If you can’t imagine hauling yourself out of bed without a cup of coffee, don’t fret: Your daily caffeine habit may lower your risk of developing dementia, according to a long-term analysis published February 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report, entitled “Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function,” explores the cognitive health of individuals who drink around two to three cups of caffeinated coffee — or one to two cups of tea — each day. Overall, these individuals seemed to have a lower risk of dementia compared with individuals who don’t consume any caffeinated drinks. Below, we’ve outlined the high points of the study.
Studying the Link Between Caffeine and Lower Dementia Risk
Coffee has long been associated with health benefits, including longevity and long-term cardiovascular health. This recent analysis, which was based in the United States, included data from the 1980s to early 2023 collected for two studies: the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The resulting prospective cohort study involved 130,821 individuals from the prior two cohorts, all selected because they had not developed cancer, Parkinson’s disease, or dementia. The chosen participants also completed dietary questionnaires every few years, as part of the prior two studies, providing up to 43 years of follow-up data for the new analysis.
Caffeine and “Favorable Cognitive Outcomes”
The study abstract notes that “evidence linking coffee and tea to cognitive health remains inconclusive.” However, caffeine intake was associated with “more favorable cognitive outcomes.” The analysis focused on “moderate consumption” of caffeinated coffee — women and men consuming no more than 2.5 cups per day. Researchers also evaluated data from heavy coffee drinkers, who drank up to 4.5 cups a day.
The numbers were intriguing: Among individuals who skipped caffeine entirely, there were 330 new cases of dementia per 100,000 people per year. Among moderate consumers, there were 229 cases per 100,000 people per year.
With adjustments for factors such as age and smoking, moderate-to-high caffeine consumption appeared to lower the risk of dementia by about 18 percent. People who drank tea daily also had a lower risk of dementia; however, the data didn’t include whether participants’ tea contained caffeine, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the cognitive benefits of tea in general.
How Caffeine Impacts Dementia Risk
The researchers aren’t quite sure how a daily caffeine habit could lower dementia risk, though there are several possibilities that could drive what they described as “the neuroprotective effects of caffeine.” Some experimental studies, for example, have shown that caffeine lowers the levels of amyloid-beta, a key marker of Alzheimer’s disease. The abstract explains that caffeine may also “mitigate neuroinflammation,” which the researchers call a “key contributor to cognitive decline and the development of AD.” Beyond caffeine, the team notes, coffee and tea both contain beneficial bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, which are powerful dietary antioxidants.
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Overall, the findings of this analysis are somewhat modest, though potentially promising. The researchers write that “greater consumption of caffeinated coffee and tea was associated with lower risk of dementia and modestly better cognitive function.” Consider this permission to indulge in that afternoon espresso.
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