Coffee in the fight against Parkinson’s

The latest research appears to indicate that there is a link between drinking coffee and protecting drinkers from the threat of Parkinson’s disease, the world’s fastest growing neurological degenerative condition.

The study conducted by the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston studied people with a genetic risk of developing Parkinson’s. These people have the LRRK2 gene mutation and previous studies had found that those without it and who drank coffee were given limited protection from Parkinson’s. The new research, however, seem to indicate that even those with the LRRK2 mutation have some level of protection afforded by drinking coffee.

Grace Crotty, who led the study said: ““These results are promising and encourage future research exploring caffeine and caffeine-related therapies to lessen the chance that people with this gene develop Parkinson’s,” said study author Grace Crotty, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“It’s also possible that caffeine levels in the blood could be used as a biomarker to help identify which people with this gene will develop the disease, assuming caffeine levels remain relatively stable.”