6 ms·

Drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day tied to lower dementia risk

59 points by busymom0 8mo ago

cushpush 8mo ago
Who funded this research? Big Coffee?
- Bender 8mo ago
  I too was curious because I could not access the funding section so I asked Gemini since I figured it would have access and it said: - According to the funding and disclosure sections of the article, the research was primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). and then - The Nurses’ Health Study (NHS): Supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). - The Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS): Supported by grants from the NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). - Specific Grants: Additional funding for the analysis of cognitive decline and dementia outcomes often comes from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). All the coffee I drink was freeze dried several years ago before prices went up.
achandlerwhite 8mo ago
correlation does not equal causation
- iberator 8mo ago
  unless it does. I hate when people say that without having 0 clue how science works.
- acheron 8mo ago
  Makes you wonder why we even have research universities when their results can be so easily DESTROYED with FACTS and LOGIC by HN’s top JavaScript developers and vibe coders.
recursivecaveat 8mo ago
The abstract mentions controls, but unfortunately I can't access the actual paper to see what they are. This seems really hard to isolate. Loneliness, inactivity, and depression are huge risk factors for dementia. Drinking caffeine in the morning seems like a really good proxy for whether an individual has somewhere to be that day. Definitely not 100% of course, but highly correlated.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- opan 8mo ago
  >Drinking caffeine in the morning seems like a really good proxy for whether an individual has somewhere to be that day. Anecdotally, on a Sunday morning with 8 hours of sleep and no plans, I'm still going to caffeinate at least once, probably with breakfast. If I'm trying to stay up a long time or am sleep deprived I may caffeinate 2 or 3 times that day. I don't typically take a whole day off of caffeine based on my plans. If I have a doctor's appointment and am not supposed to eat/drink, I'll still do it later when I get back home.
  - chrisandchris 8mo ago
    If we would create a field study, I could represent the control group. I drink tea on working days and coffee ond non-working days.
nabbed 8mo ago
I might be in a higher risk group then: I can drink at most 1 coffee per morning (I love coffee but coffee doesn't love me). In addition, the only anti-allergy pill that works for me is a first generation allergy medicine (chlorpheniramine) that's strongly associated with increased chance of dementia. I could stop taking chlorpheniramine, but then my nose would keep me up at night, and poor sleep is also associated with increased chance of dementia. So I am hoping there are confounding factors in all these studies, such that it's not coffee per se that helps with dementia but rather something along the lines of "the type of person who desires coffee is less likely to develop dementia".
- zafka 8mo ago
  I am curious(because I get stuffed up a lot also) Do you know what is causing your stuffiness?
  - nabbed 8mo ago
    Good question, I never had an allergy study done. I do complain regularly to my primary doctor, but he has not referred me to an allergist (yet). It's probably brought on by something found indoors in most places. It's not seasonal, it's everyday. I have allergies no matter where I am (my home, some hotel, other people's homes, in my home province, in other provinces, in other countries).
- banach 8mo ago
  In case you haven't read it, I can recommend https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12216/my-house-killing-me https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12216/my-house-killing... for ideas on what is causing your allergy.
  - nabbed 8mo ago
    It's in my local library. I'll check it out. Thanks.
- throwawaytea 8mo ago
  I know HN hates anecdotal health advice.. especially natural stuff.. but order yourself some Stinging Nettle powder or grounds, loose, and make yourself a decently strong tea everyday. I personally drink a liter, but I've had friends helped by just one cup daily. I had strong seasonal allergies that for 3-5 months of the year would leave me in sneezing fits, or drooling liquid out of my nose, or just with a constant itch in my nose. After years of stinging nettle drinking, on the worst days I have small symptoms. A skeptical friend was finally convinced when we went hiking in an area that started to even bother him, someone who had almost no allergies ever, yet I had half of his reaction.. and he had known how sensitive I was prior. Obviously there are many types of allergies and who knows if it works for you.. but worth a shot.
perrygeo 8mo ago
The proposed mechanism is polyphenols. Historically, you'd get your polyphenols from your garden or wild gathering. But we know that industrial crops (even organic grown) have extremely low polyphenol content compared to their wild counterparts. So coffee remains as one of the few strong sources you can buy in a grocery store. Hypothesis: Polyphenols from other sources would be just as protective as coffee.
