Caffeine reverses memory loss?

Caffeine given daily to ageing mice with Alzheimer's reversed their memory loss, says a new study.

The new findings provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a protective strategy," said study author Gary Arendash, University of South Florida (USF).

"That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process," he added.

Buoyed by these findings, Florida researchers hope to begin human trials to evaluate their effectiveness in people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease, said Huntington Potter, investigator for the caffeine studies.

The research group has already determined that caffeine administered to elderly non-demented humans quickly affects their blood levels of Beta-amyloid, just as it did in the Alzheimer's mice.

"These are some of the most promising Alzheimer's mouse experiments ever done showing that caffeine rapidly reduces Beta-amyloid protein in the blood, an effect that is mirrored in the brain, and this reduction is linked to cognitive benefit," Potter said.

"Our goal is to obtain the funding needed to translate the therapeutic discoveries in mice into well-designed clinical trials," he added, according to an USF release.

Arendash and colleagues became interested in caffeine's potential for treating

Alzheimer's, after a Portuguese study reported that people with Alzheimer's had consumed less caffeine over the last 20 years than people without the

neuro-degenerative disease.

These findings were published online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Last updated on Jul 6^th, 2009 at 11:09 am IST--IANS