Coffee and Parkinson's

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject: coffee and PD

Here is an article from a local paper relating to coffee and PD. http://healthzone.ca/health/article/460119 * 4 cups (32 ounces) of java a day can cut your diabetes risk by a third, possibly by improving insulin's effects. * 3 cups (24 ounces) a day drops protects your brain, dropping your risk of Parkinson's disease by 40 per cent and Alzheimer's disease by 20 per cent. * 2 cups (16 ounces) a day keeps your liver healthy, as it filters out pollutants, makes protein, warehouses extra carbs and vitamins, and helps produce bile needed to digest fat. Comments? Jim
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Kathrynne Holden, MS, RDJoined: 22 Jan 2007Posts: 94Location: www.nutritionucanlivewith.com
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:33 am Post subject:

Dear Jim, Generalizations are useful, but not law by any means. Coffee is fine, and indeed there are studies associating it with lowered risk for PD and other diseases; however, there are many thousands of lifelong coffee drinkers with PD. One could make as good a case for drinking tea, or for caffeine alone (see below). If you will search “Dietitian” archives, you will find many studies on turmeric/curcumin, as well as tea, neither of which will prevent PD, but both of which I believe are preferable to coffee. 1) Study Examines Effects of Tea Intake on Parkinson's Disease Development Tan LC, Koh W-P, Yuan J-M, et al. Differential effects of black versus green tea on risk of Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Am J Epidemiol. March 1, 2008;167(5):553-560. Studies have shown that caffeine in coffee may improve motor deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease by blocking adenosine A2 receptors. Small case-studies have shown that tea may reduce the risk of late-onset Parkinson's disease. It is not known what ingredient in tea mediates this effect. The high prevalence of black and green tea consumption among the Chinese population makes this population ideal for evaluating the effect of tea on Parkinson's disease. This report is based on data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, which is a population based cohort established between April 1993 and December 1998. The cohort includes 63,257 ethnic Chinese aged 45-75 years who reside in government-built housing estates. The participants completed a food frequency questionnaire that listed 165 food items or groups of commonly consumed Chinese foods. The authors developed a food-nutrient database that provided the nutrient levels of 96 components per 100 grams of cooked food and beverages. The mean daily intake of caffeine and other nutrients for each subject was computed. Cigarette smoking was also assessed. Subjects reported new cases of Parkinson's disease. Cigarette smoking was strongly associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Never smokers had a higher risk, former smokers had an intermediate risk, and current smokers had a low risk. Among ever smokers, beginning smoking at an earlier age and smoking a higher number of cigarettes per day were associated with a lower risk. Approximately 50% of the subjects drank tea at least once a week, with approximately one-third drinking only green tea, one-third drinking only black tea, and one-third drinking both types of tea. However, in this cohort coffee was the main source of caffeine exposure, with 70% of the population drinking coffee on a daily basis. Total caffeine intake exhibited a significant (P = 0.002), dose-dependent inverse association with Parkinson's disease risk—the greater the caffeine intake, the lower the risk of Parkinson's disease. The caffeine content in coffee was responsible for its effect. In contrast, black tea consumption was associated with a reduced risk, irrespective of the total caffeine intake or cigarette smoking. There was no association between green tea consumption and Parkinson's disease risk. Subjects with high intake of both caffeine and black tea had the lowest risk of developing Parkinson's disease. None of the other macro- and micronutrients in any of the consumed foods or beverages had a strong dietary influence on development of Parkinson's disease. The authors conclude that ingredients in black tea, other than caffeine, reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease. The authors speculate that the protective effect of black tea may be mediated by an estrogen-related pathway. Parkinson's disease rates are lower among women (women have higher levels of circulating estrogens then men) and in the cohort circulating estrogens were highest among regular black tea drinkers and lowest in regular green tea drinkers. A limitation of the study was that it did not have any data on duration of coffee or tea intake. These results are consistent with findings in Western populations. —Heather S. Oliff, PhD 2) Green tea antioxidant may help prevent Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s An antioxidant found in green tea appears to prevent the development of amyloid fibrils, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, a new study finds. Amyloid plaque is commonly seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and appears to disrupt the function of cells. Strategies to prevent the development of amyloid plaque are one avenue being explored in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's. Now, a German team says the tea