- moritzwarhier 8mo ago
  > Coffee and tea contain bioactive ingredients like polyphenols and caffeine There are also studies that nicotine lowers dementia risk. Since caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants related to similar receptors, I wouldn't discount this other mechanism. I'm not saying anything about general healthiness of caffeine though.
  - nwah1 8mo ago
    Would be interesting to know whether theacrine or paraxanthine can provide the same neuroprotection without as much downsides.
  - srean 8mo ago
    > There are also studies that nicotine lowers dementia risk. It has been found to be negatively correlated with Parkinson's disease also. Does it not adversely affect cardiovascular health ? Even if it did, I would prefer keeping my mind and mobility.
    - moritzwarhier 8mo ago
      Sorry it wasn't clear, I was not advocating for anything here, certainly not that people should smoke to prevent dementia. Large quantities of nicotine are poisonous (just like caffeine) and it is addictive (more so than caffeine). Regarding cardiovascular health, I'm not sure. As far as I know, nicotine itself is safe unless overdosed, but smoking and vaping of course is unhealthy. I like coffee, and drinking to much of it is also unhealthy. However, I love to remind myself of all the pop-sci articles saying that 2-3 cups are healthy when I'm making myself my 5th or 6th cup for the day.
butterlettuce 8mo ago
I really don’t appreciate BigCoffee pushing their anxiety juice on me. Ever since I stopped drinking that mini-panic-attack potion, my heart hasn’t skipped a beat, my sleep has been great and I don’t feel tired all the time. Hopefully one day people wake up (haha) and dump it the way we’ve dumped cigarettes.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- PostOnce 8mo ago
  To each his own, but also: All things in moderation; I drink a cup or two a day, but only before lunch, never after, and I eat beforehand. If I don't eat, or I have too many coffees together, I get the anxiety you mention. If I have coffee after lunch, it affects my sleep. But, accounting for those things and mitigating them, I now not only get the benefit of coffee (if there is one), I get the social benefit of having coffee with people.
- Jonovono 8mo ago
  It’s so dumb. It literally creates the problem just so it can solve it (same as cigarettes). People say they need coffee for energy. If you stopped drinking coffee you would have steady energy throughout the entire day !!
  - kitchi 8mo ago
    This isn't strictly true. Multiple studies have shown that coffee reliably acts to increase alertness and can often boost mood. Alertness isn't the same thing as energy, which is why people who drink a lot of coffee often feel tired but "wired". The brain is alert but energy is low. Abstaining from coffee can "reset" the nervous system to an extent, but alertness and energy is largely determined by insulin levs in the body. So figuring out what works for you with diet is a much better way of getting more stable energy through the day, regardless of caffeine intake.
  - echelon_musk 8mo ago
    Can confirm. Currently in week 3 of caffeine detox. The first week is brutal but by now I am waking up with energy even if I don't get a full 8hrs of sleep.
oriettaxx 8mo ago
and the other way around? dementia tied to stop drinking coffee after a full life with coffee?
jrootabega 8mo ago
Translating from normie, sounds like 30-50g of beans, assuming a "cup" is 8 floz. and the water:coffee ratio is 15:1. Assuming Arabica, that's 450-750mg of caffeine.
- asyx 8mo ago
  Doing the lords work here. Thanks.
- jrootabega 8mo ago
  I should heavily qualify this by saying that I don't think the study (which I have no access to) measured it this precisely or specifically. I think it was just people reporting roughly how many "cups" per day they drank over 40+ years. I guess I just get annoyed when I see "cups" as a unit of coffee science/health.
ChrisArchitect 8mo ago
[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953114 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953114
GlibMonkeyDeath 8mo ago
I can't get access to the full article either to see how they adjusted for confounding (which they said they did) - but I thought this tidbit was interesting: https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/consuming-coffee-associated-with-lower-dementia-risk https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-r... “We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results—meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia,” said lead author Yu Zhang That seems like it indicates there is some real, independent signal here. Off to make some coffee!
htx80nerd 8mo ago
very likely just the caffeine.
Rebelgecko 8mo ago
I don't have access to the full story, but I'm curious if it answers these naive questions: 1. Why did they source men and women from separate studies? 2. How can they tell the study's results aren't equivalent to "people with dementia are bad at logging their caffeine intake reliably"?

