Drinking coffee could help to lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis, it was claimed last night.
Compared to people who drank at least 6 cups of coffee per day during the year before symptoms appeared, those who did not drink coffee had about a 1.5 times increased risk of developing the disease, according to a Swedish study.
Drinking large amounts of coffee five or ten years before symptoms started was also similarly protective.
Dr Ellen Mowry, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said: “Caffeine intake has been associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and our study shows that coffee intake may also protect against MS, supporting the idea that the drug may have protective effects for the brain.”
Researchers examined a Swedish study of 1,629 people with MS and 2,807 healthy people, as well as a US study of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 healthy people.
Both studies examined coffee consumption among people with MS one and five years before MS symptoms began – and ten years before MS symptoms began in the Swedish study – and compared it to coffee consumption of people who did not have MS at similar time periods.
In addition to the Swedish findings, the US study also found that people who did not drink coffee were 1.5 times more likely to develop the disease than those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee per day in the year before symptoms started to develop the disease.
The research, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 67th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, 18th-25th April, 2015, also accounted for other factors such as age, sex, smoking, body mass index, and sun exposure habits.
“Caffeine should be studied for its impact on relapses and long-term disability in MS as well,” added Dr Mowry.
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