antioxidant, called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), has potent anti-plaque ability. ""We can use small molecules like EGCG to convert certain misfolded structures of a protein into a new type of molecule, which is less toxic or not toxic for cells,"" said lead researcher Erich Wanker, from the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. The findings are published in the May 30 online edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. The accumulation of amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's, are thought to be caused by the misfolding of certain proteins, which then become toxic to cells. The way proteins fold is key to their function, the researchers explained. In experiments in the laboratory, the German team found that EGCG seems to change potentially harmful proteins into proteins that are not detrimental to brain cells. ""We are able to convert a toxic structure into a less toxic structure,"" Wanker explained. Because EGCG binds to unfolded proteins -- which are not associated with Alzheimer's -- the discovery could lead to medications that recognize the more troublesome proteins and convert them to harmless substances. ""This method could be more generally used to get rid of or remove the concentration of misfolded proteins in cells,"" Wanker said. ""This strategy should be tested with patients. If treated early on, it could prevent the formation of amyloid plaque,"" he speculated. Whether this type of treatment could reverse plaques that have already formed in the brain isn't known, Wanker said. He noted that the study remains basic science, and he was cautious about recommending green tea as a way of preventing Alzheimer's disease. ""I don't want to do a lot of speculating which could point people in the direction that could be harmful,"" Wanker said. ""We have to go step-by-step."" One expert believes the approach could yield real results, however. ""Yellow curry and green tea have suspected health benefits because of high content of antioxidants,"" said Greg M. Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He was not involved in the study. ""This study provides evidence that a compound called EGCG, one of the major polyphenols in green tea, may be useful for diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, because it can block the formation of the filament-forming protein aggregates implicated in causing disease,"" Cole said. One novel aspect of the study is the authors' demonstration that EGCG prevents toxic filament formation by redirecting the aggregating proteins to make non-toxic proteins, Cole said. ""This is surprising, because similar protein aggregate spheres called amyloid oligomers can be highly toxic to neurons and synapses,"" Cole said. ""It will be important for the authors to prove that the EGCG-directed proteins also lack toxicity to synapses which were not present in the systems used to test toxicity,"" he said. Assuming that the green tea compound has a stable effect and chronically blocks toxicity to real neurons and synapses, it could have genuine potential for Alzheimer's patients, Cole said. ""The major caveat is the very poor absorption and delivery of EGCG seen in some studies,"" Cole said. The fact that EGCG isn't available for patenting by pharmaceutical companies might be a problem, too, he said, since it could ""limit the investment needed for clinical trials of sufficient size to prove that it really works."" In related research, a team of American scientists said that interrupting a key signaling pathway in immune system cells allowed those cells to enter the brain and attack and remove amyloid plaque. Reporting May 30 in Nature Medicine, a team led by research scientist Terrence Town, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, conducted their study in genetically engineered mice. The group blocked a molecule that typically suppresses a portion of the immune response. Once the system was freed up, immune cells called macrophages made their way to the brains and devoured up to 90 percent of amyloid plaques, the team said. ""If these experimental animals are representative of the clinical syndrome of Alzheimer's disease, we may have a therapeutic target that we did not have before,"" study co-author Dr. Jun Tan, of the University of South Florida, said in a statement. http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=170128_________________Best regards, Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD -- For a Parkinson Tip of the Day visit: http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/
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Anonymous
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:12 pm Post subject:

Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD wrote:
Dear Jim, Generalizations are useful, but not law by any means. Coffee is fine, and indeed there are studies associating it with lowered risk for PD and other diseases; however, there are many thousands of lifelong coffee drinkers with PD.I think "statistics" are often over-rated. With a world of variables - things we eat, drink, absorb, manufacture ourselves, etc - it's hard to see how researchers can assume so much based on such things as coffee consumption. And in the end statistics offer nothing of certainty or even probability in individual cases, if a person gets a disease the "odds" of them not getting it are irrelevant. :) I love a good coffee in the morning but otherwise don't drink it much. Thanks for the info. Jim