What happens to the brain when you maintain a daily coffee drinking habit?

A large-scale study published in the journal JAMA , spanning several years, found that moderate caffeine consumption was associated with a lower risk of dementia and a slower progression of cognitive decline.

Drinking caffeine every day may reduce the risk of dementia by 18%.

The study analyzed data from approximately 132,000 participants, who were followed for 43 years.

Those who reported the highest caffeine consumption saw an 18% lower risk of developing dementia compared to the group who consumed very little or no caffeine. They also performed better on cognitive function assessments.

Notably, the study found no such association in those who consumed decaffeinated beverages, suggesting that caffeine may be the contributing factor to these benefits.

However, this result does not mean that consuming large amounts of coffee daily can help maintain long-term cognitive ability.

Experts suggest that the most noticeable positive effects on cognition were observed in the group who drank about 2-3 cups of coffee or 1-2 cups of tea per day.

While caffeine use may be associated with some neurological benefits, moderate caffeine consumption cannot replace other brain health protection measures.

The link between caffeine and brain health has been found in numerous studies.

This result provides additional data, thereby strengthening the evidence already documented in previous studies.

A large-scale analysis of over 200,000 people by the UK Biobank found that coffee drinkers had a 34% lower risk of Alzheimer's and a 37% lower risk of Parkinson's compared to non-coffee drinkers, when the coffee was consumed in its caffeinated form without added sugar.

Another study noted that consuming about 3 cups of coffee a day was associated with an average lifespan increase of nearly 2 years.

Additionally, an independent study noted that individuals with hypertension who consumed approximately 4-5 cups of tea per day had the lowest risk of dementia.

An analysis was conducted based on health data from 86,606 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study and 45,215 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, two large-scale projects implemented since the 1980s.

Participants' caffeine consumption was estimated through a food frequency questionnaire, administered periodically every 2-4 years.

In addition, they were also surveyed about changes related to memory, concentration, and other cognitive functions.

Approximately 17,000 participants completed cognitive function tests via telephone, which were administered multiple times throughout the follow-up period.

Of the 131,821 participants, 11,033 cases of dementia were recorded during the follow-up period. Analysis showed that the group with the highest caffeine consumption had an 18% lower risk of developing the disease compared to the group with the lowest consumption.

Notably, the results did not find a clear association between high caffeine consumption and negative effects.

Instead, health benefits tend to plateau, meaning that high consumption does not yield significantly better results than moderate use.

This finding differs from some previous studies, which have noted that consuming more than six cups of coffee per day may be associated with a higher risk of dementia.

Like many other observational studies, this study shows an association but cannot definitively confirm that drinking coffee directly reduces the risk of dementia.

During the analysis, the research team took into account various other lifestyle factors such as diet, medical history, and family history.

However, scientists believe that more research is needed to clarify the link between caffeine and dementia, as well as the biological mechanisms that may be involved.

"We conducted comparisons between groups with different genetic risk levels for dementia and found similar results. This suggests that consuming coffee or caffeine may offer similar benefits in both high-risk and low-risk groups," said Yu Zhang, the study's author.