Study: Coffee May Protect Brains That Had Early-Life Stress

Naturally occurring chemical compounds in coffee may mitigate cognitive deficits occurring later in life that are associated with early-life stress, according to a new study.

The study focused on two common polyphenols in coffee, chlorogenic and caffeic acids, finding that they reduced cognitive impairments in adult mice following early-life dietary interventions.

Chlorogenic acid, which is particularly abundant in brewed coffee, has previously been linked to reduced risk of chronic diseases, while caffeic acid has been associated with numerous benefits to human health.

For the new study, led by a group of researchers throughout Europe and published in the Elsivier journal Neurobiology of Stress, male mice were fed either a control diet of grain, or a diet supplemented by small concentrations of the two polyphenols.

Mice that were fed the supplemented diet showed improved cognitive results, specifically an improved hippocampal neurogenesis rate and higher survival rate of newborn brain cells, later in life.

“We have shown earlier that early-life stress (ES) leads to cognitive decline at an adult age,” the study authors wrote. “Emerging evidence by us and others indicates that early nutritional interventions can protect against these ES-induced effects through nutritional programming. Based on human metabolomics studies, we identified various coffee-related metabolites to be part of a protective molecular signature against cognitive decline in humans.”

Previous studies have shown that moderate coffee consumption can have protective or performance-enhancing effects on human brains, including reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and temporarily improving brain function. However, a major study from 2021 found that excessive coffee consumption was associated with increased dementia risk.