientists analyzed the effects of insulin on toxic proteins that affect the neurons from the hippocampus, the brain structure responsible for memory. They observed that by treating these neurons with insulin and the insulin-sensitizing drug rosiglitazone, the toxic proteins called ADDLs were kept from attacking the neurons, which lead to the protection of the synapses considered crucial for memory.

 

The study showed that increased levels of insulin were linked to a protection shield against the damages from Alzheimer’s. The researchers used insulin and the diabetes drug Avandia, a common treatment for type II diabetics, used to increase the effects of the hormone on cells.

 

Another interesting idea to keep in mind is that Alzheimer’s may be a third form of diabetes. “Recognizing that Alzheimer's disease is a type of brain diabetes points the way to novel discoveries that may finally result in disease-modifying treatments for this devastating disease,” Sergio T. Ferreira, co-author of the study and a professor of biochemistry in Rio de Janeiro was quoted as saying.

The study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was carried out by a team of researchers at Northwestern University in the US and the University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

 

A second study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, has found that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of cognitive diseases, as well as certain cancers and diabetes.

According to the study, which included 1,4000 participants followed for an extended period of 20 years, middle-aged adults who drank at least three cups of coffee per day were up to two-thirds less likely than those who did not dink coffee to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

 The study only points to the association between coffee consumption and dementia risk, it does not prove a cause and effect correlation.

The researchers speculate that the phenomenon may be associated with the fact that coffee drinkers may have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, one of the diseases that are linked to an increased risk of dementia.

 

Active ingredients in coffee were found to protect the cells of the brain by blocking receptors for a chemical called adenosine. Previous studies have shown that the benefits of coffee consumption increase with age: coffee drinkers may be up to 30 percent less likely to suffer from memory decline at age 65 and rising to 70 percent less likely over age 80. Experts suggest that caffeine could slow the dementia process rather than preventing it. Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid which behaves like a psychoactive stimulant drug. The substance can be found in coffee, but also in guarana, mate, and tea.