As I reported yesterday, a new JAMA study found that three out of four adults suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia are inappropriately prescribed heavy-duty drugs—such as painkillers, sedatives, and antipsychotics—in an attempt to control their behavior.
But there’s zero evidence to suggest that those drugs improve brain function in AD patients. And, on the contrary, we know they can cause great harm.
So, in my view, it would be far better to simply give AD patients a few cups of strong coffee in the morning, as research shows it protects against cognitive decline and improves brain function…
Coffee offers a slew of health benefits
For decades, mainstream medicine considered coffee–drinking a vice or a crutch. They even tried to find some link between coffee consumption and a higher risk of various illnesses.
For example, in the early 1980s, statisticians trumpeted they had found an “association” between coffee and some forms of cancer. But after months of breathless excitement among the nanny state public health experts, a more careful analysis revealed the association with cancer was limited to only certain kinds of decaffeinated coffee, which are exposed to chemical solvents to artificially remove the caffeine.
In the ensuing decades, they never found any other evidence about the harms of coffee. And on the contrary, they found that it actually protects against a good many illnesses…including colon cancer, Type II diabetes, heart disease, and especially AD and dementia.
In fact, in a recent observational study from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, older men and women who regularly consumed any amount of coffee experienced an improvement in brain function. Other studies suggest it lowers AD risk itself. And lab studies suggest caffeine in coffee might even help treat AD.
Researchers attribute these cognitive benefits to the hundreds of natural constituents found in coffee…in addition to caffeine itself.
Combat the jitters by monitoring your intake
Of course, drinking any caffeinated beverage can disrupt sleep or cause a case of the “jitters” in some people. And the amount of caffeine that causes these problems differs greatly from one person to the next. (It can also change dramatically during the course of your lifetime.)
So, pay close attention to whether drinking coffee seems to influence your ability to sleep or contributes to agitation or anxiety. You can easily adjust your intake and timing during the day.
I find most people do quite well tolerating three to four cups of coffee a day—which is just the right amount to confer all the impressive health benefits. By comparison, you’d have to drink eight to 16 cups of green tea per day to get the health benefits. But when you drink that amount of green tea, it raises your risk of suffering stomach irritation and kidney stones.
In the end, drinking coffee appears to be a safe, enjoyable, and effective way to protect yourself against brain decline as you get older. So, go ahead and enjoy another steaming cup o’ joe today. Your brain will thank you tomorrow!
Just make sure to skip the artificial sweeteners. And if you prefer to add some cream, go ahead and use some full-fat, whole milk.
You can learn more about the many natural approaches to preventing and even reversing dementia in my Complete Alzheimer’s Fighting Protocol. In this online learning protocol, I give you specifics on how natural approaches like drinking coffee, eating right, taking supplements, exercising, and incorporating mind-body techniques have been scientifically shown to reverse AD in a whopping 90 percent of people. Click here to learn more, or to enroll, today.
Sources:
“Caffeine and Cognitive Decline in Elderly Women at High Vascular Risk,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2013; 35(2): 413-421. doi.org/10.3233/JAD-122371.
“How coffee protects the brain,” Medical News Today, 11/6/18. (medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323594)