Only older women benefit from a caffeine boost (sorry, guys)

by Pat Salber, MDThere is a short article by Nicholas Bakalar from NY Times News Service in local papers today.  The jist of the article is that the amount of caffeine in three cups of coffee or tea each day may help older women maintain mental sharpness - unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be an effect in older men."Le Study" is from French researchers and is published in the journal Neurology in August 2007.  Karen Ritchie, a researcg durectir with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research is the lead author.  The study included more than 7,000 men and women, average age 74 years old, who were followed for over four years.  They were asked about their coffee and tea intake and their mental acuity was measured by standard tests of visual skills and verbal recall.  The researchers also collected information from the study participants about their education, income, depression, alcohol, and tobacco use, among other factors.After controlling for other variables, the researchers found that women at age 65 who drank three or more cups of coffee or tea a day were about 30% less likely to have a significant decline in verbal skills than those folks who consumed a cup or less.By age 85, caffeine drinking women were 70% less likely to suffer deficits in mental acuity compared with women who drank less than a cup of coffee or tea.  Lead author Ritchie said in the NY Times article "please don’t rush out and start drinking coffee.  To suddenly start drinking large quantities of coffee is still really premature as a preventive measure."In the course of my medical career, coffee has gone from good to bad and now back to good again.  It’s hard to say what to make of this latest study.  I would say it is probably a safe course, if you enjoy drinking coffee, to continue to consume it in moderate quantities.  I would wait for confirmatory studies before rushing to Starbucks or Peets to load up on coffee beans as a prophylactic measure against Alzheimers or other age-related declines in mental sharpness. (Source: The Doctor Weighs In)

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