The Baby Boomer generation, born between the end of World War II and 1960,is now entering its sixth decade, and as it continues to age will be putting ever-increasing pressure on the American health system. Diseases associated with aging are receiving more attention from researchers trying to stay one step ahead of the increase in their growth curve.
One of the most notorious and feared of the aging diseases is Alzheimer’s. Affecting its victims with both mental and physical deterioration, it has been referred to as “The Long Good-Bye”, because it can take decades to run its course. President Ronald Reagan was the best-known victim of Alzheimer’s.
But the baby boomer generation also came of age with instant coffee in America. Nestlé’s instant coffee, Nescafe coffee, was included in the ration kits of American G.I.s, in World War II, and has been the coffee waiting on the breakfast tables of millions of American workers ever since.
But coffee may have more than familiarity to recommend continued coffee consumption to Boomers.
At the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute in Florida, researchers have determined that mice affected with Alzheimer’s which had the caffeine equivalent of five cups of coffee added to their drinking water experienced a reduction of the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s.
And the Alzheimer’s mice which drank the caffeinated water also showed memory capacity equal to that of normal mice.
The research indicated that caffeine decreased the level of the Alzheimer’s mice’ beta-amyloid proteins, which clump together to form plaques in the brain.
During the research, young Alzheimer’s mice received caffeine–the amount in five cups of coffee–in their daily water. After some months, when they could be expected to develop Alzheimer’s, they were run through a maze.
The caffeine-raised mice had not difficulty in navigating the maze, but their cohorts who had been given regular water were baffled with it.
The study, according to USA Today, adds weight to earlier research findings regarding the beneficial effects of caffeine, or coffee, consumption on forgetfulness, one of the first Alzheimer’s symptoms.
So, Boomers, what–except your memory–do you have to lose?
