Drinking coffee could alleviate some Parkinson’s disease symptoms

Thursday August 2nd, 2012

Drinking up to four cups of coffee a day could help to improve some Parkinson’s disease symptoms, research published yesterday revealed.

This is one of the first studies of its kind to demonstrate a link.

Canadian scientists found that while drinking caffeine every day does not appear to improve sleep, it may help to control movement.

The findings are published in the August 1, 2012, online issue of Neurology.

Study author Dr Ronald Postuma, of McGill University, Montreal, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, said: “Studies have shown that people who use caffeine are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, but this is one of the first studies in humans to show that caffeine can help with movement symptoms for people who already have the disease.”

A total of 61 people with Parkinson’s disease who showed symptoms of daytime sleepiness and some motor symptoms were given either a placebo pill or a pill with 100 milligrams of caffeine, two times a day for three weeks, then 200 milligrams twice a day for three weeks – the equivalent of between two and four cups of coffee per day.

After six weeks, the half that took the caffeine supplements showed an average five-point improvement in Parkinson’s severity ratings compared to those who had the placebo. The caffeine group also averaged a three-point improvement in the speed of movement and amount of stiffness compared to the placebo group.

“This is a modest improvement, but may be enough to provide benefit to patients,” said Dr Postuma.

“On the other hand, it may not be sufficient to explain the relationship between caffeine non-use and Parkinson's, since studies of the progression of Parkinson’s symptoms early in the disease suggest that a five-point reduction would delay diagnosis by only six months.”

Caffeine did not appear to help improve daytime sleepiness and there were no changes in quality of life, depression or sleep quality in study participants.

The authors said that the length of the study was short and that the effects of caffeine may lessen over time.

Neurology August 2 2012

Tags: Brain & Neurology | Diet & Food | North America

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Comments

1At 02/08/2012 07:20pm Parkie wrote

Speaking as someone with recent experience of this, surely caffeine just aggravates restlessness and sleeplessness?

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