59 points by busymom0 8mo ago

cushpush 8mo ago

Who funded this research? Big Coffee?

Bender 8mo ago
I too was curious because I could not access the funding section so I asked Gemini since I figured it would have access and it said: - According to the funding and disclosure sections of the article, the research was primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). and then - The Nurses’ Health Study (NHS): Supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). - The Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS): Supported by grants from the NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). - Specific Grants: Additional funding for the analysis of cognitive decline and dementia outcomes often comes from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). All the coffee I drink was freeze dried several years ago before prices went up.

achandlerwhite 8mo ago

correlation does not equal causation

iberator 8mo ago
unless it does. I hate when people say that without having 0 clue how science works.
acheron 8mo ago
Makes you wonder why we even have research universities when their results can be so easily DESTROYED with FACTS and LOGIC by HN’s top JavaScript developers and vibe coders.

recursivecaveat 8mo ago

The abstract mentions controls, but unfortunately I can't access the actual paper to see what they are. This seems really hard to isolate. Loneliness, inactivity, and depression are huge risk factors for dementia. Drinking caffeine in the morning seems like a really good proxy for whether an individual has somewhere to be that day. Definitely not 100% of course, but highly correlated.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
opan 8mo ago
>Drinking caffeine in the morning seems like a really good proxy for whether an individual has somewhere to be that day. Anecdotally, on a Sunday morning with 8 hours of sleep and no plans, I'm still going to caffeinate at least once, probably with breakfast. If I'm trying to stay up a long time or am sleep deprived I may caffeinate 2 or 3 times that day. I don't typically take a whole day off of caffeine based on my plans. If I have a doctor's appointment and am not supposed to eat/drink, I'll still do it later when I get back home.
- chrisandchris 8mo ago
  If we would create a field study, I could represent the control group. I drink tea on working days and coffee ond non-working days.

nabbed 8mo ago

I might be in a higher risk group then: I can drink at most 1 coffee per morning (I love coffee but coffee doesn't love me). In addition, the only anti-allergy pill that works for me is a first generation allergy medicine (chlorpheniramine) that's strongly associated with increased chance of dementia. I could stop taking chlorpheniramine, but then my nose would keep me up at night, and poor sleep is also associated with increased chance of dementia. So I am hoping there are confounding factors in all these studies, such that it's not coffee per se that helps with dementia but rather something along the lines of "the type of person who desires coffee is less likely to develop dementia".

zafka 8mo ago
I am curious(because I get stuffed up a lot also) Do you know what is causing your stuffiness?
- nabbed 8mo ago
  Good question, I never had an allergy study done. I do complain regularly to my primary doctor, but he has not referred me to an allergist (yet). It's probably brought on by something found indoors in most places. It's not seasonal, it's everyday. I have allergies no matter where I am (my home, some hotel, other people's homes, in my home province, in other provinces, in other countries).
banach 8mo ago
In case you haven't read it, I can recommend https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12216/my-house-killing-me https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12216/my-house-killing... for ideas on what is causing your allergy.
- nabbed 8mo ago
  It's in my local library. I'll check it out. Thanks.
throwawaytea 8mo ago
I know HN hates anecdotal health advice.. especially natural stuff.. but order yourself some Stinging Nettle powder or grounds, loose, and make yourself a decently strong tea everyday. I personally drink a liter, but I've had friends helped by just one cup daily. I had strong seasonal allergies that for 3-5 months of the year would leave me in sneezing fits, or drooling liquid out of my nose, or just with a constant itch in my nose. After years of stinging nettle drinking, on the worst days I have small symptoms. A skeptical friend was finally convinced when we went hiking in an area that started to even bother him, someone who had almost no allergies ever, yet I had half of his reaction.. and he had known how sensitive I was prior. Obviously there are many types of allergies and who knows if it works for you.. but worth a shot.

perrygeo 8mo ago

The proposed mechanism is polyphenols. Historically, you'd get your polyphenols from your garden or wild gathering. But we know that industrial crops (even organic grown) have extremely low polyphenol content compared to their wild counterparts. So coffee remains as one of the few strong sources you can buy in a grocery store. Hypothesis: Polyphenols from other sources would be just as protective as coffee.

