Caffeine doesn’t appear to be helpful for people already diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease Caffeine caused a slight decrease in the brain’s ability to use dopamine, brain scans showed Previous studies had associated caffeine with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s FRIDAY, May 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Caffeine has been associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease , but a new study says a coffee jolt might not be good for people already diagnosed with the brain disorder. Consuming caffeine appears to blunt the brain’s ability to use dopamine, the hormone that lies at the heart of Parkinson’s symptoms, researchers reported recently in the journal Annals of Neurology . Patients with high caffeine consumption had an 8% to 15% greater decrease in the ability of dopamine to bind with receptors in the brain, compared to those who took in less caffeine, results show.
“While caffeine may offer certain benefits in reducing risk of Parkinson’s disease, our study suggests that high caffeine intake has no benefit on the dopamine systems in already diagnosed patients,” said principal researcher Valtteri Kaasinen , a professor of neurology with the University of Turku in Finland. “A high caffeine intake did not result in reduced symptoms of the disease, such as improved motor function,” Kaasinen added in a university news release. Parkinson’s occurs when nerve cells that produce the brain chemical dopamine start to die.
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