Study (n= 453,913) found that people who drink 0.5–1 cup of coffee or 4–5 cups of tea per day have the lowest risk of dementia, the association is stronger in people with hypertension

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-71426-y

9 Comments

  1. To be clear, this entire study is about the effects of coffee/tea on hypertensive individuals (all 453,913 subjects had a baseline hypertensive determination).

    The authors pointed out that previous studies had found some association between drinking coffee/tea and decreased risk of dementia in general population studies; it’s just that, with a higher risk of dementia among hypertensive individuals, the benefits of drinking coffee/tea may be more pronounced.

    All models in this study (which have different levels of adjustments for socio-demographic factors, lifestyle, comorbidities, and serum markers) show something like a U-shaped curve, with the biggest benefit for moderate amounts of coffee (0.5-1 cups per day) and tea (4-5 cups per day).

  2. The U-shaped curve is interesting. Afaik studies have shown coffee and tea to be slightly protective also at higher levels than this. Considering this is in hypertensive people, maybe we can assume an exacerbating effect of caffeine on blood pressure leading to increased dementia risk?

  3. The antioxidants clears Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which causes inflammation and cell death, which causes dementia.

    Coffee also stimulates the GI, which helps clear biofilm infections. Tea has antimicrobial effects on infections in the GI and UT. Chronic infections can eventually cause dementia through invasion and amyloid propagation.

  4. judgejuddhirsch on

    Counter argument

    People with caffeine intake spend more time functionally awake and thus are spending more mental activity than those who aren’t caffeinated. The activity itself is reducing dementia risk.