moritzwarhier 8mo ago
> Coffee and tea contain bioactive ingredients like polyphenols and caffeine There are also studies that nicotine lowers dementia risk. Since caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants related to similar receptors, I wouldn't discount this other mechanism. I'm not saying anything about general healthiness of caffeine though.
- nwah1 8mo ago
  Would be interesting to know whether theacrine or paraxanthine can provide the same neuroprotection without as much downsides.
- srean 8mo ago
  > There are also studies that nicotine lowers dementia risk. It has been found to be negatively correlated with Parkinson's disease also. Does it not adversely affect cardiovascular health ? Even if it did, I would prefer keeping my mind and mobility.
  - moritzwarhier 8mo ago
    Sorry it wasn't clear, I was not advocating for anything here, certainly not that people should smoke to prevent dementia. Large quantities of nicotine are poisonous (just like caffeine) and it is addictive (more so than caffeine). Regarding cardiovascular health, I'm not sure. As far as I know, nicotine itself is safe unless overdosed, but smoking and vaping of course is unhealthy. I like coffee, and drinking to much of it is also unhealthy. However, I love to remind myself of all the pop-sci articles saying that 2-3 cups are healthy when I'm making myself my 5th or 6th cup for the day.

butterlettuce 8mo ago

I really don’t appreciate BigCoffee pushing their anxiety juice on me. Ever since I stopped drinking that mini-panic-attack potion, my heart hasn’t skipped a beat, my sleep has been great and I don’t feel tired all the time. Hopefully one day people wake up (haha) and dump it the way we’ve dumped cigarettes.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
PostOnce 8mo ago
To each his own, but also: All things in moderation; I drink a cup or two a day, but only before lunch, never after, and I eat beforehand. If I don't eat, or I have too many coffees together, I get the anxiety you mention. If I have coffee after lunch, it affects my sleep. But, accounting for those things and mitigating them, I now not only get the benefit of coffee (if there is one), I get the social benefit of having coffee with people.
Jonovono 8mo ago
It’s so dumb. It literally creates the problem just so it can solve it (same as cigarettes). People say they need coffee for energy. If you stopped drinking coffee you would have steady energy throughout the entire day !!
- kitchi 8mo ago
  This isn't strictly true. Multiple studies have shown that coffee reliably acts to increase alertness and can often boost mood. Alertness isn't the same thing as energy, which is why people who drink a lot of coffee often feel tired but "wired". The brain is alert but energy is low. Abstaining from coffee can "reset" the nervous system to an extent, but alertness and energy is largely determined by insulin levs in the body. So figuring out what works for you with diet is a much better way of getting more stable energy through the day, regardless of caffeine intake.
- echelon_musk 8mo ago
  Can confirm. Currently in week 3 of caffeine detox. The first week is brutal but by now I am waking up with energy even if I don't get a full 8hrs of sleep.

oriettaxx 8mo ago

and the other way around? dementia tied to stop drinking coffee after a full life with coffee?

jrootabega 8mo ago

Translating from normie, sounds like 30-50g of beans, assuming a "cup" is 8 floz. and the water:coffee ratio is 15:1. Assuming Arabica, that's 450-750mg of caffeine.

asyx 8mo ago
Doing the lords work here. Thanks.
jrootabega 8mo ago
I should heavily qualify this by saying that I don't think the study (which I have no access to) measured it this precisely or specifically. I think it was just people reporting roughly how many "cups" per day they drank over 40+ years. I guess I just get annoyed when I see "cups" as a unit of coffee science/health.

ChrisArchitect 8mo ago

[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953114 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953114

GlibMonkeyDeath 8mo ago

I can't get access to the full article either to see how they adjusted for confounding (which they said they did) - but I thought this tidbit was interesting: https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/consuming-coffee-associated-with-lower-dementia-risk https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-r... “We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results—meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia,” said lead author Yu Zhang That seems like it indicates there is some real, independent signal here. Off to make some coffee!

htx80nerd 8mo ago

very likely just the caffeine.

Rebelgecko 8mo ago

I don't have access to the full story, but I'm curious if it answers these naive questions: 1. Why did they source men and women from separate studies? 2. How can they tell the study's results aren't equivalent to "people with dementia are bad at logging their caffeine intake reliably"?