Drinking three cups of coffee day could protect against cognitive decline, new study finds
Scientists have discovered an unexpected link between cognitive decline and the amount of tea or coffee consumed daily by people over 60. They have pinpointed a 'sweet spot' of around three cups of either beverage to maintain mental sharpness.
However, they also found that consuming more than four cups of coffee per day was associated with poorer results. Interestingly, those who drank tea had worse results at the beginning of the study, despite experiencing a slower decline thereafter.
The reasons behind these connections between tea and coffee consumption and cognitive decline remain unclear. The researchers highlighted the need for further studies to unravel this mystery, but suggested it might be related to caffeine content, as reported by News Medical.
In a single cup of tea, there's approximately 28mg to 45mg of caffeine, while a cup of coffee contains around 95mg. This could explain why high tea intake was associated with slower decline, whereas high coffee intake was linked to faster decline.
Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the research examined the long-term effects of tea and coffee consumption specifically on older adults. It tracked over 8,700 UK adults aged between 60 and 85 for just under a decade.
The research took into account people with genetic predispositions for Alzheimer's disease, excluding those with other conditions that could influence the results such as Parkinson's, depression, diabetes, hypertension or consuming more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
Participants were asked to disclose their coffee or tea consumption and were categorised into three groups; those who never drank it, those who consumed between one and three cups a day (moderate intake), and those with a high intake who had four or more cups daily.
Their cognitive function was then evaluated using computerised tests which required them to solve verbal and numeric reasoning problems, testing their reaction time and memory, as well as a visual memory test using pair matching.
People who either never drank coffee or had a moderate coffee intake exhibited a slower decline in their cognitive ability over time. However, those consuming four or more cups of coffee daily made more errors in pair matching as the years progressed, indicating they experienced a faster cognitive decline.
On the flip side, people who had moderate to high tea consumption showed less decline compared to those that never drank tea. Drinking tea also didn't have any significant links to changes in reaction times, pair-matching errors or numerical memory.
Researchers have highlighted previous studies that consistently demonstrate tea's superior cognitive benefits compared to coffee. Notably, a 2022 Chinese study found that consuming more than four cups of tea daily can reduce cognitive decline.
However, the study does have its limitations as it failed to consider different brewing methods. Therefore, there's no data on whether participants were drinking decaffeinated or caffeinated coffee, what types of tea they were sipping, or how much milk and sugar they added to their brews.
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