Receiving global attention, researcher Ira Driscoll from UWM found that drinking coffee can reduce the probability of developing dementia or other cognitive impairments for women over the age of 65. The survey was released on October 1 which is International Coffee Day. The survey included results from over 6,000 women who reported their caffeine consumption and then had their cognitive ability measured for the next 10 years. The data was originally collected for the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study. The researchers do not want women to get too excited about drinking coffee, however, because they have not found causation for the reduced dementia. On the topic of coffee and cognitive issues, this is one of the large sample sizes that has ever been used. One of the main recommendations from this study is that exercising and eating a balanced diet can lead to health benefits. Coffee, in moderation, can be apart of this healthy diet. Driscoll has previously focussed on dementia research and may continue on the topic of coffee and dementia as funding allows. Doing testing on animals might also prove a more cause based relationship between caffeine and memory retention. As baby boomers start to age the idea of memory loss is becoming increasingly more popular.

Key Points:

• There were reports that came out regarding the benefits of caffeine on cognition.
• Caffeine is a small factor in the list of risks for the study.
• Drinking coffee does not guarantee that you will develop dementia or any other type of disease.

Her team’s study found that higher caffeine intake in women over age 65 was associated with a reduced chance of developing dementia or other cognitive impairments.