Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share by Email
Print
HealthDay News — A study of more than 1,400 Italian seniors has found a link between patterns of coffee consumption and risk for mild cognitive impairment. The findings are reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Vincenzo Solfrizzi, MD, PhD, of the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy, and colleagues looked at the coffee consumption of 1,445 Italians aged 65 to 84 years. The participants’ mental health was also tracked for a median of three-and-a-half years.
The research team found that people who consistently drank about one or two cups of coffee per day had a lower rate of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than those who never or rarely consumed coffee. The beneficial association was not found among people whose habitual coffee intake exceeded two cups per day, Solfrizzi’s group added.
The rate of MCI rose over time for seniors who increased their daily intake by a cup of coffee or more daily. Those participants had a rate of MCI that was about one-and-a-half times higher than that of long-term, moderate coffee drinkers (one to two cups per day) whose daily intake didn’t increase.
“Older individuals who never or rarely consumed coffee and those who increased their coffee consumption habits had a higher risk of developing MCI” compared to moderate coffee drinkers, according to the study authors.
